Soccer Great Marc Overmars Banned From World Football

Former Dutch international Marc Overmars has been given a worldwide ban from holding a post in soccer after a suspension issued in the Netherlands was reached out by the sports world’s governing body FIFA.

Overmars left his position as Ajax’s Director of Football Affairs, which he had held for a decade, in 2022 after sending inappropriate messages to female partners. At the time he said that he was “embarrassed” of his “unsuitable way of behaving,” recognizing he later acknowledged he was “going too far.”

In 2023, an independent sports tribunal banned Overmars, who played for Ajax, Arsenal and Barcelona during his playing career, from any position in Dutch football for two years over the incidents, with one year suspended, Reuters reported.

The Royal Netherlands Football Association (KNVB) said at the time it had “an obligation to report this authorization to FIFA’s disciplinary board … which has chosen to assume control over the suspension as of November 16, 2023”.

A FIFA spokesperson confirmed on January 9, 2024, saying:

“FIFA can confirm that following a request by the Royal Netherlands Football Association (KNVB), the FIFA Disciplinary Committee has decided to extend the sanction imposed by KNVB on Mr Marc Overmars to have worldwide effect”.

It’s not yet known when Overmars’ overall ban will end.

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A spokesperson for Overmars said on Tuesday night that they had “recently been educated” about the decision of the FIFA disciplinary board of trustees. They actually need to concentrate on the validation, and for that reason they are not answering right now.

At the time of his appointment at Antwerp, Sven Jaecques, the club’s general manager, said:

“It is important to give people new opportunities and to turn the page,” while Overmars promised that, “What has happened at Ajax won’t happen again.”

“I am glad to be here,” added Overmars. “It is a new chapter for me. A beautiful challenge at a club where I see potential to grow,” he said at the time of his appointment, which came little more than a month after his departure from Ajax.

At the time of his appointment at Antwerp, Sven Jaecques, the club’s general manager, said:

“It is important to give people new opportunities and to turn the page,” while Overmars promised that, “What has happened at Ajax won’t happen again.”

Consequently, the Select Group – said it would end a sponsorship deal with the Belgian club over the choice, which it said was “straightforwardly against the qualities and guidelines” of the association.

The group included a 2022 statement: ” We genuinely accept that after a cognizant time of self-reflection, each member deserves another opportunity.

“We therefore deeply regret that neither Mr. Overmars nor the management of RAFC missed the opportunity to serenely, cautiously, and deliberately testify to this process of self-reflection and the insight acquired during the press conference.

“We have also not heard or seen any consideration in correspondence or cautious treatment of the issue.”

However, it is unknown whether Overmars’ ability to work in football will be affected by the FIFA ruling.

“So now the question is what it says in Overmars’ agreement. When a competitor is suspended for doping cases, it is much of the time expressed in the agreement that it will be promptly broken down. However, we don’t have the foggiest idea what sort of linkages there are in his agreement, thus assuming that this has work regulation ramifications,” Marjan Olfers, teacher of sports and regulation at the Free College in Amsterdam said.

Overmars spent five years as player at Ajax between 1992 and 1997 before a move to English Premier League club Arsenal, where he spent three years.

The winger then transferred to Barcelona in 2000 to become the most expensive Dutch footballer of all-time.

With 86 appearances for the Dutch national team, he is the 15th most capped player in Netherlands history.