powered by
Niels
de Vries
sport & exercise scientist | football coach | consultant | PE TEACHER | SPEAKER
Experienced and energetic movement scientist / (fitness) coach, with over 20 years of working for the Royal Dutch Football Association, supporting the professional referees and women’s national (youth) team(s). Including 7 women’s final tournaments 2013-2025 and the Tokyo Olympics.
A true team player with a strong focus on knowledge sharing, action-oriented thinking, and innovation.
01.
Services
Support and feedback
As a dedicated coach and sport scientist, I deliver hands-on sport (science) services to coaches, clubs, players, sport scientists and associations.
My services include ideas on monitoring, case study discussion, feedback session and data-driven decision-making to optimize development.
Whether you’re aiming to enhance individual performance or elevate team outcomes, I deliver actionable insights grounded in your context.
NEW: ‘Learn’ calender to share interesting courses, seminars and congresses
Training
Action in the training setting. Focus areas include:
An interdisciplinary approach, aligning with coaches and supporting staff
Game-based training inspired by football action theory
Effective warm-ups tailored to play football
Live monitoring to track physical load and adjust sessions in real time
Translating match demands into training, ensuring players are prepared to play the game
Coaching
Providing targeted support for coaches, clubs, players, sport scientists and associations in the coaching environment.
Services include:
Team and individual periodisation aligned with match calender planning, performance goals and player development
Coach education grounded in current evidence and practical application
Reflection and innovation ideas to support (individual) development, continuous learning and decision-making. Personal, dedicated and honest
500+
Network
200+
International games
500+
Performance tests
1000+
Heartbeats 🙂
02.
Experiences
Working experiences through the years…
03.
News
Deconstructing Belgium's World Cup Performance Strategy
Today, we are deep-diving into an insightful episode of the Football Fitness Federation Podcast featuring two elite sports science practitioners from the Royal Belgian Football Association (RBFA): Bram (Senior Men’s Sport Scientist) and Stephen (Health and Performance Manager). With the upcoming World Cup expanding across North America, national teams face unprecedented physiological and logistical strains—spanning massive travel distances, contrasting climates, and severe time zone shifts. In…
The Science of the Beautiful Game: How Elite Football Evolved from 2020 to 2025
Original article: Carstens R., Deshpande R., Esteve P. et al.Journal: Nature (2026) Hello science and sports fans! Today on the blog, we are diving into a fascinating new paper published in Scientific Reports titled “Evolution of spatial structure, passing network patterns, and gameplay intensity in elite women’s and men’s football (2020-2025)”. If you’ve felt like football (soccer) has been changing lately, you aren’t imagining things. A…
04.
Let’s talk
Have an idea you want to bring to life? Or ready to take the next step with your team, club or service? I’d love to hear from you! Fill out the form and I’ll get back to you soon.
