Van Hanegem or the flood competition: Zeeland is also represented in the new football canon

Vissers presents the 231-page book in the living room of the terminally ill Joop van der Laan in Oosterland. Van der Laan can barely speak, but he can still read a book. He carefully flips through the colorful book full of photos, anecdotes and stories. “We didn’t just want to put the real football hits in the book, but also the funniest things. For example, singing Andre Hazes songs during matches or recording football photos. Football is really a culture. in the Netherlands and we tried to capture that in the book, ”says Vissers.

Vissers wrote the book with four friendly journalists. These gentlemen are football fanatics, but they missed a book in which all the highlights of Dutch football have been collected. That’s why they took matters into their own hands and wrote the canon: “And I’m now making a route through the Netherlands to personally hand over the book to interested parties,” says Vissers.

One of the parties was Joop van der Laan. Zeeland therefore plays a role in the book: “Zeeland is unlucky that there are few inhabitants and that it is lagging behind the big provinces in terms of football. However, there have been important Zeeland players such as Peter van Vossen, Danny Blind and the De Nooijer brothers. of course the great Willem van Hanegem, one of the best players of all time and features prominently in the book. “