Will the best football players in the Netherlands soon be playing in Oisterwijk? The KNVB Campus, where the Dutch national team trains, cannot grow at the current complex in Zeist and that is why the search for a new location has started. Oisterwijk is very interested in being the new host from 2030. “As far as we are concerned, the match can start,” Mayor Hans Janssen said in the bid book to the KNVB management.
The KNVB Campus has been located in Zeist since 1965. Not only the national selections train there, but trainers and referees are also trained there or football players can recuperate there. The football association is ambitious on a national and international level and there are wishes for further growth. This is not possible at the current location, so the association is open to new options.
The competition is fierce, because Rotterdam and Barendrecht, among others, recently submitted their plans to the KNVB. And there are more cities that are interested. In the Breda city council there was recently interest from the local D66 and VVD faction and in Gemert-Bakel, CDA councilor Joris van Loon dreams of a move to his municipality.
READ ALSO: KNVB stronghold to Gemert-Bakel? If it is up to this council member, it will happen
In the municipality of Oisterwijk, the ball started rolling through a number of political parties. There was a lot of enthusiasm among local initiators about a KNVB Campus and land owners have offered more than 35 hectares. The mayor and aldermen are convinced of the bid book and hope to convince the football association.
“Municipality that has a heart for sports.”
“We have hotels and sports facilities that have been receiving selections from FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, PSV and Oranje for their training camps for years,” says Mayor Hans Janssen. “Oisterwijk is a municipality that is passionate about sports and operates three modern football complexes. Residents enjoy nature every day, a monumental center with plenty of shops and restaurants and good accessibility by rail and highway. The travel time to Eindhoven Airport is 25 minutes. “
“We start the match with passion.”
The mayor calls Oisterwijk, as a hospitable, green municipality, a top location for a KNVB Campus. “A location in a natural environment that is largely currently undergoing a planning process for the development of accommodation facilities. We are starting the competition with passion and we look forward to the start of the dialogue.”
The KNVB awaits the responses and will then discuss the possibilities with interested municipalities.