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Private company

Royal Dutch Football Association

Logo: https://img.uefa.com/imgml/uefacom/elements/logos/ma/NED.svg, Non-free logo, via Wikipedia4

Governing body of association football in the Netherlands

The Royal Dutch Football Association is the governing body of football in the Netherlands. It organises the main Dutch football leagues (Eredivisie and Eerste Divisie), the amateur leagues, the KNVB Cup, and the Dutch men's and women's national teams. For three seasons in the 2010s, the KNVB and its Belgian counterpart operated a joint top-level women's league, the BeNe League, until the two countries dissolved the league after the 2014–15 season and re-established their own top-level leagues.2 It is headquartered in Zeist.1 It is part of Union of European Football Associations.1 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

Dec 8, 1889Founded1
  • HeadquartersZeist, Netherlands1
  • Websitewww.knvb.nl
  • Legal formnaamloze vennootschap1
  • Kind of organizationAssociation1
  • LEI724500XV6THMFXZWON053
  • StatusActive3
  • LEI statusIssued and current3
  • Registered addressWoudenbergseweg 56, 3707HX Zeist, Netherlands3
  • Registered withThe Netherlands Chamber of Commerce, 404785913

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Knvbbeker cropped
Photo: Michiel Schipper from Amsterdam, The Netherlands, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons6

The Royal Dutch Football Association (Dutch: Koninklijke Nederlandse Voetbalbond, pronounced [ˌkoːnɪŋkləkə ˈneːdərlɑntsə ˈvudbɑlbɔnt]; KNVB [ˌkaːʔɛɱveːˈbeː]) is the governing body of football in the Netherlands. It organises the main Dutch football leagues (Eredivisie and Eerste Divisie), the amateur leagues, the KNVB Cup, and the Dutch men's and women's national teams.2

Corporate structure

Royal Dutch Football Association sits at the top of its group. 1 entity, 1 country on record. Switch between the flow chart and the network, and select any entity to see its details.

  • Royal Dutch Football Association Zeist, Netherlands
    • Netherlands national association football team Owned
    • Netherlands national beach soccer team Owned
    • Netherlands national under-17 football team Owned
    • Netherlands national under-19 football team Owned
    • Netherlands national under-20 football team Owned
    • Netherlands national under-21 football team Owned
    • Netherlands women's national association football team Owned

Built from parent and subsidiary links from GLEIF, the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (CC0); subsidiaries, stakes and holdings from Wikidata (CC0). Each entity in the chart links to its source.

What it owns

What Royal Dutch Football Association reports owning in its annual reports to the SEC: buildings, land and equipment, real estate and locations, investments, intangible assets and inventory, at the end of its latest fiscal year and a year before.

Stakes and holdings (Wikidata)

  • Netherlands national association football team
  • Netherlands national beach soccer team
  • Netherlands national under-17 football team
  • Netherlands national under-19 football team
  • Netherlands national under-20 football team
  • Netherlands national under-21 football team
  • Netherlands women's national association football team

Things Wikidata records the company as owning, with the share when stated.1

The story

In 1889, the Nederlandse Voetbal en Athletiek Bond was founded. Due to certain disagreements, several football clubs ended their association with it and joined together to form Koninklijke Nederlandse Voetbalbond (KNVB) which was later renamed to its present name. It was one of the founding members of FIFA in 1904 and one of the first non-British football associations in Europe. The first Dutch football club was formed in 1879 in Haarlem. The Netherlands Football League Championship had already existed unofficially for a decade when the association was founded. The KNVB strongly disapproved of the professionalism of football in 1909. It said that "it will protest against it by all means necessary." In 2012, the KNVB launched an 11-point action plan, called 'Football for everyone' to promote gay football players in coming out. It released a 30-second video named 'Gay? It doesn't matter'; prepared by broadcaster BNN. The video was also broadcast during the Dutch national football teams World Cup qualifier match against Andorra held in October 2012.

During the 2014 FIFA World Cup, it collaborated with Royal Philips to open six football clinics across Brazil. Bert van Oostveen is the current Secretary-General of KNVB.

From Wikipedia’s article on Royal Dutch Football Association, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5

Leadership

Who has led Royal Dutch Football Association, and when. Pick a name to see everywhere that person has worked.

Chair

  1. Jan Willem Kips1919–1930
  2. Dirk van Prooije1930–1942
  3. Hans Hopster1953–1957
  4. Just Spee2019–now
197019801990200020102020

Subsidiaries and ownership

Parent company

  • Union of European Football Associations

Also owns

  • Netherlands national association football team
  • Netherlands national beach soccer team
  • Netherlands national under-17 football team
  • Netherlands national under-19 football team
  • Netherlands national under-20 football team
  • Netherlands national under-21 football team
  • Netherlands women's national association football team

From Wikidata.1

Timeline

  1. Dec 8, 1889Founded Founded1

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

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