KNVB chairman Just Spee on board UEFA | Football

sport">This means that the Haarlemmer will be on the plush in Nyon for the next four years, combining that with his part-time position – three days a week – as a paid union chairman. The election of Spee is the result of a strong lobby by Spee himself, his KNVB predecessor Van Praag and secretary-general Gijs de Jong of the KNVB. The lobby was made even more difficult due to corona, as a result of which Spee had little live contact with representatives of other unions and had to support his application mainly with personal contact via telephone and video calling.

sport">Initially it seemed to be a close-finish because the Belgian federal president Mehdi Bayat also applied at the last minute. It was not expected that the congress would include someone from the Netherlands and Belgium on the board. This did not happen and of the nine candidates for the eight vacant positions, including that of Van Praag, who stepped down after twelve years, the Belgian dropped out with only 14 votes.

sport">Especially Spee’s business background as director and financial director of several large companies and his knowledge of the media was a reason for many unions to vote for the Dutchman. It is expected that Spee will join the financial, media and / or marketing committee of UEFA. Spee would also like to be involved in innovation projects of the European Football Association. “This often develops in the Netherlands and then spreads like a wave across the entire continent. See the arbitral innovations and the arrival of the VAR, which originated from Zeist. ”

sport">According to Spee, there will also have to be a substantive discussion about the future sustainability of football. “Do our children want the football game as we play it now? They grow up differently and want different things. If we want football to continue, we have to add things – without throwing away the DNA, ”said Spee in an interview in De Telegraaf last week.

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