Over 1.2 million play football in Netherlands

The professional football umbrella in the Netherlands, KNVB, has attributed part of this year’s record earnings to its some 1.2 million registered football players. The increase in both number of players and small change in registration fees aided the organization to record the massive 6.8 million euro profit for the 2014/’15 season. Proceeds professional football, 4.8 million, made the bulk of the contribution. 2 million came from the KNVB amateur league, which saw figures in the red last season. Director of amateur football at KNVB, Dirk van der Zee admitted that the additional two euro contribution by each member was important to the financial health of the league, adding that football must remain accessible and maintain its current healthy financial position, reported De Telegraaf. KNVB Netherlands currently has 1,227,157 million members with a reported increase on last year of 1.1 percent, girls and women showing the largest growth. Female members increased by a total of 6.23 percent, bringing female player numbers up to 146,090. The KNVB have put aside 3million for further development into the sport. In Zeist the KNVB Campus will offer better training, education, and research facilities, and will be done in partnership with clubs, scientific partners and the football industry. The Dutch women football team will be making use of the Campus in their preparation for the upcoming European Championships to be held in the Netherlands next year.