Building Futures: HERA United’s Vision to Revolutionise Women’s Football Development 💪
HERA United’s business model—focused on collaboration, retention, and talent development—offers a potential blueprint for women’s football growth, particularly beyond markets such as the UK and USA
16 October 2024
The Netherlands has a rich history of producing world-class football talent, with Ballon d’Or winners like Johan Cruyff, Marco van Basten, Ruud Gullit, and more recently, Lieke Martens.
Dutch men’s clubs have long mastered talent development and trading. The top five Eredivisie clubs have collectively amassed over €1.15 billion in positive transfer balances since 2014/15, according to Transfermarkt.
Ajax Amsterdam alone has generated over €500 million, highlighting the country’s ability to nurture and monetise elite talent.
In contrast, Europe’s major leagues—often the buyers of this talent—operate with significant deficits. The English Premier League, for example, has a net transfer balance of -€4.9 billion during the same period. Italy, Spain, France, and Germany also show negative balances ranging from (ranging from -€1.85 billion to -€661 million), underscoring the Netherlands' key role in supplying talent to Europe’s biggest leagues.
As women’s football grows, leagues like the Women’s Super League (WSL) in England, Ligue 1 Féminine in France, and Liga F in Spain are beginning to mirror the men’s game in their appetite for international talent.
The Netherlands is already the most represented foreign nation in the WSL, with 12 players, including stars like Vivianne Miedema, Kerstin Casparij, and Wieke Kaptein turning out for Manchester City, Manchester United, and Chelsea. Dutch players also feature prominently at clubs like Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, PSG, and Lyon.
For Marieke Visser, founder and CEO of HERA United, this talent drain presents both a challenge and an opportunity.
HERA, a women’s-only club set to launch in 2025, aims to develop and retain Dutch talent for longer before selling players to Europe’s top leagues.
“I think that’s a real threat… that our talents are going abroad too soon, like when they’re 17, 18, 19,” Visser warned on the Sports Pundit Podcast.
While some players thrive abroad, many struggle for game time, hindering their development. HERA’s solution is to keep talent in the Netherlands longer, allowing players to mature in a supportive environment before making the leap to bigger leagues.
HERA is committed to a female-first approach to coaching, sports technology, and athlete development, creating an ecosystem that supports women both on and off the pitch. By integrating cutting-edge sports science and personalised coaching, HERA aims to set a new standard for women’s football development.
This holistic model aligns with HERA’s sporting ambitions and positions the club as a force for social change.
“We hope we get the chance to really create that because then we can make a difference—not only for HERA, but for the country, the league, and women’s football in the Netherlands,” Visser said.
In contrast to many men’s football projects, HERA don’t want to do this alone.
Instead, their strategy involves collaboration with other Dutch clubs to build a nationwide talent development system.
“We are in the middle of planning this because we believe, compared to men's football, there should be a national vision on training and preparing talent,” Visser explained. “We think as HERA that we should be working with clubs across the country,” she added.
Visser envisions the creation of five major academies across the Netherlands, working collectively to build a strong national talent pool. These academies would serve as the backbone of the domestic women’s game, ensuring that talent is developed with a consistent, high-standard methodology across the country.
HERA’s model seeks to align resources, knowledge, and financial benefits across clubs, ensuring better opportunities for young players and greater long-term sustainability for Dutch women’s football.
“I think the strength in women's football is like, we're all in this together. That’s a big difference from men's football,” added Frederique De Laat, HERA United’s Head of Finance & Operations, who also joined the conversation on the podcast.
This cooperative spirit could be a key driver of growth in the women’s game and in developing the quality of the product.
As women’s football gains global attention, this uniquely collaborative approach could foster a healthier ecosystem, ensuring the sport grows more sustainably than the men’s game, where shorter-term success often takes precedence over long-term or more holistic development.
Whether the women’s game will develop a lucrative transfer market remains to be seen, but HERA’s approach provides a promising model for how clubs could benefit by nurturing talent for longer before selling.
HERA United’s business model—focused on collaboration, retention, and talent development—also offers a potential blueprint for women’s football growth, particularly beyond markets such as the UK and USA.
As such, the club’s journey is one to watch closely. Its success could signal a new era for women’s football, one that balances commercial viability with athlete-centred development.