1.
Rat Verlegh Stadion
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The Rat Verlegh Stadion is a multi-purpose stadium in Breda, Netherlands. The stadium is the home of the football club NAC Breda. It was formerly known as FUJIFILM Stadium and Mycom Stadium, named after two former NAC sponsors, in 2006 NAC Breda named the stadium after its most famous NAC Player, Antoon Verlegh. The stadium was built from 1995 to 1996 at a cost of €13.2 million and it has been used for association football, concerts, and other events. It has a capacity of 19,000 fans, including 1,500 standing room-only, the stadium has been used for several Intertoto matches, UEFA Cup matches and international matches. Concerts have also held at the Rat Verlegh stadion. Renovation of the stadium was too costly and in 1993 NAC Breda announced plans to build a new stadium. In mutual agreement with the city of Breda, the grounds near the Lunetstraat in Breda were allocated as the new stadium zone, on 18 August 1995 the construction of the new stadium began. NAC Breda announced that FUJIFILM had signed a contract for 10 years, after a construction period of almost one year, the stadium was officially opened by Breda’s mayor Fred Rutten and KNVB chairman Jos Staatsen. After the official opening, NAC Breda played their first match in front of 17,000 fans in the FUJIFILM Stadium against vice World Champion Porto Alegrense Gremio from Brazil, NAC’s first official match was at 16 August 1996 in a Cup tie against Dordrecht 90. NAC player Stanley MacDonald scored the first goal in the new stadium, in 2003 the stadium was renamed to the Mycom Stadion, at that time a sponsor of NAC Breda. In 2006 the stadium was renamed after NAC’s most famous and important player, the stadium was one of the first new stadiums and nowadays has numerous shortcomings. The past years public facilities have been improved, in 2009 NAC Breda announced that the stadium’s facilities will be improved further and that the stadium’s capacity will be enlarger to 17,750 in 2009 and 19,999 in 2010. Also the stadium’s environment will be improved and commercial zones will be developed directly around the stadium, an estimated sum of €100 million will be invested in this project. In 2010, despite earlier news from the club the stadium would be expanded to 19,999 places, the construction was finished in July 2010. The stadium’s lay-out is similar to an average Dutch stadium, on the stands behind the goal the fanatic NAC fans are based. The B-Side is located on the east stand, while Vak G is located on the west stand, next to Vak G the stand for the opponent’s fans is located. The northern stand is reserved for officials and sponsors, while the stand is reserved for other NAC fans
2.
Breda
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Breda is a municipality and a city in the southern part of the Netherlands. The name Breda derived from brede Aa and refers to the confluence of the rivers Mark, as a fortified city, the city was of strategic military and political significance. Breda had a population of 180,420 in 2014, the area had a population of 324,812. In the 11th century, Breda was a fief of the Holy Roman Emperor. The city of Breda obtained a charter in 1252. After that Breda had the rights to build fortifications, the city constructed brick walls and Roman-style gates. In 1327 Adelheid of Gaveren Breda sold Breda to Duke Johannes III of Brabant, in 1350, the fief was resold to Johannes II of Wassenaar. In 1403 the heiress of his line, Johanna of Polanen, thus, the baron of Breda was also count of Nassau, Germany, prince of Orange and stadtholder of the Dutch Republic. Breda remained part of the barony Breda until it was taken by French revolutionary forces in 1795, the acquisition of the city by the House of Orange-Nassau marked its emergence as a residentiestad. The presence of the Orange-Nassau family attracted other nobles, who built palatial residences in the old quarters of the city. The most impressive one, built by the Italian architect Thomas Vincidor de Bologna for the first Dutch prince, was the first renaissance-style palace built north of the Alps, in the 15th century the citys physical, economic and strategic importance expanded rapidly. A great church was built in Brabantine Gothic style with a gallant 97-metre-high tower, in 1534 Henry III of Nassau-Breda rebuilt the modest medieval fortifications in impressive style. In 1534 a fire destroyed over 90 percent of the city, close to 1300 houses, churches and chapels, only 150 houses and the main church remained. In July 1581, during the Eighty Years War, Breda was captured by surprise by Spanish troops then under the command of Claudius van Barlaymont, although the city had surrendered upon the condition that it would not be plundered, the troops vented their fury upon the inhabitants. In the resulting mayhem, known as Haultpennes Fury, over 500 citizens were killed, the so-called Spaniards Hole marks the spot where the peat-boat allegedly lay, although this has not been historically proven. After a ten-month siege in 1624–25, the city surrendered to the Spaniards under Spinola, in 1637 Breda was recaptured by Frederick Henry of Orange after a four-month siege, and in 1648 it was finally ceded to the Dutch Republic by the Treaty of Westphalia. The Treaty of Breda was signed in the city, July 31,1667, during World War II the city was under German occupation. It was liberated following a successful outflanking manoeuvre planned and performed by forces of 1st Polish Armoured Division of Gen. Maczek on October 29,1944
3.
Eredivisie
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The Eredivisie is the highest echelon of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of football in the Netherlands. At the end of the 2015–2016 season it was ranked the 13th best league in Europe by UEFA, the top division consists of 18 clubs. Each club meets every other club twice during the season, once at home, at the end of each season, the club at the bottom is automatically relegated to the second level of the Dutch league system, the Eerste Divisie. At the same time, the champion of the Eerste Divisie will be promoted to the Eredivisie. The next two clubs from the bottom of the Eredivisie go to separate promotion/relegation play-offs, the play-offs are played in two groups. Each group has one Eredivisie club and three high-placed clubs from the Eerste Divisie, in both promotion/relegation play-off groups, each club plays a home-and-away series with the other clubs. The winner of each group plays in the following seasons Eredivisie. The winner of the Eredivisie claims the Dutch national championship, AFC Ajax has won most titles,24. PSV Eindhoven are next with 18, and Feyenoord follow with 9, since 1965, these three clubs have won all except for three titles. Ajax, PSV and Feynoord are known as the Big Three of Dutch football and they are the only ones in their current forms to have appeared in every edition of the Eredivisie since its formation. A fourth club, FC Utrecht, is the product of a 1970 merger between three of that clubs, one of which, VV DOS, had also never been relegated out of the Eredivisie. From 1990 to 1999, the name of the league was PTT Telecompetitie. From 2002 to 2005, the league was called the Holland Casino Eredivisie, since the 2005–06 season, the league has been sponsored by the Sponsorloterij, but for legal reasons its name could not be attached to the league. Within this deal the five largest Eredivisie clubs should receive 5 million euros per year for the duration of the contract, from the foundation of the Dutch football championship until 1954, the title was decided through play-offs by a handful of clubs who had previously won their regional league. The competition was purely an amateur one, the Royal Dutch Football Association rejected any form of payment, the call for professional football grew in the early fifties after many national team members left to play abroad in search for financial benefits. The KNVB would usually suspend these players, preventing them from appearing for the Dutch national team, after the North Sea flood of 1953, the Dutch players abroad organised a charity match against the French national team in Paris. The match was boycotted by the KNVB, but after the assembled Dutch players defeated the French, to serve the growing interest, a dissident professional football association and league were founded for the 1954–55 season
4.
