THE IMPLEMENTATION PROCESS
THE IMPLEMENTATION PROCESS - NEW YOUTH FOOTBALL GAME FORMATS
On Saturday 21st January 2017, the Council of Members of the KNVB - the highest decision-making body in amateur football - endorsed the changes. The KNVB took the decision to go ahead after the positive response from clubs and the green light from the Council of Members. The Netherlands is following the example set by England, Germany, Spain and Portugal, where football has been played for some time on smaller pitches and by smaller teams. In addition, a number of professional football clubs in the Netherlands has already been playing this season with youth teams in the new game formats. This decision was taken after careful discussions with the clubs and based on thorough research.
Research
September 2015 through May 2016
During this period, a comprehensive survey was conducted with respect to optimal game formats for youth football. Read the full report and/or the summary here.
Chairman's conference
September 16th & 17th, 2016
On Friday 16th and Saturday 17th September 2016, three sessions were held with club chairmen and women to inform them about the new game formats. Read more
Roadshow
September 19th through October 14th, 2016
A total of 80 meetings throughout the Netherlands were held in this period, attended by more than 4,300 participants from 1,600 clubs (=74% of the clubs that run a Youth Football programme). Read more
Pilots
The KNVB has asked the clubs to think along with the structure of the new game formats by trialing them in so-called pilots. No fewer than 135 clubs organised an individual pilot, 98 did so together with another club, seven together with a paid football club, and 38 went to see how other clubs are organising themselves. Review a number of good examples of pilots.
Workshops
The KNVB organised 18 workshops where the new game formats were demonstrated. A total of 447 clubs attended these meetings. The first of these was held at FC Utrecht. And a well-attended workshop was the one at PEC Zwolle.
Enquetes n.a.v. ervaring
A total of 253 surveys were completed for the U6/U7 age-groups. A total of 302 surveys were completed for the U8/U9/U10 age-groups, and 231 for the U11/U12 age-groups.
Target group survey
The KNVB held a target group survey at the clubs to map the extent to which various club audiences were familiar with the new game formats and how positive they were about them. The target groups in question were club management, technical committees, referees and parents. A representative sample of 600 people from each of these target groups was selected and interviewed.
discussions with individual clubs
From a regional perspective, various discussions were held with individual clubs or groups of clubs. Read more
talks with stakeholder groups
Informative talks with various interest groups such as VVON and BAV were held. Read more
Co-operation with Paid football clubs
The paid football clubs have been playing with the new game formats since the 2016/2017 season and are enthusiastic about them. Read more
Blauw Research Survey Report
Market research bureau Blauw Research conducted a survey amongst clubs to ascertain the implementation process of the new game formats. No fewer than 1,208 respondents took part in this survey. Read more
Role of the Council of Members
The Council of Members, the highest decision-making body in amateur football, has been involved in the process from the outset and has regularly submitted recommendations about process, surveys and the implications for amateur clubs. Read more
