Dutch FA Launches Stepping-Stone League To Build Pro-Club Base

The Dutch FA (KNVB) "is implementing a structural reform of its domestic club football," according to Samindra Kunti of INSIDE WORLD FOOTBALL. From the '16-17 season onward, professional and amateur football in the Netherlands "will be integrated through a mandatory system of promotion and relegation." The reform "will have a profound impact on the machinations of Dutch domestic football." Currently Dutch professional football "consists of two top divisions the Eredivisie and the Eerste divisie." Below these Dutch football "turns amateur with the Topklasse, Hoofdklasse and Eerste Klasse." The KNVB "has added a new nationwide league, the Landelijke divisie, that will function as a go-between professional and amateur football with a system of promotion and relegation." Eighteen clubs, 14 Topklasse teams and four professional reserve teams, "will make up this hybrid league that is set to kick off" in the '16-17 season (INSIDE WORLD FOOTBALL, 8/3).