From margins to mainstream: sixty years of sports medicine in the Netherlands

Abstract

In 2025, the Netherlands celebrates 60 years of organised sports medicine. What began as peripheral support for athletes has evolved into a formally recognised medical specialty with academic and clinical depth. National full recognition as a clinical specialty in 2014 and European recognition in 2024 by the Union Européenne des Médecins Spécialistes (UEMS) mark key milestones. This editorial reflects on the Dutch journey, its impact on research and practice and compares it with other emerging specialties. BJSM itself has chronicled this evolution, including a 1988 reflection on the growing scholarly relevance of sports medicine.1 Dutch sports medicine emerged in the 1960s, driven by a growing culture of physical activity and competitive sport. The early focus was practical: preventing injuries, overseeing training and ensuring safe participation. Dutch pioneers soon integrated exercise physiology and clinical medicine, laying the groundwork for the discipline’s dual role in performance and public health. A key step was the founding of the Netherlands Association of Sports Medicine (VSG) in 1965, which formalised a professional identity and linked clinical practice, education and pioneering research. Notably, the Netherlands had already contributed to laying the foundations of international sports medicine: during the 1928 Olympic Games in Amsterdam, the first international sports medicine congress was held, laying the groundwork for future collaboration and the eventual founding of Fédération Internationale de Médecine du Sport (FIMS) in 1933. In 1975, the Dutch Heart Foundation …