Henk ten Cate has experienced a lot in his football life. After an accomplished playing career in Dutch football in the 1970s and 80s, he has spent decades in coaching, including as a UEFA Champions League-winning assistant under Frank Rijkaard at Barcelona in 2006. Now aged 71, Ten Cate’s biggest achievement could come yet as Suriname head coach during a six-day span in Mexico at the FIFA World Cup 2026™ Play-Off Tournament.
His first match in charge comes on 26 March against Bolivia at Monterrey Stadium, with the hope of advancing to face Iraq in the decider on 31 March. He will be joined by several Dutch footballing legends of Surinamese heritage. Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Winston Bogarde are on Ten Cate’s technical staff, while Clarence Seedorf and Patrick Kluivert have recently joined the Surinamese Football Federation as advisors. They are all in to help Ten Cate get A Natio across the World Cup finish line.
The veteran tactician recently spoke with FIFA about getting ready for Bolivia, the strength of his squad, and what it would mean to qualify for the global finals.
Henk ten Cate: Very well. I knew a lot of players from my previous experiences in Holland and I follow Dutch football, so I know the majority of the players. I started by having Zoom meetings in lines, like with the defenders, midfielders and attackers. We started talking about how we would like to do it, how we would try to help them get their best efforts out of the game. After that, we started talking with them in private, [telling them] what we expected from each position, the way we wanted to play, what we expected from them defensively and offensively.
Also, it was to bring them into the mindset that we are going to the World Cup. Every time I spoke with them, I said, ‘Don’t forget, we are going to the World Cup’. The funny thing is after a month, they started telling me, ‘Hey, coach, you forgot something: We are going to the World Cup,’ so now it’s in their head. I am sure that we are ready.
For sure. They’re dying to go there. They’re really ready. It’s no guarantee that you win the game, but we are ready, we are prepared, and the players are really eager.
There is also kind of a rivalry between Suriname and Curaçao. Curaçao qualified for the World Cup, and all those players, they play together or used to play together in different teams in Holland. You see your ex-team-mate is going with Curaçao to the World Cup… Suriname are supposed to be the better players, but Curaçao are in the World Cup, and now the Suriname players want to go there as well.
I think we have a lot of quality, but what stands out the most is the team spirit. Especially in a game like this, the team spirit is more important than quality. It’s the eagerness. How hungry are you to win this game? Where will you go to win this game? What will you do to win this game? We tell the players, ‘You’re not going to get it for nothing. You have to sacrifice.’ A mixture of quality and hard work will bring us to the next stage, but if you’re missing one of those, you’re done.
I don’t think Bolivia can surprise us because we saw so many of their games. They have some quality players like [Miguel] Terceros. He’s a really good player. He has the extra quality, especially from the outside on the right, coming to the inside and scoring goals with his left foot. But you can put a tactic against it. This is how you prepare yourself, so it would be really stupid if he scores a goal like this against us, because we know what he’s doing.
Both of them were already on watch by the previous coaches, but they hadn’t decided yet to choose Suriname. They wanted to wait a little longer. I was really happy when I spoke with them and they said yes. They’re good players, so we are very happy with that. The squad is getting better and better. Of course, I would have loved to have had more time to work with them on the field, but we only have two days.
A lot. I’ve experienced a lot in football. I’ve been in football a long time. I won league titles, league cups and FA Cups and whatever. But this is really something. This would be my biggest achievement ever if we qualify for the World Cup.
My mom is 92. She’s happy when I win a game, but now I noticed that she is reading everything they write about me and the Suriname national team. She’s calling me about it. My mom is from Suriname, so for my mom, this is really something. To be the first coach to bring Suriname to the World Cup would be a special thing. Everybody in the family is talking about it, more than they’ve ever talked about me as a football coach.
It says everything. It tells the story. They’ve always known where they came from, where their roots are and where their parents’ roots are. And now to be able to do something to help, whether in an advising role or what I do as a coach, it really means something for us. Suriname people are proud people and we want to make them prouder.
