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1) With the rumor mill on twitter & social media about USSoccer disbanding the DA & that it will more likely be up to MLS & USL teams to cultivate the void to creating a youth league, it is the perfect time to share what I know about how youth leagues are run in The Netherlands.
2) The Dutch Football Federation (KNVB) is the hierarchical authority on the administration of the game of football like US Soccer is for the US. The administration of Men and Women football is handled separately with different leadership at the top level.
3) The NL has a population of about 17 million people and is a size of New Jersey. About 1.3 million people play the game of football in the NL where as there are about 25 million people who play the sport in the US. My focus here is strictly on Amateur youth development.
4) The NL Youth Nat'l team to the first team is a different conversation handled by a different body structure. I am here to discuss the KNVB system in place to ensures that there is no talent left behind. Let me just say this up front, if you are a talent, KNVB will find you.
5) For boys, the KNVB has divided the NL into 4 regions. Each region has Regional Directors who report to the top KNVB Youth Development Director. Each Regional Director has a territory where it scouts talent within the regions amateur clubs. Each region also has its own scouts.
6) Each Regional Directors' focus is to find talent that may have been missed or to follow-up on past evaluated players that are in the database to see their development and select them for a special call up to evaluate how they stack up against others in the new season.
7) Each regional scout (30-35 for the amateur side per region) has a weekly assignment where they have to go and watch a specific team or a player from prior years that has been flagged in the in the KNVB database to see if there is new talent in the age group.
8) The intent of this regional KNVB scouting practice is to pick players that have potentials and train them and have them compete against other regions and/or regional professional clubs within the respective age group so they can be showcased to the pro clubs.
9) Keep in mind that there is a huge competition between Regional Directors. Each Regional Director/Manager/Coach intent is to find a talent that can get picked up by a professional club.
10) If region A has 5 players of U14 that got picked by 5 different pro clubs, compared to region B that have 3 players of U14 that got picked up, Region A will have a bragging right for their success, so would the regional directors and scouts..
11) Just like the competition between regions, there is also a competition on the success of the Scouts. In the end, the success of a scout is measured when at the end of the scouting season s/he is graded for the number of players s/he has scouted that made it to a pro-club.
12) Scouting season is early (Sept-December) & the best players from the Amateur side are invited to the KNVB regional training camp. These trainings go for a period of 4 weeks (ones a week session) until a second round of callups are invited.
13) Some from the first callup are kept some let go keeping those that stood out & bringing new scouted players for another round of training & evaluation to make the final selection for the region. Keep in mind sometimes the selection process can be political as I heard it.
14) 3 years ago my son @aethanyohannes was selected from his amateur club #BuitenveldertSc as a 2nd round selection to make it to the U14 regional training camp. 36 players get called up & 17 represent the region. My son was one of the 17 that made it to Amsterdam/Utracht Region.
15) Keep in mind, this kind of selection happens for each of the four regions. Ones the regional teams are selected, they play friendly matches with the regional pro-team academy within the region. The intent is to present this players to the regional pro-team academy.
16) It gives the Regional pro-team academy the first look at the talent pool. Most often 2 or 3 quality players get invited for a trial to train with the pro academy out of these friendly matches. There could be non invited for a trial too depending on what the pro academy needs.
17) But the big event is the regional full day Dr. Fadrhonc Tournament. This is where not only players want to show case but also the regional staff’s success is noticed in the eyes of the KNVB. Here you see hundreds of scouts with a notebook in their hands taking notes.
18) Every 1st & 2nd division pro club is present to watch the players at this tournament all in one place.If one perform, their club gets a call from one of the pro-clubs interested in the player. It is an icing on the cake to be the regional champions.
19) This was how my son @Aethanyohannes was discovered by #AZ. This video is a highlight of his first training/trial match at AZ. After this match was when I was called to a meeting and when AZ offered my son a spot to join AZ U15 team.
20) An unknown kid from America with no name recognition moved to the NL & within one year scouted and is able to join a first class academy. Without a strong football youth development infrastructure/system, it would be unlikely for Aethan to have been noticed.
21) According to the rumors, the DA is going to be disband and MLS is to establish its youth league, It is my assumption MLS Youth League will be the premier division where top players will end up playing in and more likely its players will be National Team candidates.
22) What will happen with USL teams and non-MLS clubs with youth academy? Are they going to establish their own youth league? Is promotion and religion be introduced for USL and non-DA Teams to compete against MLS teams at all age level? Lots of unknowns.
23) However I also see a potential impact where quality players because of geographical challenge missing out in joining high level youth competition.Some families will have to make huge sacrifices and more likely have to move closer to an MLS team for access to high competition.
24) I also see an opportunity where US Soccer can establish a robust Youth Development system with heavy emphasis placed to ensuring players with talent are not left behind by investing heavily on scouting, training and showcasing them to MLS & USL teams as done in Europe.
25)We can’t compare the NL to how we run our system.We are a large country with huge geographical challenge but on the right path with all our limitations.I feel the path we r on is bullish.I hope so.Hope I have given you some insight as to how things are run in the Netherlands.
