FIFA President Gianni Infantino has congratulated new Royal Netherlands Football Association (KNVB) President Frank Paauw on his recent election in a meeting at the FIFA office in Paris, France. A former police chief in both Rotterdam and Amsterdam who has been involved in advising football bodies on security matters for more than 20 years, Mr. Paauw stepped into the role on 27 May this year.

“I was delighted to welcome the recently elected Royal Netherlands Football Association President, Frank Paauw, to the FIFA office in Paris,” said Mr. Infantino. “He takes charge of a vibrant and effective national association, and I am looking forward to continuing a fantastic working relationship. “President Paauw's experience in football and his love for the game, as well as the superb team he will lead, will ensure the KNVB leverages the great talent pool at its disposal and remains among the most successful teams in men’s and women’s football.”

Ranked seventh in the FIFA/Coca-Cola Men’s World Ranking, the Dutch senior men’s national team reached the UEFA EURO 2024 semi-finals recently, a feat the senior women’s team will hope to emulate next year having already clinched their place at the UEFA Women’s EURO 2025. Their U-20 counterparts will compete in the upcoming FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup™ in Colombia (31 Aug. – 22 Sept.), while their futsal colleagues qualified for the FIFA Futsal World Cup Uzbekistan 2024™ (14 Sept. – 6 Oct.), and Mr Paauw acknowledged his job is to maintain his country’s steady flow of world-class talent with the help of initiatives such as the FIFA Forward Development Programme.

“We are a small country, albeit with 1.2 million people who play football, but if we want to continue to perform as well as we do in top-level football, then we are obliged to invest a lot in young people. Both boys and girls. We do that with great pleasure, but it’s also in the DNA of the KNVB,” said the KNVB President, whose association has been honoured by the FIFA Forward Awards 2024 for its work in enhancing youth participation in football with the support of FIFA funding. “Football is, of course, a global sport and we cannot work without FIFA, the umbrella association that organises football all across the world. That is why it’s important that KNVB also takes part in this and is present in Paris on this day.”