The KNVB (Royal Dutch Football Association) is starting a Talents Group next season for seven talented referees. They need to be prepared to eventually succeed Danny Makkelie and Serdar Gözübüyük, so that the Netherlands remains represented at the top of international arbitration.
The seven referees who will be included in the Talents Group are Robin Hensgens (31 years old), Marc Nagtegaal (32), Joey Kooij (33), Sander van der Eijk (34), Alex Bos (31), Jannick van der Laan (29) and Martijn Vos (30).
“We are already looking at who our future top referees and top assistants will be,” says Raymond van Meenen, referee affairs manager of the KNVB, who announced the seven names on Wednesday.
The 39-year-old Gözübüyük and the 42-year-old Makkelie are currently the only two Dutch referees in the elite group of the European refereeing corps. Until 2021, the now retired Björn Kuipers also belonged there.
“We are not going to wait until Makkelie and Gözübüyük stop and only then think: who is now going to referee Ajax-Feyenoord, Feyenoord-PSV or PSV-Ajax?,” continues Van Meenen. “No, we are already working on that now. We need three to four years to prepare a referee for a place in the national and international top.”
Talents come together every Tuesday
The seven referees from the Talents Group will meet every Tuesday next season. “They will then run an extra program,” says Van Meenen. “Apart from the regular program.”
“They will then analyze their performance. It is also about things like: how do you ensure that decisions are accepted? But also about the balance between work or study and refereeing.”
And a place in the Talents Group does not automatically mean that you will be back next year, Van Meenen emphasizes. “We set the bar high. You have to perform and develop to stay in. A new name can also join.”
The goal of the Talents Group is that the Netherlands will continue to be represented at the top in the future. “We want Dutch referees to continue to referee at final tournaments. And that they referee as many important matches as possible in the European tournaments for clubs.”