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

Voetbal International
Editor-in-ChiefFreek Jansen, Peter Wekking, Pieter Zwart
CategoriesFootball magazines
FrequencyWeekly
PublisherPXR
Founded1965; 59 years ago (1965)
CountryNetherlands
LanguageDutch
Websitewww.vi.nl
ISSN0042-7977

History and Profile edit

Voetbal International was established in 1965. VI was one of the founding members of ESM. It left the group in 2007. Voetbal International was acquired in 2019 by the publishing house Digital Enterprises. 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. The current total paid weekly circulation is 30,433 magazines.[1]

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 and Eerste Divisie 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 edit

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[2]
  • 2016: 85,445
  • 2020: 41,993
  • 2022: 33,752[3]
  • 2023: 30,433[4]

Football Yearbook edit

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.[5]

Television Programme edit

Since 2008, a programme aired by RTL 7 (Netherlands) is called Voetbal International as well. The show was formerly known as Voetbal Insite, but had to be sponsored to assure its future.[6] Since that moment, former football player René van der Gijp has been made a series regular, after Willem van Hanegem 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.[7]

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 edit

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.

Year Player Team Ref
2015–16   Vincent Janssen AZ [8]
2016–17   Nicolai Jørgensen Feyenoord [8]
2017–18   Alireza Jahanbakhsh AZ [8]
2018–19  Hakim Ziyech Ajax [8]
2019–20 Not awarded as the league was terminated due to COVID-19 Pandemic.
2020–21   Riechedly Bazoer Vitesse [9]
2021–22   Cody Gakpo PSV [10]

Top 100 Footballers Of All Time edit

On 7 June 2017, the magazine elected Argentine Lionel Messi as the best footballer in history, after a voting that took place in order to rank the top 100 footballers of all time.[11]

Messi won the poll earning the number one spot ahead of compatriot Diego Maradona and Dutch legend Johan Cruyff, that came second and third respectively.[12]

The top 7 list is as follows :

Position Player Nationality
1. Lionel Messi  
2. Diego Maradona  
3. Johan Cruyff  
4. Pelé  
5. Alfredo Di Stéfano  
6. Zinedine Zidane  
7. Ronaldo  

Other placings are listed as below:

Position Player Nationality
10. Marco Van Basten  
50. Henri Coppens  
74. Sandro Mazzola  
75. Dennis Bergkamp  
83. Dragan Dzajic  
84. Frank Rijkaard  
85. Just Fontaine  
86. Paulo Roberto Falcao  
87. Gigi Riva  
88. Arjen Robben  
89. Hugo Sanchez  
90. Ruud Krol  
91. Ryan Giggs  
95. Leônidas  
96. Neymar  
97. Edwin van der Sar  

References edit

  1. ^ NMO Magazines oplagecijfers kerncijfers
  2. ^ Gecertificeerde jaarcijfers HOI 2011 (archived)
  3. ^ "NOM dashboard". Nationaal Onderzoek Multimedia. 2023-03-24. Retrieved 2023-03-24.
  4. ^ "NOM dashboard". 2024-03-21. Retrieved 2024-03-24.
  5. ^ Voetbaljaarboek 2010 - Voetbal International (in Dutch)
  6. ^ Voetbal Insite keert toch terug bij RTL, maar wel onder een andere naam: Voetbal International Totaal TV. 9 September 2008. Retrieved 6 September 2014.
  7. ^ Voetbal International Retrieved 6 September 2014.
  8. ^ a b c d "VI Speler van het Jaar: Hakim Ziyech, de complete spelmaker". www.vi.nl. Retrieved 2022-11-13.
  9. ^ "Bazoer blijft Wijndal en Tadic voor en is VI Speler van het Jaar". www.vi.nl. Retrieved 2022-11-13.
  10. ^ "Cody Gakpo wint Speler van het Jaar-klassement van VI". www.vi.nl. 16 May 2022. Retrieved 2022-11-13.
  11. ^ "Waarom Messi de beste voetballer aller tijden is". Voetbal International (in Dutch). 2017-06-07. Retrieved 2024-03-05.
  12. ^ Sport (2017-06-10). "Lionel Messi, voted the best player in the history of football". sport. Retrieved 2018-02-06.

External links edit