Dutch professional footballers can be found in every corner of the world, from the spotlights of the major European competitions to the more adventurous employment on other continents. In the Over de Grens section, Football Zone talks weekly with a player who is active outside the country’s borders. This time with attention to Mick van Buren, who has been enjoying Czech life as a striker at Slavia Prague for seven years now and also scored high in Europe.
By Morris Visser
Van Buren started his professional career at the age of eighteen at Excelsior. After a period of two years at the Kralingers he exchanged the club for a transfer to the Danish Esbjerg FB. The striker played here for three years, until an adventure with the Czech Slavia Prague came his way. Van Buren is currently in his seventh season in the Ceská Fotbalová Liga and if it is up to him, he is far from finished playing football in the Czech Republic.
Van Buren has been under contract with Slavia Prague since 2016.
“Life in the Czech Republic is very good here,” says the striker. “Prague is really a metropolis, it is smaller than Amsterdam but very international, which I really like. It is also a really historic city, there are many beautiful churches and castles, it is just a really beautiful city.” There is also plenty to do outside the capital, according to Van Buren. “The Czech Republic consists of many beautiful nature parks and nice villages. For example, the Eastern Europe Film Festival is held in the village of Karlovy Vary and scenes from the James Bond film Casino Royale have been filmed. There are really a lot of villages like this in the Czech Republic.”
Language is also no problem for Van Buren. “I can now follow the language for eighty percent, coincidentally I recently sat at the table with the Czech version of Veronica Offside (Tiki Taka, ed.). This went pretty well and I was able to follow it all. I also do my interviews for ninety percent in Czech, so speaking the language is not a problem either.” The striker compares his mastery of the language with the mastery of the Dutch language by Dušan Tadic, who has increasingly answered in English in recent times. “If we have lost a game, I also do my interviews in English. If the result is disappointing, you don’t feel like having to do your best to talk in Czech, the same as Tadic who has been speaking more and more English in his interviews recently.”
After several rental periods at Dynamo Budejevic and Slovan Liberec, Van Buren returned to Slavia Prague last winter. “In the summer of 2022 I briefly returned to Slavia and went on a training camp. This went very well, but the trainer told me very honestly that they could not guarantee me playing minutes because of the number of players. Of course they already know me very well at the club and wanted to keep up with me, but I wanted to play somewhere, preferably in the striker and no longer in the outside positions. Fortunately, this was possible at (Slovan, ed.) Liberec.”
This rental period turned out to be a great success for Van Buren, as he scored twelve goals and two assists in seventeen official matches. Van Buren’s experience was also highly appreciated. “At Liberec we had a very young team, I was one of four players over thirty, the rest were all about twenty years old.” Another experienced player on the team was Theodor Gebre Selassie. The right back, who caused a lot of furore at Werder Bremen, was an example for Van Buren. “He is the most experienced player I have ever played with. His attitude on the pitch and in the dressing room was fantastic, it was great to play with him.”
In the successful six months at Slovan Liberec, the quality again emerged in such a way that the club management of Slavia Prague decided to bring the striker back. At Slavia he has become involved in an exciting title battle with arch-rival and fellow townsman Sparta Prague. After winning the cup final last Wednesday, both teams will face each other again next week for a game in the play-offs for the championship. The battle between the two teams from Prague guarantees spectacle every year and determines the champion of the competition almost every year.
According to Van Buren, the level of the Czech league is underestimated. “It is often said from the Netherlands: ‘They can’t play football in that Eastern Bloc’, but I think that is greatly underestimated. In recent years you have seen at European level that Slavia Prague in particular can really go far.” Van Buren therefore knows what the difference is when it comes to playing football. “I have been there for seven years now, and I am almost certain that the competition here is much more physical and intensive than in the Netherlands. In the Netherlands there are many more technically gifted football players. In the Czech Republic you get into physical duels much more, which may make it less like playing football.”
The Czechs can learn a lot in terms of supporters. Buren, who during many away games has the feeling that he is playing a home game because of the missing supporters of the home team. “In the Netherlands you even have matches in the Kitchen Champion Division with more than 15,000 fans in the stadiums, you don’t have that here at all. When we play out, a few thousand fans travel with them, they fill most of the stadium, which of course works in our favor.”
