Sydney FC officials have returned from a trip to the Netherlands designed to help gather ideas on how to replicate and build a world-class junior academy in Australia.

Club chairman Scott Barlow and soon-to-be member of the Board of Directors Han Berger spent time last week visiting three prestigious Dutch football clubs with the intention of pinching strategies to implement in Sydney's own Centre of Excellence.

Planning ahead: Sydney FC chairman Scott Barlow (left) and soon-to-be board member Han Berger, centre, visiting Dutch club Feyenoord as part of a fact-finding mission on youth academies.

Berger's affiliation with Dutch football created an opportunity for he and Barlow to meet chief executive officers, managers, scouts, youth academy directors and technical directors from Ajax, Feyenoord and FC Utrecht.

Dutch youth academies have been long-regarded as among the most sophisticated in world football on the basis of skill development and playing style.