Kit (association football)
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In association football, kit is the standard equipment and attire worn by players. The sports Laws of the Game specify the minimum kit which a player must use, footballers generally wear identifying numbers on the backs of their shirts. Professional clubs also usually display players surnames or nicknames on their shirts, Football kit has evolved significantly since the early days of the sport when players typically wore thick cotton shirts, knickerbockers and heavy rigid leather boots. The Laws of the Game set out the equipment which must be worn by all players in Law 4. Five separate items are specified, shirt, shorts, socks, footwear, goalkeepers are allowed to wear tracksuit bottoms instead of shorts. While most players wear studded football boots, the Laws do not specify that these are required, shirts must have sleeves, and goalkeepers must wear shirts which are easily distinguishable from all other players and the match officials. Thermal undershorts may be worn, but must be the colour as the shorts themselves. Shin pads must be covered entirely by the stockings, be made of rubber, plastic or a similar material, and provide a reasonable degree of protection. The only other restriction on equipment defined in the Laws of the Game is the requirement that a player must not use equipment or wear anything that is dangerous to himself or another player. In the event of a match between teams who would wear identical or similar colours the away team must change to a different colour. The England national team plays in red shirts even when it is not required. Many professional clubs also have a kit, ostensibly to be used if both their first-choice and away colours are deemed too similar to those of an opponent. Most professional clubs have retained the basic colour scheme for several decades. Teams representing countries in international competition generally wear national colours in common with other sporting teams of the same nation, shirts are normally made of a polyester mesh, which does not trap the sweat and body heat in the same way as a shirt made of a natural fibre. Depending on local rules, there may be restrictions on how large these logos may be or on what logos may be displayed, competitions such as the Premier League may also require players to wear patches on their sleeves depicting the logo of the competition. The captain of team is usually required to wear an elasticated armband around the left sleeve to identify him as the captain to the referee. Most current players wear specialist football boots, which can be either of leather or a synthetic material. Modern boots are cut slightly below the ankles, as opposed to the high-ankled boots used in former times, studs may be either moulded directly to the sole or be detachable, normally by means of a screw thread
5.
Away colours
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Away colours are a choice of coloured clothing used in team sports. They are required to be worn by one team during a game between teams that would wear the same colours as each other, or similar colours. This change prevents confusion for officials, players, and spectators, in most sports it is the visiting team that must change – second-choice kits are commonly known as away kits or change kits in British English, and road uniforms in American English. Some sports leagues mandate that teams must always wear an alternative kit. In some sports, conventionally the home team has changed its kit, in most cases, a team wears its away kit only when its primary kit would clash with the colours of the home team. However, sometimes teams wear away colours by choice, occasionally even in a home game, at some clubs, the away kit has become more popular than the home version. Replica home and away kits are available for fans to buy. Some teams also have produced third-choice kits, or even old-fashioned throwback uniforms, in American sports, road teams usually wear a change uniform regardless of a potential colour clash. Further, almost all road uniforms are white in American football, in the National Basketball Association, home uniforms are white or yellow, and visiting teams wear a darker colour. In the United States, color vs. color games are a rarity, most teams choose to wear their color jerseys at home, with the road team changing to white in most cases. White road uniforms gained prominence with the rise of television in the 1950s, a white vs. color game was easier to follow in black-and-white. According to Phil Hecken, until the mid 1950′s, not only was color versus color common in the NFL, even long after the advent of color television, the use of white jerseys has remained in almost every game. The NFLs current rules require that a home jerseys must be either white or official team color throughout the season. If a team insists on wearing its home uniforms on the road, the road team might instead wear a third jersey, such as the Seattle Seahawks Wolf Grey alternate. According to the Gridiron Uniform Database, the Cleveland Browns wore white for home game of the 1955 season. The only times they wore brown was for games at Philadelphia and the New York Giants, in 1964 the Baltimore Colts, Browns, Vikings and Rams wore white regularly for their home games according to Tim Brulias research. The St. Louis Cardinals wore white for several of their home games, until 1964 Dallas had worn blue at home, but it was not an official rule that teams should wear their colored jerseys at home. The use of white jerseys was instigated by general manager Tex Schramm, the Cowboys still wear white at home today
6.
Third jersey
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Alternate jerseys are also a means for professional sports organizations to generate revenue, by sales to fans. Of North American sports leagues, the NFL generates $1.2 billion annually in jersey sales, another use of the alternate uniform is for identifying with causes, like the Central Coast Mariners wear an alternate pink kit on pink ribbon day. Extra alternate uniforms or fourth/fifth kits are not commonly used, but are required when teams other uniforms cause color clashes. In cases where teams have more than three kits in the same season, the extra kits were usually recycled from previous seasons. Third-choice jerseys or uniforms are used in all four North American major professional sports leagues, Third kits are commonplace in professional European association football and in some professional European rugby union clubs. Alternate guernseys or jerseys are common in Australias two biggest domestic leagues, the Australian Football League and National Rugby League, for home and away jerseys in North America, historical convention has often dictated the colors used by teams in a given league. Teams generally have one jersey which is primarily in a team color, white at home is the convention in baseball, basketball, minor league professional hockey, and college hockey. White while away is the convention in football, major professional hockey. Association football does not have a white at home or a white while away convention, the NBA and NHL both enforce the color/white rule strictly, any NHL team seeking to wear white at home must get express permission from the league office to do so. In American sports, throwback jerseys are generally used for special team games. In American football a third jersey may be a uniform based on designs the team used in the past. In association football, meanwhile, it is commonly a radically different design. Initially, the NFL rule stated that a team may wear their third only once a year. There are currently no rules on wearing alternate pants, teams are also permitted to wear alternate jerseys as often as desired in playoff games, the only team to do so was the 2008 San Diego Chargers. Some teams will use one of their third jersey allotments against a particular division opponent each year. The New York Giants were known to wear their red jerseys at home against the Dallas Cowboys until the red jerseys were retired in 2009. The Washington Redskins wear their uniform on home games to commemorate their annual homecoming game once a year since 2012. When wearing their jerseys, especially if the team is wearing a throwback uniform
7.
Netherlands
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The Netherlands, also informally known as Holland is the main constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a densely populated country located in Western Europe with three territories in the Caribbean. The European part of the Netherlands borders Germany to the east, Belgium to the south, and the North Sea to the northwest, sharing borders with Belgium, the United Kingdom. The three largest cities in the Netherlands are Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague, Amsterdam is the countrys capital, while The Hague holds the Dutch seat of parliament and government. The port of Rotterdam is the worlds largest port outside East-Asia, the name Holland is used informally to refer to the whole of the country of the Netherlands. Netherlands literally means lower countries, influenced by its low land and flat geography, most of the areas below sea level are artificial. Since the late 16th century, large areas have been reclaimed from the sea and lakes, with a population density of 412 people per km2 –507 if water is excluded – the Netherlands is classified as a very densely populated country. Only Bangladesh, South Korea, and Taiwan have both a population and higher population density. Nevertheless, the Netherlands is the worlds second-largest exporter of food and agricultural products and this is partly due to the fertility of the soil and the mild climate. In 2001, it became the worlds first country to legalise same-sex marriage, the Netherlands is a founding member of the EU, Eurozone, G-10, NATO, OECD and WTO, as well as being a part of the Schengen Area and the trilateral Benelux Union. The first four are situated in The Hague, as is the EUs criminal intelligence agency Europol and this has led to the city being dubbed the worlds legal capital. The country also ranks second highest in the worlds 2016 Press Freedom Index, the Netherlands has a market-based mixed economy, ranking 17th of 177 countries according to the Index of Economic Freedom. It had the thirteenth-highest per capita income in the world in 2013 according to the International Monetary Fund, in 2013, the United Nations World Happiness Report ranked the Netherlands as the seventh-happiest country in the world, reflecting its high quality of life. The Netherlands also ranks joint second highest in the Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index, the region called Low Countries and the country of the Netherlands have the same toponymy. Place names with Neder, Nieder, Nether and Nedre and Bas or Inferior are in use in all over Europe. They are sometimes used in a relation to a higher ground that consecutively is indicated as Upper, Boven, Oben. In the case of the Low Countries / the Netherlands the geographical location of the region has been more or less downstream. The geographical location of the region, however, changed over time tremendously
8.
