As well as being the most popular spectator sport in our region, football is also one of the most played sports in Flanders. Playing football is especially popular among children with many children having regular kickarounds with their Dad, Mum and/or siblings in the back garden or playing with friends in the park. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of Flemish youngsters are members of a football club.
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More than 170,000 children in Flanders are a member of a football club
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While it is pleased that so many kids are playing “the beautiful game”, the Flemish football association Voetbal Vlaanderen says that there are still too few girls playing the sport. Just 8% of the 170,000 children that are members of a football club in Flanders are girls. Furthermore, there are also issues persuading children of both sexes that were born in the last few months of the year to join a football club.
Football is especially popular among boys aged between 8 and 13. Around 1 in 3 boys in this age group is a member of a football club. This drops to 1 in 5 among boys that are aged 13 and above.
40% more girls
The success of and the big increase in media attention given to our national women’s football team The Red Flames has been coupled with a sizable increase in the number of girls in Flanders that are playing football at club level.
During the past 5 years the number of female youth players at our region’s clubs has increased by around 41%. However, girls still only make up 8% of the total. Voetbal Vlaanderen is determined to increase the number of girls at the region’s football clubs still further.
The association’s Director General Philip Rosier told journalists that “Females must have a place everywhere: as players, as referees and in the running of clubs”.
Fewer opportunities for children that are born later in the year?
Also apparent from Voetbal Vlaanderen’s figures is that far fewer children that were born during the final three months of the year are members of football clubs.
"The younger players have to compete against children that are much bigger and stronger. It is asking a lot of them to carry on and they often give up playing”, Voetbal Vlaanderen’s Director of Sport Bob Browaeys said. "The difference often becomes clear very early, even on the school yard. Those that bloom later cannot keep up with the so-called “early bloomers” and therefore do not join a football club. We want to change this by introducing two intake periods”. But once the “late bloomers” have bloomed they certainly can make their mark. Some big name Belgian players such as Dries Mertens and Thibaut Courtois (photo above) were once “late bloomers”.