Dutch star thinks facilities like the Current’s would be boost for women in Holland
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- The Dutch team settled at the Kansas City Current’s training facility during the World.
- The Current’s facilities and stadium are the best in the NWSL, which has 16 teams.
- The Women’s Eredivisie shrank from 12 to 10 teams, reducing the top-league roster spots.
The Netherlands soccer team has settled in nicely at the Kansas City Current’s training facility during the World Cup.
Fans greeted the Dutch squad after its arrival on June 9, and Liverpool forward/winger Cody Gakpo had good things to say about Kansas City during a World Cup news conference on Wednesday.
“I think we are enjoying it here,” said Gakpo, who plays for Liverpool in England. “I think the facilities are very good. Obviously, the training room is amazing, and no doubt as good as home. So, yeah, we’re enjoying it here, and yeah, we appreciate everybody who’s helping us from the locals, etc., so thank you very much.”
The Current’s facilities and stadium are the best in the NWSL, which added two franchises this season and has 16 teams.
While the NWSL is thriving, things are not nearly as good for women’s soccer in the Netherlands.
The Women’s Eredivisie, the top-flight female league in Holland now has just 10 teams, after cutting back from 12 last season. That’s at least 40 fewer players who will be in the top league.
“We are going to make a leap in quality with the clubs participating in professional women’s football in the coming years. We will continue to evaluate and make adjustments where necessary,” Director of Professional Football Marianne van Leeuwen said, per the website NOS.
But a Reddit post in the Netherlands about the poor quality of pitches for women’s teams generated a lot of comment.
That included this: “It is simply a vicious circle. The stigma and the constant comparison of the level of play to the men’s game hinder interest; consequently, the audience barely grows, and revenue and development fail to materialize. Players do not improve if they have to work side jobs instead of living as full-time professionals, yet living as professionals is impossible when no one is watching— making the sport unattractive to sponsors given the negligible stadium revenue.”
I asked Gakpo if he thought a training facility like the Current’s would be good for women’s sports in the Netherlands.
“Yeah, the better the facilities, the better the things outside of football can be arranged, so that could help,” he said. “But at the end, I think it’s always the performance on the pitch that’s vital for performances.”
