SI.com · Apr 29, 2020
Pandemic's Effects Extra Hard on MLS's International Players
SEATTLE (AP) — Kelvin Leerdam has been fortunate compared to many of the other foreign players in Major League Soccer, and it was completely by accident.
Born in Suriname but raised in the Netherlands, Leerdam still makes his full-time home in Europe when he’s not playing for the Seattle Sounders. When the school schedule in the Netherlands lined up for his wife and two young children to join him in Washington state for the start of the MLS season last month, Leerdam jumped at the opportunity to bring his family here.
They made it before the COVID-19 pandemic overtook much of the world, making travel a major challenge.