On his first visit ever to the Royal Netherlands Football Association (KNVB) Campus, FIFA Secretary General Mattias Grafström was excited to witness first-hand the developments that are taking place in Zeist as the Dutch national team prepare for the upcoming FIFA World Cup 2026™.

“The KNVB Campus is both impressively compact and modern, a real place where performance and innovation come together – in what is a historic place for Dutch football,” the FIFA Secretary General, who shares Dutch and Swedish nationality, said. “The visit to Zeist was a great opportunity to speak with KNVB President Frank Paauw and KNVB General Secretary Gijs de Jong, and to understand more closely the progressive positioning that the organisation has locally in the Netherlands, but also internationally in Europe and further afield.”

The visit to the KNVB Campus, to the home of what is one of the founding FIFA Member Associations, also coincided with the tenth anniversary of the passing of Oranje’s most shining star on the field, the unique talent and the global football innovator that was Johan Cruyff.

“Johan Cruyff represents Dutch football and the concept of total football, which was the calling card for the way the Netherlands approached playing football, a brand that brought the ‘Oranje’ of Rinus Michels for the first time to the FIFA World Cup final in 1974,” the FIFA Secretary General said. “This team marked a generation around the world and Johan Cruyff’s influence remains at the heart of Dutch football. I am sure he will be hoping from above that this generation also reaches the pinnacle of men’s national team football at the upcoming FIFA World Cup.

"Personally, I have followed the fortunes of the Dutch national team closely, from my early days at UEFA when they prepared for the 1998 FIFA World Cup in Nyon, Switzerland, all the way to seeing Dennis Bergkamp scoring a wonderful goal in the quarter-finals of that tournament at the Stade Vélodrome in Marseille against Argentina. These are the memories that remain with you for a lifetime.

“And today it was all about seeing what is to come for this generation of Dutch football talent. It was great to see the Dutch men’s national team being put through their paces in Zeist as they continue their preparations for the biggest event in world football. I look forward to seeing the current crop of Dutch talent on the global stage as they take on the best in the world in Canada, Mexico and the United States during the summer in what is sure to be a great festival of football.”

KNVB General Secretary Gijs de Jong said: “It was a great privilege to host the FIFA Secretary General at our KNVB Campus in Zeist. As one of the founding members of FIFA, the Royal Netherlands Football Association feels deeply connected with the international world of football. In the heart of our innovation centre, we discussed about the future of football and together we looked forward to the FIFA Congress in Vancouver next April, as well as the FIFA World Cup in Canada, Mexico, and the USA this summer. And given the Dutch background of the FIFA Secretary General, his visit today naturally held a special significance for all of us.”

The Netherlands open their FIFA World Cup 2026 group stage campaign on 14 June 2026 against Japan in Dallas, before facing the UEFA Path B winner (Albania, Poland, Sweden or Ukraine) in Houston on 20 June and then concluding versus Tunisia in Kansas City five days later.