Despite the fact that Dutch footballers are the best and the nicest, now and then something can be said about players from other cultures. For example, there is a Cristiano Ronaldo, who still manages to break record after record at a fairly old age. This brings us to the next question; are Portuguese players really that good or is CR7 a unique child prodigy? Let’s look at the 3 Portuguese football players with the highest number of games played in the Dutch Eredivisie.
1. Virgilio Teixeira (162 games)
Central defender Teixeira has Portuguese roots but was born in the Netherlands, in The Hague to be precise. So it should come as no surprise that he has spent his entire career in Dutch football. Logically, he started at ADO Den Haag, a club that did not play in the Eredivisie at the time. His career at the highest level started in 1998 at RKC Waalwijk, where he played in 161 games until 2007 and scored 4 goals. After this he was demolished and returned to ADO Den Haag. He is now a trainer and in that capacity he has worked for both ADO Den Haag and NEC.
2. Dani (72 games)
A great Portuguese promise that has not fully come into its own, that’s what we can say about Dani. After a somewhat disappointing adventure at Sporting Lisbon, Dani joined Ajax in the summer of 1996. He was only 19 years old and already a Portuguese international. That was very special at the time. In the 4 years that Dani played at Ajax, he has played for the team a total of 72 times and has scored 12 goals. There was even a time when he was compared to Johan Cruyff, which is of course a huge honor. In the end he could not resist the nightlife in Amsterdam, which forced him to return to Lisbon. Or rather to Benfica.
3. Janio Bikel (68 games)
Bikel is a midfielder born in Guinea-Bissau, who already played for Heerenveen before he ever kicked a ball at a Portuguese club. In Portugal, he only gained fame in 2015 when he was invited to the world championships under 20. He then went to play at NEC where he played in 62 games from 2015 to 2017 and scored 2 goals. After the 2017 season, Bikel was demoted.
Would you bet on a Portuguese?
With this knowledge in mind, and the fact that two top 3 players are not really Portuguese, it doesn’t seem very tempting to bet on a Portuguese player. It must now be said that the best Portuguese players often do not play in the Eredivisie. More often they go to the Premier League or the Primera Liga. So if you have confidence in it, you are not alone.