The KNVB has apologized for Jan Dirk van der Zee’s column. The director of amateur football wrote in his weekly piece on Tuesday that he wants to run a pilot in the Kitchen Champion Division with five game rule changes from the 2023/24 season. Clubs were not aware of this. Among others, Hans Martijn Ostendorp of De Graafschap, general manager, expressed his displeasure via Twitter. The football association then felt compelled to send an e-mail in which an apology was made.
If it is up to Van der Zee and the KNVB, the pilot in the Kitchen Champion Division will start from the 2023/24 season. However, UEFA and FIFA must first express their approval. The fact that the plans were not shared with the clubs quickly went wrong. “Everyone is allowed to think freely about football, but Jan Dirk van der Zee has a great responsibility as director of amateur football,” said a frustrated Ostendorp against ESPN† The general manager expressed his dissatisfaction via Twitter on Tuesday evening. “Is it perhaps a good thing that we within the Kitchen Champion Division also think something about it before Jan Dirk van der Zee gives an opinion about it? Bizarre.”
‘From the 2023/24 season, five new rules in the Kitchen Champion Division’
The KNVB wants to start a pilot from next year to implement five rule changes.
“I don’t even care so much about the proposals. You always have to keep thinking about whether it can be done differently,” Ostendorp continues. “But what matters to me is that a director of amateur football, without having spoken to anyone, calls these kinds of things and wants to practice with them in the Kitchen Champion Division. He can do that with the amateurs, where his responsibility lies.” Ostendorp is known for not hiding his opinion. The director often intervenes on Twitter in discussions about policy matters surrounding football. The KNVB has used Ostendorp’s words for an apology email.
“This is indeed up to the clubs. Jan Dirk wrote this in a personal capacity and made an apology. Nothing happens in the Kitchen Champion Division without the clubs being known in it,” says Marc Boele on behalf of the KNVB. Boele is director of the Kitchen Champion Division. The email was sent by director Marianne van Leeuwen. All clubs from the first division have received the mail. The football association states that such matters are never carried out without consultation with the clubs. Van der Zee has not yet responded to the commotion in the media.
“I stand for an open relationship and especially good cooperation with the clubs,” said Van Leeuwen. “Now the image is created that the KNVB just decides something. I immediately informed the clubs in an email that this is not the case at all. I’m really upset about this. Fortunately, they respond understandingly.” The director says it is good that people are thinking about the future of football. “In the field of innovation, the KNVB has always been a forerunner in the world. In amateur football we are already trying new things. Of course we are thinking about how we can keep football attractive in the longer term and which innovations are appropriate.”
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