''Voetbal International'' (VI) is a Dutch football magazine. It is the oldest Dutch football magazine that is still running.

History and Profile

''Voetbal International'' was established in 1965. VI was one of the founding members of ESM but left the group in 2007. Voetbal International was acquired in 2019 by the publishing house

Digital Enterprises Digital usually refers to something using discrete digits, often binary digits. Technology and computing Hardware *Digital electronics, electronic circuits which operate using digital signals **Digital camera, which captures and stores digital i ...

. The chief editors of the magazine are Freek Jansen, Peter Wekking and Pieter Zwart. The magazine has had a sharply declining circulation in recent years. In the first quarter of 2022, the total paid weekly circulation was 36,586 magazines. In addition to the regular magazine that comes out every Wednesday, VI every summer publishes season previews before the start of the Dutch league season. For years they have made a guide for the Dutch season, including the fixture lists and information and statistics of every

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

and

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (, en, First Division) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie and with the third-level Tweede Divisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as t ...

team and its players. They have also issued season previews of the English, German, French, Belgian and Spanish competitions as well as for the Dutch Hoofdklasse, the highest amateur league.

Weekly circulation of Voetbal International

Total paid targeted circulation according to HOI, Instituut voor Media Auditing and Nationaal Onderzoek Multimedia. *1970: 105,272 *1985: 176,231 *1990: 198,253 *1995: 209,286 *2000: 188,209 *2011: 155,491 *2012: 140,328 *2013: 127,139 *2014: 115,956 *2016: 85,445 *2017: 69,197 *2018: 57,463 *2019: 50,006 *2020: 41,993 *2021: 37,668 *2022 Q2: 35,453

Football Yearbook

From 1978, VI had published a Dutch Football Yearbook every year, with a review of the Dutch professional leagues and their national football team as well as international tournaments. Since 2006 they publish the ''Brinvest Voetbaljaarboek''.

Television Programme

Since 2008, a programme aired by

RTL 7 (Netherlands) RTL 7 is a Dutch free-to-cable television channel that was launched as ''Veronica'' on 1 September 1995. RTL 7 is RTL Nederland's "men's channel" with action films, reality television about crime and professions, soccer, motorsport and talk s ...

is called

Voetbal International ''Voetbal International'' (VI) is a Dutch football magazine. It is the oldest Dutch football magazine that is still running. History and Profile ''Voetbal International'' was established in 1965. VI was one of the founding members of ESM but le ...

as well. The show was formerly known as Voetbal Insite, but had to be sponsored to assure its future. Since that moment, former football player

René van der Gijp René van der Gijp (born 4 April 1961) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a right winger for Sparta Rotterdam, Lokeren, PSV, Neuchâtel Xamax, Aarau and Heerenveen, as well as for the Netherlands national team. Since r ...

has been made a series regular, after

Willem van Hanegem Willem "Wim" van Hanegem (; born 20 February 1944) is a Dutch former football player and coach who played as a midfielder. In a playing career spanning over 20 years, he won several domestic honours in the Netherlands, as well as a European Cu ...

quit the job. Voetbal International's editor Johan Derksen has a permanent place as an analyser. The show is being broadcast every Monday and Friday evening at 20:30 during the football season and lasts ninety minutes. On 21 October 2011 Voetbal International was awarded the 'Golden Television Ring 2011' for best television program of the year.

VI Eredivisie Best Player of the Year

Voetbal International has been awarding the VI Eredivisie Best Player of the Year since 2016. The award is based on the magazine's ranking of the players' performance in the league.

Top 100 Footballers Of All Time

On 7 June 2017, the magazine elected Argentine

Lionel Messi Lionel Andrés Messi (; born 24 June 1987), also known as Leo Messi, is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Paris Saint-Germain and captains the Argentina national team. Widely regarded as one of the ...

as the best footballer in history, after a voting that took place in order to rank the top 100 footballers of all time. Messi won the poll earning the number one spot ahead of compatriot

Diego Maradona Diego Armando Maradona (; 30 October 196025 November 2020) was an Argentine professional football player and manager. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, he was one of the two joint winners of the F ...

and Dutch legend

Johan Cruyff Hendrik Johannes Cruijff (, internationally known as Johan Cruyff; 25 April 1947 – 24 March 2016) was a Dutch professional football player and manager. As a player, he won the Ballon d'Or three times, in 1971, 1973 and 1974. Cruyff was a ...

, that came second and third respectively. The top 7 list is as follows : Other placings are listed as below:

References

External links

{{commons category
Official website (www.vi.nl)
(in Dutch) 1965 establishments in the Netherlands Association football magazines Sports magazines published in the Netherlands Dutch-language magazines Weekly magazines published in the Netherlands Magazines established in 1965