Voetbal International is a Dutch football magazine. It is the oldest Dutchfootball magazine that is still running.
History and Profile
Voetbal International was established in 1965. As of 2006, VI was published by WP Sports Media. GM Carolina Pruis runs the magazine and Thijs van Veghel and Tom van Hulsen are the chief editors since the retirement of Johan Derksen on 1 August 2013. The magazine is read by approximately 800,000 people every week. VI was one of the founding members of ESM but left the group in 2007. 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.
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 is called Voetbal International as well. The show was formerly known as Voetbal Insite, but had to be sponsored to assure its future. Since that moment, former football playerRené 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. On 21 October 2011 Voetbal International was awarded the 'Golden Television Ring 2011' for best television program of the year.
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. 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. The top 7 list is as follows :