Football team
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A football team is the collective name given to a group of players selected together in the various team sports known as football. There are several varieties of football, notably Association football, Gridiron football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby league, the number of players selected for each team within these varieties and their associated codes can vary substantially. Sometimes, the team is limited to those who play on the field in a match. Football squad may be used to be inclusive of these support, the oldest football clubs date back to the early 19th century. The words team and club are sometimes used interchangeably by supporters, although they typically refer to the team within the club playing in the highest division or competition
9.
Antoon Verlegh
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Antoon Verlegh was a player, trainer, editor, secretary, member of the board, vice chairman and chairman of honour at NAC Breda. He also had important positions at the KNVB and he was considered to be one of the football icons in The Netherlands until the 1950s. During his entire career, Antoon Verlegh played for NAC Breda. He was involved in football club from the day it was founded until his death in 1960. Rat Verlegh was born in het Ginneken, now a part of Breda, at the age of 10 Verlegh founded the Ginnekensche Voetbal Vereniging. At this time Antoon Verlegh was nicknamed ‘De Rat’ because of his quick play, in 1912 NOAD and ADVENDO merged to form NAC Breda, for whom Verlegh, at the age of 17, immediately began playing in the first team. As an attacking midfielder, Verlegh was for 19 years one of the important players in NAC’s first squad, throughout The Netherlands he was considered to be a technical gifted player and an opinion maker in Dutch football. He was also known for his views in football. Antoon Verlegh won the Eerste Klasse Zuid’s championship six times and won the Dutch national title with NAC in 1921, on April 26,1925 Antoon Verlegh sustained a serious injury, that would leave him out for almost seven months. After recovery, he was able to play on until his retirement on October 11,1931 in the match MVV - NAC, in the 19 years Verlegh played for NAC, he played 295 matches, scoring 125 times. In 1920 Verlegh received an invitation for the Dutch national side for the match against Switzerland in Basel. Although Verlegh didn’t start in this match, he made his debut for the Dutch national side and he replaced Willem II player Harry Mommers in the 20th minute. On November 25,1920, Verlegh played his international match against Switzerland in Amsterdams Oude Stadion. In his third match against Germany Verlegh scored an own goal in the 85th minute, the Netherlands lost this match with 2-3. Verlegh played a total of 8 matches for the Dutch national squad, although Verlegh would play a 9th match against Denmark, the Dutch national manager deemed him not fit to play. Verlegh was replaced by his NAC colleague Cor Kools, after this replacement, Verlegh never played a match for the Dutch national squad. After his active career, Antoon Verlegh fulfilled several roles within NAC. Verlegh was a manager, member of the committee, he was the secretary
10.
KNVB Cup
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The KNVB Beker is a competition in the Netherlands organized by the Royal Dutch Football Association since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup, outside of the Netherlands, it is often referred to as the Dutch Cup. The tournament consists of all teams from the top three tiers of Dutch league football, as well as the 24 semi-finalists of regional amateur cup tournaments, the finals of the tournament traditionally takes place in De Kuip, and has been held there every season since 1988. The winners of the cup compete against the winners of the Eredivisie for the Johan Cruijff Shield, the competition was conceived during a board meeting of the Dutch National Football Association, in the Hague, on 19 January 1898. The tournament began the season, 1898–1899. The first final was played on 9 May 1899 between RAP Amsterdam and HVV Den Haag, in 1946, the trophy was changed to one made out of silver, which was extremely rare in the immediate aftermath of World War II. Like many national cup competitions, the name of the tournament has changed with sponsorship, from 1995, the competition went from being the KNVB Cup Tournament to being known as the Amstel Cup after the then sponsor Amstel. On 16 August 2005, the name was changed to the Gatorade Cup after the drinks company Gatorade, in 2006, the name returned to being the KNVB Cup Tournament with Gatorade remaining as the principal sponsor. Up until 1998, the winner of the cup entered into the UEFA Cup Winners Cup, but with the abandonment of that tournament, the winner now goes into the UEFA Europa League. If the winning team has won the Eredivisie and thus entry into the UEFA Champions League, in 1998, both teams in the KNVB final, Ajax and PSV, had won places into the Champions League. So a game was played between the beaten semi-finalists, SC Heerenveen and FC Twente, to determine who would take the Cup Winners Cup place, in the Netherlands, the KNVB Cup is broadcast by RTL on RTL7 and on the Dutch pay-TV channel Fox Sports Eredivisie. In Spain it is available on beIN Sports. In Australia and New Zealand, the KNVB Cup is currently available on beIN Sports, in Italy, the KNVB Cup is currently available on Sportitalia. In Brazil the KNVB Cup is currently available on BandSports, in Latin America, the KNVB Cup is currently available on Claro Sports. KNVB. nl - Official website KNVB / Netherlands Cup Finals, RSSSF. com RSSSF History of the Dutch Cup Minnows in Cup Finals, RSSSF. com League321. com - National cup results
11.
Royal Dutch Football Association
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The Royal Dutch Football Association is the governing body of football in Netherlands. It organises the main Dutch football leagues, the leagues, the KNVB Cup. The KNVB is based in the municipality of Zeist. It is the single largest sports association in the Netherlands, in 1889, the Nederlandschen Voetbal en Athlestischen Bond was founded. Due to certain disagreements several football clubs ended their association with it and it was one of the founding members of FIFA in 1904 and one of the first non-British football association in Europe. The first Dutch football club was formed in 1879 in Haarlem, the Netherlands Football League Championship had already existed for a decade unofficially when the association was founded. The KNVB strongly disapproved the professionalism of football in 1909 and it said that it will protest against it by all means necessary. In 2012 KNVB launched an 11-point action plan, called Football for Everyone to promote gay football players in coming out and it released a 30-second video named Gay. It doesnt matter, prepared by broadcaster BNN, the video was also broadcast during the Dutch national footballs teams World Cup qualifier match against Andorra held in October 2012. During FIFA World Cup 2014 it collaborated with Royal Philips to open six football clinics across Brazil, bert van Oostveen is the current Secretary-General of KNVB. KNVB. nl – Official website of the KNVB english. KNVB. nl Netherlands National Football Team History Netherlands at FIFA site Netherlands at UEFA site
12.
Real Madrid C.F.
