On the streets and squares in Utrecht, he was already working on it as a young boy. How big do we make the field? Keeper or not? What exactly counts as a goal? Who plays on the team that is outnumbered? “There are always those little things that make the game more fun, more exciting,” says Marco van Basten one morning, during an interview in Amsterdam.
Now, at 58 and coaching away, he is emerging as a progressive voice of football. He pleads for new rules of the game, kicks against sacred cows. Like last month when he was in a open letter to Gianni Infantino, president of the world football association FIFA, called for action against the “aggressive actors with football boots”. He is “frustrated” with the theatrical behavior and complaints of players. “During too many matches we hardly see a ball rolling.”
Sometimes he can’t watch games anymore. Such as the cup final between Ajax and PSV and the Europa League final between AS Roma and Sevilla, both marred by spoilage, riots and protest. On evenings like these, Van Basten, former world football player of the year, zaps away. “Every week it happens once that I don’t like to watch,” he says.
Let only the captain argue with the referee, he suggests. Other players who nevertheless seek contact must receive a yellow card. And to counter the many interruptions, an effective playing time of 35 minutes per half must be introduced. The clock then only runs when the ball is in play. This is how ‘pure’ football should be promoted, thinks Van Basten. In online polls he got a lot of support – also from UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin. The FIFA responded friendly, without specifically responding to his proposals.
Van Basten already discussed his ideas when he was responsible for the technical development of football at FIFA, from September 2016 to October 2018. At the time, he was involved in the introduction of the video arbitrator (VAR), the biggest change in years. A trial balloon that he received a lot of criticism for was the scrapping of the offside rule.
The former top striker has since continued to actively participate in the debate about the future of his sport. From a free role – he does not speak on behalf of an organization. This is broader than just the rules of the game. The growing gap between ‘poor’ and ‘rich’ in European football is another point he draws attention to.
It annoys me that players are meowing so often on the floor
Why do you feel such a strong need to speak out on these topics?
“I can’t do it either. It doesn’t make me any better or worse. And yet I think it’s good. I also just like talking about it. It’s really something I’m convinced of. They are my ideals. Why shouldn’t I?”
What was the last straw for you to write the letter?
“It annoys me that players are meowing so often on the floor. And that they show annoying behavior towards the referee. It’s getting a little bit worse. It is a very bad message to the youth. FIFA, UEFA and KNVB should try to improve that. But they are still doing too little.”
Is this going to be normal for the youth now?
“No one takes what the referee decides anymore. You also see that kind of behavior in society – people seem to be less able to deal with authority. But it is precisely in football that you can and must do everything you can to keep that part good and clean. That is relatively easy to arrange.”
In your time as a player, did you sometimes do something that was not allowed?
“Naturally. You can’t blame the players either. Neither does the referee. It is about good regulation.”
But it starts with the behavior of players, right?
“No, they do everything they can to win. And that’s fair, that’s what the fans want. So you have to make sure that players stay within the lines by the rules.”
Will that really prevent games from derailing?
“At the beginning of the season, in August, you see that everyone is still in a good position. While in May everyone is complaining. This is because the interests increase during the season. Players then push the boundaries even more emphatically, as an association you have to clarify that.”
Isn’t there a danger of football being over-regulated?
“No not at all. Because there is always room for interpretation, you can see that with the VAR. There is still emotion, even if there are better rules.”
This is exactly what Infantino asked him for in 2016: innovating and improving football, in terms of rules, refereeing and technology. Chief Officer for Technical Development, was his post. On the first day of his first office job ever, he received a question from one of his 40 employees about vacation days at FIFA headquarters in Zurich, according to his autobiography Basta (2019). “I really had no idea.”
How was that time at FIFA for you?
“Very strange. Fun and also educational. But it turned out that I was going too fast. Because I was used to changing things and normally do so quite immediately.”
What do you mean?
“Well, if I find something, I’ll tell you. And that was not so used to at FIFA. The first interview I gave [begin 2017 in het Duitse blad Bild] I said that I find it very interesting to see what football is like without the offside rule. The game became more and more defensive. By removing offside, larger spaces are created and it is slightly more difficult to defend and easier to score. You should test that for a few years in the third division in Germany, or wherever.”
What happened next?
“People didn’t like that. At FIFA they were like: we have to push it back into its cage for a while. Normally I went along to all meetings and appointments. I was asked less and less for that. Infantino is elected by the national associations [211 in totaal], if they start to doubt his policy, it is not convenient for him. He got a lot of questions about my ideas. So that was a problem from the start.”
You also attended meetings of the international rules committee IFAB. How did it go?
“The first time was at a meeting in Frankfurt. I was furious, including about effective playing time and the ban on complaining to the arbitrator. They found that very complicated. Then a lot had to be done. That is also true, the moment you change those rules, it applies to the whole world. So it should also be clear at the third level in New Zealand. That is quite something.”
Also read this report from 2017: In Lisse, Van Basten’s football dream comes true a little bit
You had too few supporters for change?
“I didn’t succeed, so apparently I’m not that political. And I didn’t feel like it either. I also said: you asked me to come here. I’m not here for myself. So if you don’t want me, please. Then we won’t.”
Don’t you regret that you were there for such a short time? You could have changed it from the inside.
“To do that, I should have been much more patient. Instead of two years, I should have been there twenty years. But then I would have had a completely unhappy life. That choice was the same as with the trainership, I didn’t get what I actually wanted. I had that here too.”
Why does football need to change?
“And there are many people who say: it is beautiful, that old tradition. But you have to keep up, keep it exciting and honest. It’s the wrong word, but it’s a ‘product’ that must remain pure. It shouldn’t rot.”
In addition to the VAR, many changes have been made in recent years, right? Five instead of three substitutions, extra time is calculated more precisely and there is stricter action against psychological warfare by goalkeepers during penalties.
“Those are such silly decisions. Just like there was a very important thing about the adjustment at the kick-off, that you can now pass directly to the back. Well, we’ve made some changes. While I think: how simple can it be to fundamentally improve the game?”
Pure playing time – one of your hobbyhorses – is now firmly on the agenda at FIFA.
“Yes, if effective playing time is introduced, the referee must ensure that the game continues properly. And not that he takes ten minutes for every trifle, because the clock will stop anyway.”
Where will football be in ten years if nothing happens now?
“Then it may just be that television companies see that the viewing figures are decreasing and they start focusing on other things. Then it becomes a serious problem.”