In addition to a difference in the way of playing football, Van Buren also notices a difference in mentality. For example, football is played under any circumstances and in winter he often plays on a snow-white field. “In the winter it is really cold here for a long time, for example there was still snow here at the beginning of April. Last year I played football with a full bowl of snow for a full game. The game was even stopped every fifteen minutes so that they could make the lines visible again. The field was very slippery, but nevertheless the game continued, I thought it was quite dangerous.”
Between 2013 and 2016, Van Buren was under contract with the Danish Esbjerg fB.
Due to the harsh winters in the Czech Republic, winter sports are very popular in the country. The same goes for ice hockey, which, next to football, is the country’s biggest sport. Ice hockey is often the subject of conversation in the dressing room at Slavia, although Van Buren does not quite understand where the hype comes from. “I find it hard to follow, I don’t understand the rules and also find it hard to keep an eye on that little puck all the time. During the international matches, we will do something fun with the players who have no international obligations, the day after a training day, i.e. ice hockey. Those guys from the Czech Republic really can do this like no other. I can still skate. But as soon as the hockey part comes into play, I quickly drop out.”
Outside of club duties, Van Buren rarely sees his teammates. In the beginning, it took some getting used to for Van Buren to adapt to the new culture. “After training, everyone here usually goes home alone. People here are not so fond of coming together, I am used to this from my time in Denmark and of course in the Netherlands, then we would just enjoy watching the Champions League together.” One player with whom Van Buren did have this relationship is Alexander Bah. The Dane, who now covers the right flank at Benfica, still speaks to Van Buren regularly. “Alexander is really a buddy of mine, we met regularly and still see each other.”
In his spare time, Van Buren is very busy with his nutrition and lifestyle. The striker eats according to self-made nutritional schedules and spends the necessary hours in the weight room. However, this sports mentality has not always been so strong. “I used to be able to go out for a night, then I was completely demolished the next day, but then I recovered quickly. Now that I’m older, it’s just not that easy anymore, so you learn this over time.” Van Buren is now regarded as a figurehead for the younger players within the current Slavia team. They therefore regularly ask for advice. “Younger players often ask me for help with making their eating schedules and preparing physically for the training sessions. As you get older, your role just changes within a team. I like to help the guests.
With his contract expiring this summer, the question is where the striker can be admired next year. In any case, Van Buren does not have to complain about interest. “I had the best year of my career last year. I notice that there is enough interest, but I’m really just trying to get the prizes. Slavia does give me the feeling that they would like to keep me, but I would certainly be open to another option abroad. However, this is all taken care of by my agent, I am now only focused on winning the competition.”
Van Buren became the match winner of Slavia Prague in 2019 during the Europa League win over Sevilla.
A return to the Netherlands would also be an option for Van Buren, who comes from Ridderkerk. During the start of the corona pandemic in 2020, Van Buren already returned to the Eredivisie on a rental basis at ADO Den Haag. However, this was not a great success. “I never really felt I played football in the Netherlands. Because of the empty stadiums with corona, I never really felt like I was playing in the Eredivisie. I played six matches at ADO and also in the wrong position, in my opinion (right winger instead of striker, ed.). So I think it would certainly be nice to return to the Netherlands, but I don’t know yet whether this is possible.”
When Van Buren thinks back to the best moment of his career in the Czech Republic, the European evenings immediately come to mind. His first Champions League experience was one to remember. “I played two games, against Barcelona and Borussia Dortmund, that was a really goosebumps moment. Lionel Messi and Luis Suárez even walked around a bit frustrated because we played so well, that was nice to see.”
Achieving the double is also a great highlight for Van Buren, who immediately tells a nice anecdote. “First we had an away game in Ostrava, which we won and became champions. We went back by train and of course got quite drunk. Three days later we had to take the train again for the cup final to Olomouc, a town near Ostrava. We also won this one, so we could go back by train drunk. We were drunk for about five days, but we won the double.”
Yet there is one moment that remains with Van Buren as his absolute highlight from his time in the Czech Republic, his goal in extra time of the Europa League quarter-finals against Sevilla in the 2018-19 season. Van Buren signed for the 3-3, after which Peter Olayinka tapped in the 4-3 for the team from Prague in the 118th minute. This was a euphoric moment for the striker. “The emotion that came out after we made it 4-3 was really unbelievable, really absurd.”