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Real Madrid Club de Fútbol, commonly known as Real Madrid, or simply as Real outside Spain frontiers, is a professional football club based in Madrid, Spain. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the team has worn a white home kit since inception. The word Real is Spanish for Royal and was bestowed to the club by King Alfonso XIII in 1920 together with the crown in the emblem. The team has played its matches in the 85, 454-capacity Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in downtown Madrid since 1947. Unlike most European sporting entities, Real Madrids members have owned and operated the club throughout its history. The club was estimated to be worth €3.24 billion in 2015, the club is one of the most widely supported teams in the world. Real Madrid is one of three founding members of the Primera División that have never relegated from the top division, along with Athletic Bilbao. The club holds many long-standing rivalries, most notably El Clásico with Barcelona, Real Madrid established itself as a major force in both Spanish and European football during the 1950s, winning five consecutive European Cups and reaching the final seven times. This success was replicated in the league, where the club won five times in the space of seven years. In domestic football, the club has won a record 32 La Liga titles,19 Copa del Rey, nine Supercopa de España, a Copa Eva Duarte, and a Copa de la Liga. Real Madrid was recognised as the FIFA Club of the 20th Century on 23 December 2000, the club received the FIFA Centennial Order of Merit in 2004. The club is ranked first in the latest IFFHS Club World Ranking, setting a new ranking-points record, the club also leads the current UEFA club rankings. They founded Football Club Sky in 1897, playing on Sunday mornings at Moncloa and it split into two clubs in 1900, New Foot-Ball de Madrid and Madrid Football Club. On 6 March 1902, after a new Board presided by Juan Padrós had been elected, three years after its foundation, in 1905, Madrid FC won its first title after defeating Athletic Bilbao in the Spanish Cup final. The club became one of the sides of the Royal Spanish Football Federation on 4 January 1909. After moving between grounds the team moved to the Campo de ODonnell in 1912, in 1920, the clubs name was changed to Real Madrid after King Alfonso XIII granted the title of Real to the club. In 1929, the first Spanish football league was founded, Real Madrid led the first league season until the last match, a loss to Athletic Bilbao, meant they finished runners-up to Barcelona. Real Madrid won its first League title in the 1931–32 season, Real won the League again the following year, becoming the first team to have won the championship twice
13.
AFC Ajax
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Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax, also AFC Ajax, Ajax Amsterdam or simply Ajax, is a Dutch professional football club based in Amsterdam. Historically, Ajax is the most successful club in the Netherlands, Ajax is historically one of the most successful clubs in the world, according to the IFFHS, Ajax were the seventh-most successful European club of the 20th century. The club is one of the five teams that has earned the right to keep the European Cup and to wear a multiple-winner badge, in 1972, they completed the continental treble by winning the Eredivisie, KNVB Cup, and the European Cup. It also won the first organized UEFA Super Cup in 1972 against Glasgow Rangers, Ajax is also one of three teams to win the continental treble and the Intercontinental Cup in the same season/calendar year, This was achieved in the 1971–72 season. Ajax, Juventus, Bayern Munich, and Chelsea are the four clubs to have won all three major UEFA club competitions. They have also won the Intercontinental Cup twice, the 1991–92 UEFA Cup, as well as the Karl Rappan Cup, Ajax plays at the Amsterdam Arena, which opened in 1996. They previously played at De Meer Stadion and the Amsterdam Olympic Stadium, Ajax was founded in Amsterdam on 18 March 1900. The club achieved promotion to the highest level of Dutch football in 1911 and had its first major success in 1917, winning the KNVB Beker, the following season, Ajax became national champion for the first time. The club defended its title in 1918–19, becoming the team to achieve an unbeaten season in the Netherlands Football League Championship. Throughout the 1920s, Ajax was a regional power, winning the Eerste Klasse West division in 1921,1927 and 1928. This changed in the 1930s, with the winning five national championships. In 1956, the first season of the Netherlands new professional league, the team were again Eredivisie champions in 1960 and won a third KNVB Cup in 1961. A year earlier, Johan Cruyff, who would go on to become the greatest Dutch footballer of all time, between them, Michels and Cruyff led Ajax through the most successful period in its history, winning seven Eredivisie titles, four KNVB Cups and three European Cups. Ajax won the Dutch championship in 1966,1967, and 1968, during the 1966–67 season, Ajax scored a record 122 goals in an Eredivisie season and also won the KNVB Cup to achieve its first league and cup double. In 1969–70, Ajax won a fourth Dutch league championship and second league and cup double in five seasons, winning 27 out of 34 league games, after this success, Michels departed to become manager of Barcelona and was replaced by the Romanian Ștefan Kovács. In Kovács first season, Ajax completed a treble of the European Cup, the Eredivisie, in 1973, Michels Barcelona broke the world transfer record to bring Cruyff to Catalonia. Kovács also departed to become manager of the France national team, in 1976–77, Ajax won its first domestic championship in four seasons and recorded a double of the Eredivisie and KNVB Cup two years later. The early 1980s saw the return of Johan Cruyff to the club, as well as the emergence of young players Marco van Basten, the team won back-to-back Eredivisie titles in 1982 and 1983, with all three playing a significant role in the latter
14.
Be Quick 1887
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Be Quick 1887 is a football club from Groningen, the Netherlands. The club was established in 1887, and is playing in the Sunday Hoofdklasse C. Be Quick 1887 won the 1919-20 Dutch national football title, be Quick 1887 was founded on 4 October 1887 by students of a local gymnasium. The club joined the competition in 1895, and was placed in the Tweede Klasse Noord. Be Quick joined the newly established Eerste Klasse in 1916, the heyday of Be Quick came between 1915 and 1926. The club won the title in the football competition in every season except for 1925. On 6 June 1920, Be Quick won the football title, by defeating VOC of Rotterdam, champion of the western football league. Of that team, goalkeeper Deck Ruijter Zylker was the player who wouldnt make it to the Netherlands national football team. When professional football was introduced in the Netherlands, in 1954 and they were placed in the Tweede Divisie, where they won the 1959-60 title. Be Quick played in the Eerste Divisie for a number of seasons, upon returning to the amateur football structure, Be Quick were placed in the Tweede Klasse. The club were promoted to the Hoofdklasse in 1992, suffered relegation to the Eerste Klasse in 1995 and to the Tweede Klasse in 1997. After one season in the Tweede Klasse, the returned to the Eerste Klasse, finishing the first season there in second place and winning the title in the second season. The club was relegated back to the Eerste Klasse in 2002, but secured promotion a year later and they were promoted to the Topklasse in 2013, but went relegated after one only season in the top Dutch amateur level. Two seasons later they returned to the renamed Derde Divisie by placing second in Hoofdklasse C, the successes between 1915 and 1926 allowed the club to buy a piece of land to the south of the city of Groningen. Stadion Esserberg was then built, designed by architect Evert van Linge, the stadium had a capacity of 18,000 when it was built, and now is located in the territory of the municipality of Haren, just a mere four kilometers south of Groningen. Nowadays, it has hosted to the Eurovoetbal tournament
15.
Go Ahead Eagles
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The Go Ahead Eagles are a Dutch football club from Deventer, as of 2016 playing in the Eredivisie. The clubs home stadium is De Adelaarshorst, the club won the national championship in 1917,1922,1930 and 1933. The club was founded in 1902 as Be Quick, by the brothers Hollander, the name was soon changed to Go Ahead at the request of the Dutch Football Association. The suffix Eagles was added in 1971, following a suggestion from the then coach, the eagle is the charge in the coat of arms of the city of Deventer. The Go Ahead Eagles were famously the only side to defeat Ajax in any competition during the 1971–72 season and they have played in the Europacup II once, in the 1965–66 season. They lost in the first round to Celtic, after almost two decades in the second division, Go Ahead won promotion to the Eredivisie at the end of the 2012–13 season, winning the promotion play-offs. The club remained in the top division for the 2014–15 season, Go Ahead Eagles would compete in Europe in the 2015–16 UEFA Europa League due to the Netherlands first place in UEFA Respect Fair Play ranking. National Fair Play winner FC Twente withdrew due to financial difficulties, however, they also suffered relegation after losing 2–0 on aggregate to De Graafschap in the May 2015 promotion/relegation play-offs. The club bounced back to the Eredivisie on the first attempt in May 2016, Go Ahead Eagles biggest rivals are PEC Zwolle. Both clubs are located at the river IJssel, hence the name IJssel-derby, in the early years Go Ahead was the best club in the region but since the relegation to the Dutch First Division in 1987, Zwolle has won most derbies. Note, Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules, players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality. Note, Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules, players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality. Eerste Divisie List of football clubs in the Netherlands Official website Club profile at Weltfussballarchiv Online fanzine Bozen van het Oosten
16.
