Koen Champion (2012)

Directed by: Annemarie Mooren | 208 minutes | family, sports | Actors: Sjors van den Hoogen, Neville van den Berg, Bibianne Garretsen, Tim Murck, Isa Hofland, Dion Kwint, Zorin Kataria, Ad van Kempen, Leontine Borsato, Luca Borsato, Marit van Bohemen, Hugo Borst, Pim Veth, Bennie Jolink

Koen Kampioen is the main character in the book series of the same name written for the middle school by Fred Diks. Koen (who is of course not called Champion by his last name, but simply Van Loon) dreams of a career as a professional football player and he is having a great time at his club FC Top. In his team are not only classmates, but also his neighbor Renske and his best friend Niels. Beginning readers love Koen’s stories: they are easy to read, recognizable and exciting. Not a bad idea to bring the adventures of Koen Kampioen to the screen. In March 2012, the eight-episode TV series was first broadcast on Avro.

In ‘Koen Kampioen’ Sjors van den Hoogen plays the title role. Other important roles are for Neville van den Berg (Niels), Bibianne Garretsen (Renske) and Tim Murck (Broekie/Sebas). Ad van Kempen can be seen as Mr. Waser, boss of FC Top and Leontine Borsato and son Luca play small roles. We sympathize with Koen when his dog is hit and he has to play an important game, we sympathize with him and his club members when irresponsible behavior of an adult breaks out in the clubhouse and enjoy their inventive attempts to cash in collect to rebuild the building. False accusations of theft, jealousy, exciting football matches and vicious opponents and white wives during school camp, these are smoothly told adventures that last just long enough to entertain children in the target group. The themes that are addressed are not treated too in-depth, such as divorce, poverty and bullying, but that does not hinder. The red line in the family series is Koen’s dream of a career at FC Stark and it is therefore obvious that the final will determine whether this is within reach or not.

The acting is not equally strong everywhere, even the adult cast is sometimes guilty of overacting, but for the intended purpose the series manages to score well. A small comment concerns the use of language, which with ‘don’t get it’, ‘shit and/or fuck’ and ‘shit this or that’ is a bit on the coarse side (in view of the young target group). But the enthusiastic cast and the funny, recognizable experiences make up for a lot. ‘Koen Kampioen’ is of course a must for lovers of the books, who will recognize many of the adventures, but also young non-football fans will enjoy the series, because the sport itself is not always central.