2013 (June in Israel)
Spain 11' Champions...
KNVB 07' and 05' Champions...
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The Netherlands are celebrating their second successive UEFA European Under-21 Championship title (June of 07') and coach Foppe De Haan says it is no coincidence. Louis van Gaal explains how a youth coaching system set up five years ago is now reaping rewards.
It has long been known that the Netherlands have a habit of producing talented footballers. And the Jong Oranje's second successive UEFA European Under-21 Championship victory is proof that another exciting generation is coming through.
U21 successes
For a relatively small country, the Netherlands' record of one UEFA European Championship victory and two appearances in the FIFA World Cup final, not to mention AFC Ajax, PSV Eindhoven and Feyenoods's continental exploits, is pretty impressive. The likes Johan Cruyff, Marco van Basten and Ruud Gullit would be on anyone's all-time greatest list. But there have also been fallow periods, and at youth level success has been elusive. But not only did the Netherlands reach the UEFA European U17 Championship final in 2005, then winning world bronze, but the U21 triumphs in the last two years are also firsts for the Dutch.
'Not a coincidence'
Foppe de Haan, who made his name as a coach leading SC Heerenveen from the second division to the UEFA Champions League, was in charge of the Netherlands for both U21 victories, and he believes that something special is happening. "This says something about the status of Dutch football," De Haan said. "When you become European champions once, it could be luck. But when you repeat that success with a completely different team, then it cannot be a coincidence. We were missing a lot of good players in this tournament, but still we won. If we could have had everyone available I would have had a fantastic team. Besides that, the current senior team is not too old either. That is a positive thing. We can be satisfied with our youth development and education."
Van Gaal masterplan
It is a reward for a new youth coaching system introduced by the Royal Netherlands Football Association in 2002 under the then national coach Louis van Gaal. Every club's academy was given a rating from one to four stars as an incentive to improve, and Van Gaal told uefa.com: "If you have four stars you have the best conditions for educating youth players. When you have one star it is not so good so the best players will go to the best education system. That is a stimulus for the clubs to create the best conditions, for example the level of the coaches. To that end we have created models exercised from children aged five, six, seven eight and nine because in the old days the parents of young children educated their kids but they didn't know how to do it so they played football without knowledge. Now we are showing them how to do it."
Pyramid
Overall, Van Gaal has aimed to make an already prolific system more structured. "In the federation itself there were already people and coaches thinking about a masterplan and I co-ordinated that masterplan," the current AZ Alkmaar coach said. "I guided it and ensured that amateurs and professionals worked together to make this plan successful. There was always a pyramid in the Netherlands, that has been the infrastructure for many, many years in the Netherlands. But amateurs and professionals were separated, while now everything is structured, so everyone knows the rules. Also the education of our football coaches is of a very high standard I think. Before 2000 there was not an official youth coach diploma and now there is a special youth coach diploma. I think if you can manage youth football well you can better manage the seniors. To educate young people is much more difficult because you have to know the characteristics of each age group."
Next step
The results are clear, but Van Gaal wants more. "In the last five years - I don't know if it is the result of the masterplan - but we have qualified much more often for tournaments at U17 and U19 level, so that's a good sign but it is never enough," said Van Gaal. "All professional clubs in the Netherlands have academies but we don't have enough top players to educate. I think you need to go to a regional academy, so the good coaches also can work together. When you have 30 academies then it is too divided. I encouraged Heracles Almelo and FC Twente to combine their youth academies, and now they are champions at the highest youth level, and that really was a big result for me. We need to realise that there are not many top players in the Netherlands. We have one million players from 17 million inhabitants. That is a lot but in big countries like England, a higher population, they are able to do more."
written online UEFA.com June07'
Spain 11' Champions...
KNVB 07' and 05' Champions...
---
The Netherlands are celebrating their second successive UEFA European Under-21 Championship title (June of 07') and coach Foppe De Haan says it is no coincidence. Louis van Gaal explains how a youth coaching system set up five years ago is now reaping rewards.
It has long been known that the Netherlands have a habit of producing talented footballers. And the Jong Oranje's second successive UEFA European Under-21 Championship victory is proof that another exciting generation is coming through.
U21 successes
For a relatively small country, the Netherlands' record of one UEFA European Championship victory and two appearances in the FIFA World Cup final, not to mention AFC Ajax, PSV Eindhoven and Feyenoods's continental exploits, is pretty impressive. The likes Johan Cruyff, Marco van Basten and Ruud Gullit would be on anyone's all-time greatest list. But there have also been fallow periods, and at youth level success has been elusive. But not only did the Netherlands reach the UEFA European U17 Championship final in 2005, then winning world bronze, but the U21 triumphs in the last two years are also firsts for the Dutch.
'Not a coincidence'
Foppe de Haan, who made his name as a coach leading SC Heerenveen from the second division to the UEFA Champions League, was in charge of the Netherlands for both U21 victories, and he believes that something special is happening. "This says something about the status of Dutch football," De Haan said. "When you become European champions once, it could be luck. But when you repeat that success with a completely different team, then it cannot be a coincidence. We were missing a lot of good players in this tournament, but still we won. If we could have had everyone available I would have had a fantastic team. Besides that, the current senior team is not too old either. That is a positive thing. We can be satisfied with our youth development and education."
Van Gaal masterplan
It is a reward for a new youth coaching system introduced by the Royal Netherlands Football Association in 2002 under the then national coach Louis van Gaal. Every club's academy was given a rating from one to four stars as an incentive to improve, and Van Gaal told uefa.com: "If you have four stars you have the best conditions for educating youth players. When you have one star it is not so good so the best players will go to the best education system. That is a stimulus for the clubs to create the best conditions, for example the level of the coaches. To that end we have created models exercised from children aged five, six, seven eight and nine because in the old days the parents of young children educated their kids but they didn't know how to do it so they played football without knowledge. Now we are showing them how to do it."
Pyramid
Overall, Van Gaal has aimed to make an already prolific system more structured. "In the federation itself there were already people and coaches thinking about a masterplan and I co-ordinated that masterplan," the current AZ Alkmaar coach said. "I guided it and ensured that amateurs and professionals worked together to make this plan successful. There was always a pyramid in the Netherlands, that has been the infrastructure for many, many years in the Netherlands. But amateurs and professionals were separated, while now everything is structured, so everyone knows the rules. Also the education of our football coaches is of a very high standard I think. Before 2000 there was not an official youth coach diploma and now there is a special youth coach diploma. I think if you can manage youth football well you can better manage the seniors. To educate young people is much more difficult because you have to know the characteristics of each age group."
Next step
The results are clear, but Van Gaal wants more. "In the last five years - I don't know if it is the result of the masterplan - but we have qualified much more often for tournaments at U17 and U19 level, so that's a good sign but it is never enough," said Van Gaal. "All professional clubs in the Netherlands have academies but we don't have enough top players to educate. I think you need to go to a regional academy, so the good coaches also can work together. When you have 30 academies then it is too divided. I encouraged Heracles Almelo and FC Twente to combine their youth academies, and now they are champions at the highest youth level, and that really was a big result for me. We need to realise that there are not many top players in the Netherlands. We have one million players from 17 million inhabitants. That is a lot but in big countries like England, a higher population, they are able to do more."
written online UEFA.com June07'
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