Jasper Warner

Jasper Warner (5 February 1870 – 27 June 1942) was a Dutch Sports executive and entrepreneur. He is regarded as one of the most important figures in the sporting history of the Netherlands.

In his hometown of Zwolle, Warner was co-founder and first chairman of the Zwolsche Athletic Club (ZAC) in 1893. In December of that year, he joined the board of the Dutch football and Athletic Association (NVB), which would later become the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB). He then served as KNVB's president for more than 20 years between 1897 and 1919. It was under his administration that the leadership of the Association was centralized and professionalized, resulting in spectacular growth for Dutch football. He played a crucial role in the creation of several sports umbrella organizations such as FIFA in 1904,

Early life Jasper Warner was born on 5 February 1870 in Assen as the son of Johannes Adrianus Warner, a worked as an iron founder in the Drenthe capital, and Jantien van Opijnen.

It was under his administration that the leadership of the Association was centralized and professionalized, resulting in spectacular growth for Dutch football. KNVB was one of the founding members of FIFA in 1904, one of the first non-British football associations in Europe.

When he achieved his silver jubilee, it does not occur to him to boast of such a victory. After all, it is not the triumph of personal honor that he had in mind. He set a goal, he went straight for it, and that is how he achieved it. — Jan Feith describing the character of Warner in 1914 in a contribution to the Gedenkboek (Memorial book), which was never published due to World War II.