Racism in Dutch youth football far more widespread than reported, players say
Racism in Dutch amateur football occurs far more frequently than official reports suggest, according to 36 youth players interviewed by NOS.
The interviews were partly prompted by a high-profile professional football incident last month in Leeuwarden, where Willem II forward Samuel Bamba was subjected to racist chants during an away match against SC Cambuur.
The players described over 140 incidents during the past season in which opponents, spectators, or even teammates and parents targeted them with racist remarks or behavior. Some players said they faced racial abuse weekly, and sometimes multiple times per match.
The most extreme cases involved a girls’ team from Elinkwijk in Utrecht, where several players wear a headscarf. “Sometimes, it’s the parents of teammates who call us ‘that black girl,’” one player said. During a match, a girl was physically pulled by her headscarf. In another incident, team mothers were pelted with plastic bottles. Other examples included a 16-year-old Dutch-Chinese player being asked if he eats bats or dogs.
The KNVB (Royal Dutch Football Association) received 230 official discrimination reports last season across 67,000 teams and 800,000 matches. These reports include racism, homophobia, and sexism. KNVB also acknowledged that the number of incidents reported is likely just “the tip of the iceberg” and called the stories shared by the players “horrible.”
“Discrimination or exclusion is completely opposed to what football stands for: bringing millions of diverse people together. It harms both people and the sport,” the KNVB said in a statement.
The association is attempting to improve reporting through a dedicated app, which collected 40 reports in the 2024/2025 season, and via its campaign ‘Discriminatie=Kansloos’ launched last spring.
Despite these measures, the interviewed players said most incidents are never formally reported. “You don’t even think about reporting it. You want to forget what was said as quickly as possible,” said a player from Alexandria ’66 in Rotterdam.
Ankie Vermeer, youth secretary at Elinkwijk, did attempt to address an incident in a match for girls under 11 last season when opposing players shouted “go back to your own country.” “All that came of it was the ball being passed back: our girls were supposedly the ones causing the racism,” she told NOS.
Players and club officials said football’s physical and emotional nature amplifies discriminatory behavior. “Often, we only hear about a racist incident after a player is sent off and has to explain why they were angry,” said Alexandria ’66 board member Rob de Vries. Martin Fluit of FC Abcoude noted similar patterns at his club.
