UEFA Futsal EURO 2022 is in full swing in the Netherlands and presenter Mounir Boualin interviews in Futsal Fanatics well-known faces from the world of street and indoor football. In the last episode this is Jermaine Vanenburg, the ball virtuoso from Amsterdam. Vanenburg is known as king of the panna and is often mentioned in the same breath as legends such as Edward van Gils and Edwin Grünholz.
Vanenburg started his career on the street, like many others of the time, and then first tried it as a field football player. “I played for DWS, an amateur club, for a year. Then I was scouted by Telstar when I was eighteen. I signed a contract and thought I would make a lot of money. I came home and said to my mother, ‘We are millionaires! You never have to work again!’ I received 1000 guilders and a subscription to the bus,” says Vanenburg with a laugh. “After that, a man came to me… If I didn’t want to play futsal. I could earn a lot of money there. So I made the switch. ”
The step to futsal went well for him. Vanenburg scored a lot and stood out for his tricks. In 2001, he also won the first-ever ‘Panna Knockout’ tournament, earning him the nickname by the newspapers panna king yielded. The news article is still tattooed on his arm. The talent for football runs in his family. Gerald Vanenburg, European champion with the Dutch in 1988, is his cousin. Vanenburg is the uncle of Javairo Dilrosun, player of Bordeaux.
Jermaine grew up in a deprived neighborhood in Amsterdam-West. Zaandammerplein in particular still has a special place in his heart. Vanenburg is now trying to offer guidance to the current young people who play football on the square. “I give them technique training, let them finish on target, play tournaments against each other. Afterwards I go to the supermarket and buy them food and drinks. My mother, who still lives here on the square, has always taught me that if you are better off than others, you have to help them. I try to do my part in this way and keep the boys on the right path.”
Jermaine Vanenburg in action in the hall.
The Amsterdammer thinks that the current futsal culture is disadvantageous for Oranje Futsal. “In other countries, sliding tackles have been used for a very long time, it is actually field football in the hall. This is not the case for the Dutch. I know almost all those guys personally, they have so much technique. They can pass two or three men. However, it is now passing through, playing, passing through. Much more tactical”, explains Vanenburg. “The Netherlands is trying to copy the other countries in this. But those countries have been doing that for years. Let the boys play football freely, they are so good individually. You have to come up with a new system for that. Now you never catch up, because you copy the system of opponents, who train on it twice a day and that for decades.”
Mounir Boualin is a freelance football vlogger, video journalist and presenter. For Voetbalzone he makes interviews about matches.