FC Groningen
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Football Club Groningen is a Dutch professional football club based in Groningen. The club plays in the Eredivisie, the highest football league of the Netherlands, the club was founded in 1971 when predecessor GVAV changed its name to FC Groningen. Their home stadium was the Oosterpark Stadion from 1971 to 2005, the best result in the Eredivisie was third place in 1991 and 2006. The club won the KNVB Cup in 2014–15, the worst result in the Eredivisie was relegation to the Eerste Divisie in 1974 and 1998. The origins of football in Groningen date back to 1887, when students of the citys gymnasium established the cricket, in 1895, Be Quick became a founder member of the first football league in the northern Netherlands. The league was named Tweede Klasse Noord, there was no First Northern Division, but the Dutch Football Association regarded the level of play in the northern league to be too low to be rewarded with First Division status. This meant that the champion could not participate in the nationwide championship play-offs with the other Dutch regional champions. In 1897, the city of Groningen got its second club with the foundation of Velocitas 1897. Be Quick and Velocitas remained the most successful clubs in the city of Groningen until the mid-twentieth century. Football in Groningen received a boost during World War I, in which the Netherlands remained neutral, because of the neutral status of the Netherlands, the troops were disarmed and interned in an encampment in the city of Groningen for the duration of the war. The British military men baptized their encampment Timbertown, which developed into a little city of its own. Local interest for matches was high and aroused much enthusiasm for the game of football in Groningen. Several English military men went on to coach and play for Be Quick, most notably Arnold Birch and Harry Waites, in 1916, the northern league finally was rewarded with First Division status, and in 1920 Be Quick went on to win the national title. In 1915, a couple of locals inspired by the English players established football club Unitas, when in 1917 Unitas joined the Groningen Football Association, the club was demanded to drop its name because there already existed several other clubs in the country named Unitas. The newly adopted name was GVAV, in 1921, GVAV merged with athletic club Rapiditas. The new official name became GVAV-Rapiditas, but the football team usually was just referred to as GVAV. In 1926, GVAV promoted to the First Northern Division for the first time in its existence, GVAV succeeded in winning the northern championship only once, in 1940. In 1935, GVAV moved from the Stadspark in the side of the city to the Oosterpark stadium in the newly built Oosterparkwijk
17.
World War II
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
18.
Kees Rijvers
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Cornelus Bernardus Kees Rijvers is a former Dutch footballer who was active as a midfielder and later as coach for o. a PSV Eindhoven and the Dutch national team. Rijvers made his debut at NAC Breda and also played for AS Saint-Étienne, Stade Français and he was a member of the Dutch team at the 1948 Summer Olympic Games. As a manager, he took over FC Twente and coached the team for six years, after those successful seasons, he moved to PSV Eindhoven. He led the team to win the 1977–78 UEFA Cup and he also won with PSV three Eredivisie titles, in 1975,1976 and 1978, and the double in 1976. After leaving PSV, he took over the team and introduced young players like Ronald Koeman, Ruud Gullit. After that Rijvers was sacked by the KNVB and replaced by Rinus Michels
19.
Willem II (football club)
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Willem II, also known as Willem II Tilburg, is a Dutch football club based in Tilburg, Netherlands. The team was founded on 12 August 1896 as Tilburgia, notable former players for the club include Dutch internationals Jan van Roessel, Joris Mathijsen, Jaap Stam, Marc Overmars as well as Finlands Sami Hyypiä. The clubs shirt consists of vertical stripes, inspired by the colours of the flag of the Netherlands. Willem II plays its matches in the Koning Willem II Stadion. The stadium, opened on May 31,1995, has a capacity of 14,700 spectators, the average attendance in 2004–05 was 12,500 people. The club has won the Eredivisie and the Eerste Divisie a total of three times in both respects all in all, Willem were champions of the Eredivisie in 1916,1952 and 1955. The Tricolores also won two KNVB Cups in 1944 and 1963 and were also crowned champs of the Eerste Divisie in 1958,1965 and 2014. With regard to European competition, Willem II first appeared in UEFA Cup Winners Cup of 1963 where they lost to Manchester United in the first round by a score of 7–2. A second place in the Eredivisie of 1999 guaranteed the club a UEFA Champions League berth for the first time, at the tournaments group stage, Willem only attained 2 points in their six group G matches and were thus eliminated. At the end of the 2010–11 season, Willem II were relegated from the Eredivisie for the first time in 24 years. In the 2011–12 season under new manager Jurgen Streppel Willem II was promoted back to the Eredivisie, the club became champions of the Eerste Divisie in the subsequent season and were thus promoted back to the Eredivisie. According to the journalists, midfielder Ibrahim Kargbo was the Asians main contact within the club, the Royal Dutch Football Association called the affair the most concrete case of match fixing in the Netherlands and took legal action as well as asked UEFA and FIFA to reevaluate previous matches. The fans of Willem II have close relations with the fans of English championship club Bristol City, Willem supporters have as well been known to travel to Bristol, with Bristol City fans heading the other way to Tilburg. As of 1 September 2016 For recent transfers, see List of Dutch football transfers summer 2016 Note, players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality. The players below had senior international cap for their respective countries, players whose name is listed represented their countries while playing for Willem II. Below is a table with Willem IIs domestic results since the introduction of the Eredivisie in 1956
20.
UEFA Europa League
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The UEFA Europa League, previously called the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organized by UEFA since 1971 for eligible European football clubs. Clubs qualify for the competition based on their performance in their national leagues, previously called the UEFA Cup, the competition has been known as the UEFA Europa League since the 2009–10 season, following a change in format. For UEFA footballing records purposes, the UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League are considered the same competition, in 1999, the UEFA Cup Winners Cup was abolished and merged with the UEFA Cup. For the 2004–05 competition a group stage was added prior to the knockout phase, the 2009 re-branding included a merge with the UEFA Intertoto Cup, producing an enlarged competition format, with an expanded group stage and changed qualifying criteria. The winner enters at least at the round, and will enter the group stage if the berth reserved for the Champions League title holders is not used. The title has been won by 27 different clubs,12 of which have won the more than once. The UEFA Cup was preceded by the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, which was a European football competition played between 1955 and 1971, the competition grew from 11 teams during the first cup to 64 teams by the last cup which was played in 1970–71. It had become so important on the European football scene that in the end it was taken over by UEFA, the UEFA Cup was first played in the 1971–72 season, with an all-English final of Wolverhampton Wanderers versus Tottenham Hotspur, with Spurs taking the first honours. The title was retained by another English club, Liverpool in 1973, Borussia would win the competition in 1975 and 1979, and reach the final again in 1980. Liverpool won the competition for the time in 1976, beating Club Brugge in the final. During the 1980s, IFK Göteborg and Real Madrid won the competition twice each,1989 saw the commencement of the Italian clubs domination, when Maradonas Napoli beat Stuttgart. The 1990s started with two finals, and in 1992, Torino lost the final to Ajax on the away goals rule. Juventus won the competition for a time in 1993 and Internazionale kept the cup in Italy the following year. 1995 saw a third final, with Parma proving their consistency. The only final with no Italians during that decade was in 1996, Parma won the cup in 1999, which ended the Italian club era. Liverpool won the competition for the time in 2001 and Porto triumphed in the 2003 and 2011 tournaments. In 2004, the cup returned to Spain with Valencia being victorious, either side of Sevillas success, two Russian teams, CSKA Moscow in 2005 and Zenit Saint Petersburg in 2008, had their glory and yet another former Soviet club, Ukraines Shakhtar Donetsk, won in 2009. Atlético Madrid would themselves win twice in three seasons, in 2010 and 2012, the latter in another all-Spanish final, in 2013, Chelsea would become the first Champions League holders to win the UEFA Cup/Europa League the following year
21.
