Co Bergman

Co Bergman

Jacobus Frederik Theodorus Bergman , called "Co" or "Ko" Bergman (born December 16, 1913 in Amsterdam , † November 19, 1982 in Hellendoorn ) was a Dutch football player . The striker played for Blauw-Wit Amsterdam in the 1930s and 1940s and was called up to the national team eight times during that time .

Club career

As a 17-year-old Bergman played in the first team of Blauw-Wit. The red-haired player with the hunched back played the opening passes in attack. Penalties were the specialty of the left striker , he shot them like Johan Neeskens 30 years later , mostly halfway up the left. He made 369 league games, almost all of them in the top division, for Blauw-Wit - a club record - before he retired from active football in 1951 at the age of 37. He then ran his own tobacco shop in Amsterdam.

National team

Bergman was 22 when the KNVB's selection committee became aware of him. On November 1, 1936, he was in the Elftal squad , but remained on the bench in the 3: 3 against Norway . It took almost exactly a year before he was allowed to play in the orange jersey for the first time : on October 31, 1937, he was in his hometown against France , as the successor to Joop van Nellen , in the starting lineup of the Dutch. France won 3-2; Kick Smit scored the two Dutch goals . The selection committee and bond coach Bob Glendenning also placed their trust in Berghuis in the next match against Luxembourg . Oranje won 4-0; The goals were not made by Bergman, but again by Smit and three times by Piet de Boer . Bergman had to wait almost two and a half years for the next assignment for his country; after initially Kees Mijnders had taken over his position, two games later Bertus de Harder joined the team. Bergman was only allowed to play again before the Germans occupied it , in a 4-5 win against Luxembourg, the so-called “Shame of Rotterdam ”, the game in which Abe Lenstra and four other players made their debut alongside him.

The war initially prevented Bergman from further deployments for his country. But when the first post-war international match was played on March 10, 1946, he was back. Again it was against Luxembourg, this time in the capital of the Grand Duchy , and this time the Netherlands won; Bergman contributed a goal to 6: 2 (four scored by Faas Wilkes , one by Kees Rijvers ). In the coming year he made four more games for Elftal , including the infamous 2-8 in Huddersfield against hosts England , in which he scored one of the Dutch goals, and a 2-1 win against Belgium , in which he was responsible for both goals was. In his last game, as in his debut, he was on the pitch against France, this time away: his team lost 4-0 in Colombes . After eight games with five goals, his international career came to an end.

Web links

Commons : Ko Bergman  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Obituary on the website of Blauw-Wit Amsterdam
• Interlands Co Bergman
• Bergman's profile on the KNVB website