Fightpassport: 25,000 registrations

Update: In December 2024, the Dutch combat sports federation (Nederlandse Vechtsportbond, NVB) took over the Fightpassport system and the issuing of VA numbers from the Vechtsportautoriteit. For current information and answers to all questions, we therefore refer you to the NVB.

The twenty-five thousandth registration in the Fightpassport was recorded recently. Six years after its introduction, the digital competition record book has become an established part of combat sports in the Netherlands.

In the years before the Fightpassport was introduced in 2019, competitive combat sports in the Netherlands lacked transparency. Various federations supervised bouts. Each of them had its own paper competition record book in which they kept track of results and suspensions. But athletes regularly fought bouts under different federations. Those federations usually did not share each other's information. As a result, there was no overall picture.

The lack of an overall picture made it harder to arrange balanced bouts. In addition, a fighter who had received a medical exclusion from one federation because of a knockout could simply fight under another federation. After all, that federation knew nothing about it. Fighters usually paid ten or fifteen euros for a competition record book. In the course of a year, this easily added up to forty euros for a very inadequate form of registration.

The Vechtsportautoriteit (Dutch Combat Sports Authority) was established in 2017. One of its tasks was to organise combat sports more effectively. This is why the VA developed the digital competition record book: the Fightpassport. Since January 2019, it has been in use by all federations, promoters, matchmakers and ringside physicians. All fighters, bouts and exclusions are recorded in it. It is not perfect, but in principle everyone now has a clear overall picture. This contributes to balanced matchmaking. It prevents unsafe situations. The chance of an inexperienced fighter being matched against a very experienced fighter is considerably smaller. Moreover, suspended now genuinely means suspended everywhere.

In October, the Vechtsportautoriteit, which manages and further develops this system, saw that the twenty-five thousandth registration had been reached. A milestone. The Fightpassport has become an indispensable part of everyday practice in Dutch combat sports.

The Fightpassport remains a system under development. Improvements are made in consultation with the officials, who are its main users. We welcome any feedback or suggestions for improvement regarding the system via info@vechtsportautoriteit.nl.

Another area for improvement is the registration of bouts fought abroad by Dutch fighters. Gyms are actively urged to report bouts abroad as well via info@vechtsportautoriteit.nl so that the VA office can process them. This produces as complete a picture as possible of the experience of competitive fighters.

Everyone who works with the system on a daily basis is warmly thanked for their efforts.