Andro Knel

Who was Andro Knel?

Andro Charles Willem Knel was a Dutch-Suriname footballer. During his career he served Sparta Rotterdam and NAC Breda. He died at the age of 21, when on June 7, 1989 he was killed in the Surinam Airways Flight PY764 air crash in Paramaribo. He was said to be a "tropical surprise in milk chocolate".

Knel and his family moved from Rotterdam to Den Haag when he was 10 years old. He played in the youth squads of HMSH, DWO, ADO and FC Den Haag before making the switch back to Rotterdam when he moved to Sparta Rotterdam. He made his professional debut in the 1986-87 season, aged 19.

He loved Jamaican reggae and his dreadlocks combined with his position of attacking midfielder made many people compare him with Ruud Gullit who also had dreadlocks in those days. Bob Marley and Peter Tosh were his main artists. Knel became loved at Het Kasteel. There were various cheer banners with rasta colours, messages and other signs featuring Knel. He had no driver's license and visited the training by tram or by roller skates. In total he played 44 professional matches for Sparta in which he scored one goal.