Plans to honor badly hurt Ajax player Nouri move forward

The municipality of Amsterdam is moving forward with plans to honor Ajax player Abdelhak Nouri with his own square, the Abdelhak Nouriplein in Amsterdam Nieuw-West. The young footballer sustained serious brain damage when he went into cardiac arrest during a match in July 2017.

The plans for the Abdelhak Nouriplein were halted for a few months. "The family was overwhelmed by all the attention and wanted to spend more time in caring for Appie. Now they want to continue, but with the note that no major festivities are organized around the square", project leader Ivar Schreurs said on behalf of the municipality, NU.nl reports.

"At the request of the family, the layout of the square will be further adjusted so that it really becomes a meeting place where parents and older people from the neighborhood can keep an eye on little ones and young people", Schreurs said. Local residents are closely involved in the developments.

The square is currently called the Nigel de Jongplein. The former Ajax midfielder opened the square named after him in 2005. After the tragedy that befell Nouri, De Jong decided that he wanted "his" square to be renamed after Nouri, because Abdelhak used to play football there as a child.