Floriana F.C.
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Floriana Football Club is a semi-professional Maltese football club in the town of Floriana that currently plays in the Maltese Premier League. It has one of the largest fan followings on the islands and remains the most successful club in Maltese history, in all, Floriana F. C. has won 25 national leagues and 19 FA Trophies. It is also the team from Malta to have qualified from the qualifying rounds to the first round proper of the UEFA Champions League. Floriana Football Club was founded in 1894 with the inauguration of the football ground officiated by Queen Alexandra, the site was a cricket ground from 1890 till its conversion project. Together with St. Georges FC, is one of the two oldest clubs in Malta, during that period, football in Malta was introduced by the British Servicemen who were stationed on the island, which was then a colony of the British Empire. The club is affiliated to the Malta Football Association which in turn is a member of both UEFA and FIFA, Floriana Football Club has won the major Maltese League championship 25 times and the U*BET FA TROPHY19 times. Floriana also have a team which participates in Maltas top futsal league. Football was introduced in Malta at the end of the 19th Century by the British troops stationed on the island, at that time Malta formed part of the British Empire and, the Island was the base of British forces in the heart of the Mediterranean. The forces barracks, which were located around the island of Malta, enjoyed large areas that were used as parade grounds, training areas. The sports practised by the soldiers were mainly cricket, hockey, the British forces in Malta were mainly stationed in Floriana, Cospicua, Mtarfa, Marsa and Sliema. The locals who were influenced by the soldiers stationed in the area were introduced to these sporting activities, the most popular sport amongst the residents of Floriana was football, however some also practised cricket and hockey. Floriana still has its club, carrying the name Floriana Young Stars Hockey Club. Between 1894 and 1905 the clubs colours were green/red quartered shirts, black shorts with green, the official colours of the club as we know them today, green and white vertical striped shirts, white shorts and green/white horizontal striped socks, were introduced in 1905. At that time the Royal Dublin Fusiliers were stationed in Floriana, during that year, three friendly matches were held between this regiment and FFC. At the end of the match both teams exchanged their shirts and later the FFC changed their official colours to their green. The regiment left the Island for India in that same year, the ties between Floriana and the Royal Dublin Fusiliers were so strong that the people hailing from Floriana were nicknamed after the Irish, Tal-Irish. The clubs mascot is the lion, which features prominently on the clubs badge since 1936 together with the Latin motto Ex Ludis Virtus, in this regard the clubs badge represents the fierceness of the lion together with the virtues of sportsmanship. The lion was chosen as the mascot for two general reasons attributed to history of Floriana
22.
Cardiff City F.C.
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Cardiff City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Cardiff, Wales that competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1899 as Riverside A. F. C. before changing its name to Cardiff City in 1908 and they play their home games at the Cardiff City Stadium, after moving from Ninian Park in 2009. The club reverted to their traditional blue in January 2015 and they have long-standing rivalries with nearby clubs Swansea City, known as the South Wales derby, and Bristol City, known as the Severnside derby. The club was founded in 1899 as Riverside A. F. C and their first season saw them playing friendlies against local sides at their Sophia Gardens ground, but in 1900 they joined the Cardiff & District League for their first competitive season. To combat this they arranged to join the South Wales Amateur League in 1907, with the club growing in stature, they were forced to turn down the opportunity to join the newly formed Southern League Second Division due to the lack of facilities at their Sophia Gardens ground. The club eventually secured land to build their own stadium, moving into Ninian Park, the club made its first signing the following year with the acquisition of Jack Evans from fellow Welsh club Cwmparc. With the new ground in place, Cardiff joined the Southern League Second Division, and appointed their first manager in Davy McDougall, who became player-manager. They went on to finish in place in their first year in the league but the board decided to replace McDougall with Fred Stewart. In 1920, the club submitted an application to join the Football League and were placed into the Second Division for the 1920–21 season. Stewart brought in players with Football League experience, breaking the clubs transfer record on two occasions to sign Jimmy Gill and later Jimmy Blair from The Wednesday. In the 74th minute, after collecting a throw George MacLachlan, dan Lewis, the Arsenal goalkeeper, appeared to collect the ball but, under pressure from the advancing Len Davies, clumsily allowed the ball to roll through his grasp. In a further attempt to retrieve the ball Lewis only succeeded in knocking the ball with his elbow into his own net, captain Fred Keenor received the FA Cup trophy from King George V only seven years after Cardiff City had entered the Football League. However, he was unable to turn the fortunes around by the end of the season. McCandless left the club soon after and was replaced by Cyril Spiers who led the club to promotion the in 1951–52 season, however, despite spending five seasons in the First Division, the club continually struggled in the bottom half of the table and were eventually relegated in 1957. They returned to the First Division for two seasons between 1960 and 1962 before again suffering relegation, during the 1960s, Cardiff began qualifying for European competition for the first time as a result of winning the Welsh Cup. They went on to reach the quarter-finals before being knocked out by Real Zaragoza, despite their exploits in Europe, the club were still struggling in league competition under the stewardship of Jimmy Scoular, finishing in 20th position in the Second Division. After a 1–1 draw in the first leg, just over 43,000 fans turned out at Ninian Park to watch Hamburg win 3–2, during the 1970–71 season, Cardiff reached the quarter-finals of the Cup Winners Cup where they faced Spanish side Real Madrid. The first leg of the tie was held at Ninian Park where 47,000 fans watched one of the most famous victories in the history when Brian Clark headed in to give Cardiff a 1–0 win
23.
N.E.C. (football club)
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Nijmegen Eendracht Combinatie, commonly abbreviated to N. E. C. is a Dutch football club from the city of Nijmegen that currently plays in the Eredivisie. The oldest remnants of the club, Eendracht, stem back to 15 November 1900, in 1910, Eendracht merged with Nijmegen to form the Nijmegen Eendracht Combinatie. The teams home ground is the 12, 500-seat Stadion de Goffert, the club is yet to win any major tournaments to but were runners-up in the KNVB Cup competition in 1973,1983,1994 and 2000. They played in UEFA Cup tournaments in 1983,2003, and 2008, N. E. C. is the 41st oldest club in the Netherlands. The first football club was founded by workers, real people. Football was in 1900 quite popular but at the time elitist being played by the sons of industrialists, middle class. The founders of N. E. C. had a different background to other Eredivisie clubs. They were, without exception, from the old Nijmegen Lower City and it was not much more than a slum. The boys from this area played football every day, not on a field, but on the streets, unusually, some of those boys on 15 November 1900 made a decision to form their own football club. They did it by themselves, without help from outside and they coined the name Eendracht and decided that every week a fee of two cents would be paid. With that money, a new ball could be purchased from time-to-time, in the first years, Eendracht only played games against teams from other parts of Nijmegen. The ploeggie from the Lower City started to play good football, when in 1903, a Nijmegen Football Association was formed, Eendracht was the first champion and was promoted to the Geldersche Football Association. The football at Eendracht became a matter, especially two years later after promotion to the second class of the KNVB. The name N. E. C. was established in April 1910, Eendracht merged that year with a club called Nijmegen. Nijmegen had been established for two years and was founded by former members of Quick 1888 who felt little empathy with Quick. The Nijmegen Eendracht Combination seemed a golden find, indeed, the leading figures in Nijmegen possibly looked down on N. E. C. At the beginning of the 1920s, N. E. C. bought land, finally, the club had its own sports complex. On top of this, memberships increased rapidly and the became more popular
24.
