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inspired by what I could apply to the club.” He also has a tip on how to improve. “The Dutch sports sector could take the lead more often, or the larger sports marketing agencies should take up this responsibility. And not always invite the NFLs or Real Madrids of the sports world, but smaller clubs like SD Huesca, NK Maribor and Brøndby IF.” Vocational schools and universities “As mentioned before, the KNVB already organi ses an excellent annual Expertise Conference for all football clubs, while the Eredivisie CV organises specific smaller-scale events on a few occasions. However, I still miss having access to international best practices. Sharing good examples yourself at conferences abroad more often makes it easier to gain new

ween club directors. Clubs from other sports are also invited. Unfortunately, we don’t have that in the Netherlands.” According to Schnater, the better Dutch sports business events come from the smaller sports marketing agencies, such as Yellow Jersey. “They regularly organise sport marketing meetups with the conviction that sharing knowledge helps the entire sector as well as the agency.” Not known as a conference country Schnater believes that the Netherlands is not known as a sports conference country. “When I worked at AZ Alkmaar, I was regularly asked to speak about our learnings at conferences abroad. How did they find me? I was quite active on Twitter and LinkedIn, profiled myself as an expert in my field and also showed how I applied those learnings.

The KNVB Campus is an inspiring location, in the green cent re of The Netherlands, with a view at the football fields of the Dutch national football team. The one-two that the KNVB Campus can offer as a congress and event location is thereby unique. Big, small, food, drinks, for business or sports, everything is possible.

Bas Schnater: 'Great marketing initiatives are being developed in the Netherlands that deserve an international stage.'

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50 – 3000 people

KNVB Campus Food Concept

knowledge. Ultimately, the value of attending a confe rence is in expanding your network.” He also sees opportuni ties for vocational schools and universities within the sports sector. “In Denmark, the University College of Northern Denmark organi ses an annual event that

Centrally located in The Netherlands Free and sufficient parking options

But it is precisely the medium-sized and small clubs with few resources that you see using a lot of creativity

Yet, it wasn’t about giving pre sentations but about what I could learn from other clubs. In the audience at these conferences, you occasio nally meet a Dutch person who works at a foreign club or union, but never someone from a Dutch football club.” And he feels that’s a shame.

Full-service event venue

attracts quite a few Danish sports clubs. There, they emphasise matters such as interaction with the academic world. Even though the Netherlands has at least one college that is excellent at profiling itself on Twitter thanks to a number of professors, I think the country has a role to play.” Much potential In the end, you could say that the Netherlands has the potential to be an ideal country for sports conferences. There are enough funds in sports, we have many athletes and there are enough themes to discuss. However, companies should take much more initiative to come up with in-depth conferences. Then things will be fine.

“They could learn so much from other clubs abroad, while Dutch football clubs have a lot of good ideas to share.” “As sports marketing connoisseurs, Dutch clubs could do a better job of marketing themselves. Ajax is not the only Dutch football club that’s good at sports marketing. Great marketing ini tiatives are being developed in the Netherlands that deserve an international stage.” Small clubs are especially creative “However, I fear that the Dutch are a bit too stu bborn and not properly convinced that they can learn something from Swedish or Polish clubs. But it is precisely the medium-sized and small clubs with few resources that you see using a lot of creativity. During my time at AZ Alkmaar, I was

Robert Maaskant: 'Organising conferences

should receive a little more attention, given the worrying trend that fewer association sports are being played after the health crisis.'

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