JULIANA MALDEN FOOTBALL CUP 2027

Goffertstadion tour, Nijmegen

NEC's ground sits in the Goffert park on the south side of the city, ten minutes from the tournament pitches at Malden. A tour takes the squad through the home dressing room and the tunnel and out to the pitchside, and it is the easiest stadium afternoon on the trip because the coach barely has to leave town.

Philips Stadion tour and PSV museum, Eindhoven

An hour down the road to Eindhoven for the biggest stadium the squad will see on this trip — the museum with the trophy cabinet and the European nights, then out through the tunnel to the edge of the pitch. It fits neatly on the way to or from the airport for groups flying into Eindhoven, or as a full afternoon out for coach parties.

Session with a local Dutch club coach

Revel arranges a training session with a grassroots club in the Nijmegen area, run by one of their own coaches. The squad gets an hour and a half of the Dutch way of doing things — small-sided games, positional play, the ball on the floor — and it is usually the session the coaches talk about on the way home.

Airborne Museum and the Arnhem bridge

The Battle of Arnhem happened on this ground in 1944, and the museum at Oosterbeek tells it through the villa that was the British headquarters, then the coach runs the squad to the bridge itself. It is a quiet couple of hours that lands with the older age groups in particular, and it is twenty minutes from Nijmegen.

Burgers' Zoo, Arnhem

Twenty minutes north in Arnhem, Burgers' is a set of walk-through worlds rather than a row of cages — a covered rainforest, a desert hall, a mangrove and an ocean aquarium — so it works in any weather. A half day is enough for the squad to cover it, and it sits well on the free morning between playing days.

Efteling theme park

The big Dutch theme park, an hour and a quarter west of Nijmegen — coasters, water rides and the fairy-tale forest that the younger age groups end up in whether they admit it or not. It is a full day, so squads tend to use it on the way home or as the reward day once the finals are done.

Freedom Museum, Groesbeek

Ten minutes from the tournament pitches, on the hills where the Nijmegen landings came down in 1944, the Freedom Museum covers the liberation of this corner of the Netherlands from the ground up. It is smaller and more hands-on than the Arnhem museum and pairs well with it, or stands alone as a short morning for the younger groups.

Mookerheide and Heumensoord walk

The heath and forest ridge starts at the edge of Malden, so a leg-stretch the morning after travelling costs nothing but an hour. Sandy tracks, open heather and a viewpoint over the Maas valley — an easy way to shake the coach out of the squad before the first fixture.

Nijmegen city afternoon

The centre is compact enough to do on foot — the Grote Markt and the church tower, the Valkhof park on the bluff above the river, and the Waalkade along the water for an ice cream with the bridge in view. Coaches use it as the free afternoon with a meeting point and a time, and the squad finds its own way round.

Toverland theme park

Closer than Efteling and a better fit for a half day — Toverland sits forty-five minutes south of Nijmegen with a handful of proper coasters, a rapids ride and indoor halls for when the weather turns. Squads use it as the afternoon off between the two playing days without losing the whole day to it.