Samen Zijn with Willeke Alberti, Diggy Dex and FC Mooiste Contact

On Tuesday March 29 during the football match between the Netherlands and Germany, FC Mooiste Contact will turn the spotlight on 500 people. FC Mooiste Contact is a new social initiative in which the KPN Mooiste Contact Fonds and the Royal Dutch Football Association KNVB have combined forces. It brings together the best of two worlds, connecting people through football. This powerful formula is the way in which the club is tackling a growing problem in society: loneliness.

The launch will feature appearances by Willeke Alberti and Diggy Dex. Together they will perform a new version of Willeke Alberti’s evergreen song “Samen Zijn”. The original dates back to 1987, but it has lost none of its power and relevance and is today more topical than ever.

Dutch national football team connects
Mark Versteegen, director of the KPN Mooiste Contact Fonds: “Social contact is not a straightforward matter for the 500 people who, thanks to FC Mooiste Contact, will get the chance to attend the international at the Johan Cruijff ArenA. In their daily life, they have less connection to the world around them than they would like. Sometimes through illness or the loss of a partner. Sometimes through a handicap or because, as foreigners, they do not speak Dutch, or simply because COVID-19 has distanced them from other people. FC Mooiste Contact brings people together through football.”

“In a football stadium we all speak the same language,” says Marc Nipius, KNVB partnership manager & new business. “The language of a supporter celebrating a goal or bemoaning a missed chance. Everyone in their own fashion. Research has shown that matches involving the Dutch national team are all about connection and fraternization. It’s a time when we are genuinely ‘one’ and are proud of our country.”

During the Netherlands-Germany match the guests will be accompanied by 250 KPN volunteers. From their seats in Section 120 they will cheer on Louis van Gaal’s side with one voice and will try to help the Netherlands win the match with their enthusiasm.

Being together
The event is the starting signal for FC Mooiste Contact, a club that plays each of its matches with a different lineup. In the coming years the club will “select” a total of a couple of thousand people to attend home matches of the Dutch national men’s and women’s teams. These people, for whom social contact is not a straightforward matter, enjoy the wonderful experience of attending a Dutch international match in the company of KPN volunteers. They will be picked up from home, they will be pampered and will experience a Dutch international match in a way that nobody else will. And…they will come into contact with new people. FC Mooiste Contact wants to make a lasting difference in the fight against loneliness and at the same time inspire people to look after others more often in their everyday life.

Read more about FC Mooiste Contact
Read more about the KPN Mooiste Contact Fonds