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup
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The UEFA Cup Winners Cup was a football club competition contested annually by the most recent winners of all European domestic cup competitions. The cup is one of the many inter-European club competitions that have been organised by UEFA, the first competition was held in the 1960–61 season — but not recognised by the governing body of European football until two years later. The final tournament was held in 1998–99, after which it was absorbed into the UEFA Cup, in the 1985–86 season, English clubs were banned from European competition. Consequently, Manchester United, Everton, Coventry City, Wimbledon, from 1972 onwards, the winner of the tournament progressed to play the winner of the European Cup in the UEFA Super Cup. Since the abolition of the UEFA Cup Winners Cup, the UEFA Super Cup place previously reserved for the Cup Winners Cup winner has been taken by the winner of the UEFA Cup, now UEFA Europa League. The competitions official name was originally the European Cup Winners Cup, in common with other UEFA club tournaments, the away goal applied when aggregate scores was parity. Following the influx of new UEFA member nations during the 1990s, however, if this team also qualified for the European Champions Cup then they would default on their place in the Cup Winners Cup and no other team would replace them. In 1998–99, the final year, Heerenveen of the Netherlands entered the Cup Winners Cup despite only reaching the semi-final of the previous seasons Dutch Cup. This was due to both Dutch Cup finalists Ajax and PSV Eindhoven qualifying for the recently expanded Champions League. The European Cup had proven to be a success and the Fairs Cup had also proven popular – as a result. One proposal was for a tournament based upon the format of the European Cup, but with national cup winners rather than league champions taking part, the inaugural Cup Winners Cup was held in the 1960–61 season and was basically a semi-official pilot tournament. It was essentially only in England, Scotland and to a lesser extent Germany, for the tournaments second season in 1961–62, UEFA took over the running of all aspects of the competition and this time all the clubs eligible to enter accepted the opportunity. By 1968, all UEFA member nations had set up domestic cup competitions due to the success of the Cup Winners Cup, UEFA regarded it as the second most prestigious competition, behind the European Cup and ahead of the Fairs Cup. Nevertheless, many commentators and fans regarded the Cup Winners Cup as weaker than the UEFA Cup, no club managed to retain the Cup Winners Cup, although eight times a winning side followed up their victories with a losing appearance in the following seasons final. After the establishment of the UEFA Champions League in the early 1990s, with the expansion of the Champions League in 1997 to allow more than one team from the highest-ranked member associations to enter, the Cup Winners Cup began to look noticeably inferior. Since then, domestic cup winners who do not otherwise qualify for the Champions League are given a place in the Europa League, the Cup Winners Cup trophy itself is a property of UEFA and it is not assigned to any club. Sport. Soccer Statistics Foundation UEFA website
25.
1. FC Magdeburg
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FC Magdeburg is a German association football club based in the city of Magdeburg. The club was founded in 1965 and spent all but one season in East Germanys top flight and it is the only East German club to have won a European title, winning the European Cup Winners Cup in 1974. It is the only East German club who won the double, winning the league, after German reunification, the club fell on hard times and only entered professional football in 2015 when the side was promoted to the 3. Football has been played in Magdeburg since the end of the 19th century, on 15 June 1896 SV Victoria 96 Magdeburg was founded, a club that had its best days before World War II, when it participated in the German championship finals on several occasions. Later the club participated in the Gauliga Mitte, after World War II, all sports clubs in the Soviet Occupation Zone were dissolved and a number of smaller clubs were created, which at first competed at a local and regional level. In 1945 players from the disbanded clubs Magdeburger SC Prussia 1899 and this club and SG Lemsdorf came together as the sports club BSG Eintracht Sudenburg, which in turn merged with SAG Krupp Gruson in 1950. The next year the club was renamed BSG Stahl Magdeburg, and then in 1952, in 1957 the football department of Motor Mitte was moved to SC Aufbau Magdeburg, a political decision with the goal of achieving higher standards of performance. In 1965, the department was again broken out of SC Aufbau. This was part of a general – again politically motivated – movement in East Germany towards football-only clubs with the goal of achieving higher standards, FC Magdeburg is the oldest of the football clubs created in this period. SC Aufbau were promoted to the first tier of East German football in 1959, at the beginning of the 1960s, the club usually played in the lower midtable of the DDR-Oberliga, but in 1964 the club had its first major success with a surprise win of the FDGB-Pokal. In the final at Dessau, Magdeburg came back from being 0–2 down to beat SC Leipzig 3–2. The cup win meant the first international appearance of a Magdeburg club, legend reports that the coin first stuck upright in the muddy ground, and only the second toss brought about a decision. SC Aufbau finished mid-table again in the 1964–65 season and managed to defend their cup title as the first team in East German football ever, however, the 1965–66 season, when SC Aufbaus footballers became 1. FC Magdeburg, ended in disaster, The club finished last in the table and was relegated to the second-tier DDR-Liga, with their new manager Heinz Krügel, Magdeburg were immediately repromoted and finished third in 1968 and 1969. With their third win of the FDGB-Pokal in 1969 the club had established itself among the top teams of East German football. During the 1970s, the DDR-Oberliga was mostly dominated by two teams,1, FC Magdeburg and SG Dynamo Dresden. One of the figures behind the success at Magdeburg was Heinz Krügel, under his reign, Magdeburg produced 9 East German internationals between 1969 and 1974 alone, four of which were part of the East German team competing at the 1974 FIFA World Cup. The golden age of Magdeburg football began in 1972, when the won the East German championship with the youngest squad in history
26.
Feyenoord
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Feyenoord Rotterdam is a Dutch professional football club based in Rotterdam, playing in the Eredivisie. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the changed its name to SC Feijenoord in 1912, SC Feyenoord in 1974, and Feyenoord Rotterdam in 1978. Since 1937, Feyenoords home ground has been Stadion Feijenoord, named De Kuip, Feyenoord is known as a peoples club, with a huge national support. Feyenoord has a rivalry with AFC Ajax, as a clash between the two biggest cities in the Netherlands, which is called De Klassieker. The clubs anthem is Hand in Hand, in 2019, Feyenoord will become a multi-sports club. HC Feijenoord, Sportclub Feyenoord and Rotterdam Basketbal will be a part of the club, the football club Wilhelmina was founded in the pub De Vereeniging on 19 July 1908 and played in blue-sleeved red shirts and white shorts. Between 1908,1910,1911 and 1912, the club underwent a series of changes of name and team colours, becoming Hillesluise Football Club in 1909 and then RVV Celeritas. In 1917, Feijenoord were promoted to the highest level of Dutch football, 1e klasse and moved to the ground Kromme Zandweg. The team enjoyed a string of successes in the half of the decade, taking divisional titles in 1926,1927,1928 and 1929. Feijenoord won their first Dutch Cup in 1930 by scoring the goal in a derby final against Excelsior. They continued to dominate their division with three titles, but were winless in subsequent championship finals. Five years after their first cup win, Feijenoord took the prize for a time in 1935. Feijenoord started to more fans to their stadium at Kromme Zandweg. The club moved to the Feijenoord Stadion in 1937, playing the first match there on 27 March against Beerschot, during this period Feijenoord won three consecutive division titles from 1936 to 1938, with their third and fourth national championships coming in 1936 and 1938. During World War II, Feijenoord played their matches at Sparta Rotterdams Kasteel, when Het Kasteel was unavailable due to clashes with Sparta fixtues, Feijenoord played at their former ground, the Kromme Zandweg. Feijenoords again won a title with a national championship in 1940. During the German occupation of the Netherlands, play continued in Dutch football leagues, during this period, Feijenoords only trophy was a divisional championship in 1943. After the war, Feijenoord did not perform as well as they had in decades, not seriously challenging in their division
27.
Eerste Divisie
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The Eerste Divisie is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie and with the third-level Tweede Divisie via promotion/relegation systems and it is also known as the Jupiler League due to sponsorship, which is the same name as the top league in Belgium. It is now named after Jupiler Pils, previously, it was most recently known as the Gouden Gids Divisie after a sponsorship deal with the Dutch Yellow Pages. The Eerste Divisie consists of 20 clubs, who each other in a double round-robin league, with each club playing the other club home. Each club plays every other club once in the first half of the season before the league takes a break around the Christmas. The second half of the sees the same fixtures as the first half, with the stadiums changed. At the end of season, the champion of the Eerste Divisie is automatically promoted to the Eredivisie. Eight other clubs enter the Nacompetitie, a playoff that includes the 16th-. The following teams qualify for the Nacompetitie, The club with the best record in the first period of the season, the club with the best record in the second period of the season. The club with the best record in the period of the season. The club with the best record in the period of the season. The two remaining spots are filled at the end by the highest-placed clubs that have not already earned automatic promotion or qualified for the Nacompetitie. If the club wins a period has qualified for the Nacompetitie by winning a previous period. Usually, the clubs that qualify for the Nacompetitie turn out to be the 2nd- through 9th-placed clubs in the final table, clubs in the Nacompetitie face each other in a knock-out system with the numbers 16 and 17 of the Eredivisie for two places in next seasons Eredivisie. Between seasons 1971/1972 and 2007/2009 teams could not relegate from the Eerste Divisie, from the 2009/2010 season onwards, one team has been relegated from the Eerste Divisie to the Hoofdklasse. From the 2010/2011 to 2015/2016 seasons, the KNVB introduced a third and highest amateur tier called Topklasse, before the 2008/2009 season, Hoofdklasse clubs could promote by obtaining a professional licence. However, only a club going bankrupt or losing their license could result in clubs leaving professional football, the most recent additions to the league were AGOVV Apeldoorn in 2003 and FC Omniworld in 2005, expanding the league to 19 and later 20 clubs. However, for the 2010/11 season, the returned to 18 clubs, as HFC Haarlem went bankrupt
28.
Andro Knel
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Andro Charles Willem Knel was a Dutch-Surinamese footballer. During his career he served Sparta Rotterdam and NAC Breda and he died at the age of 21, when on June 7,1989 he was killed in the Surinam Airways Flight PY764 air crash in Paramaribo. He was said to be a surprise in milk chocolate. Knel and his family moved from Rotterdam to Den Haag when he was 10 years old and he played in the youth squads of HMSH, DWO, ADO and FC Den Haag before making the switch back to Rotterdam when he moved to Sparta Rotterdam. He made his debut in the 1986-87 season, aged 19. He loved Jamaican reggae and his dreadlocks combined with his position of attacking midfielder made many people compare him with Ruud Gullit who also had dreadlocks in those days, bob Marley and Peter Tosh were his main artists. Knel became loved at Het Kasteel, there were various cheer banners with rasta colours, messages and other signs featuring Knel. He had no license and made his way to training by tram or by roller skates. In total he played 44 professional matches for Sparta in which he scored one goal, in the winter break of the 1988-89 season NAC Breda manager Hans Verèl brought Knel to NAC for whom the club paid 185,000 guilders. Also at NAC he soon became a fan favourite and stole many of their hearts, not just with his performances on the pitch, but also with personality off the pitch. He was invited by Sonny Hasnoe, the founder of the Colourful 11 to be part of the team, among the dead were a total of 15 members of the Colourful 11, only three of them survived. Hundreds of fans of both NAC Breda and Sparta Rotterdam came together in memorial of Knel, a temporary Knel monument was revealed and the numbers of supporters visiting the monument proved his popularity. Due to the sad moments of Knels death a special relationship between fans of teams was created. Ten years after the both clubs released a combined edition of their fanzine in memorial of Knel. The fans also introduced the Andro Knel Trophy, which is every time the clubs play each other competitively in the Dutch leagues. Prior to the match the fans play against each other to decide which team wins that years Andro Knel Trophy, official website Knel in De Rat Crash report Iwan Tol, Eindbesteming Zanderij, het vergeten verhaal van het Kleurrijk Elftal
29.
Sparta Rotterdam
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Sparta Rotterdam is a Dutch professional football club based in Rotterdam. Established on 1 April 1888, Sparta Rotterdam is the oldest professional team in the Netherlands. In the 2016–17 season, Sparta will play in the Eredivisie, the club is one of three professional football clubs from Rotterdam, the others being Excelsior and Feyenoord. On 1 April 1888, several students from Rotterdam founded a club called Sparta. In July 1888, a branch of the club was established. In 1890, Sparta played its first real football match, Sparta was promoted to the highest league of Dutch football on 23 April 1893. In 1897, Sparta withdrew from the competition after continuous dubious arbitration of Sparta matches, the club continued to exist, however, and in 1899 the board of Sparta visited a match of Sunderland. Impressed with the jersey of the English club, the board decided that Sunderlands colours would henceforth be the colours of Sparta. In 1905, Sparta initiated and organised the first home match of the Netherlands national team, the match, won 4–0 by the Netherlands, was a rematch of a game two weeks prior, when the Netherlands beat Belgium 4–1 in Antwerp, Belgium. The first match at Spartas new stadium, Het Kasteel, in the Spangen area of west Rotterdam, was played on 14 October 1916, the stadium was renovated in 1999 and is still Spartas stadium. Until the 2002–03 season, Sparta had always played at the highest level, Sparta returned to the Eredivisie for the 2005–06 season. They were relegated again in 2010, on 20 August 2010, they equalled Ajaxs and Heracles Almelos Dutch league record win when they defeated Almere City 12–1 with Johan Voskamp scoring an Eerste Divisie record 8 goals on his debut. After six years in the Eerste Divisie, Sparta again won promotion to the Eredivisie in April 2016 after a 3–1 win over Jong Ajax won them a lead over second placed VVV-Venlo. Sparta has won six titles and three national cups. The best footballers of Rotterdam and Antwerp contested a match between 1909 and 1959 for the Meuse- and Scheldt Cup. It was agreed to play the game at stadium Het Kasteel in Rotterdam, the cup was provided in 1909 by Kees van Hasselt from Rotterdam and P. Havenith from Antwerp. The Sparta Jeugdopleiding is a certified youth academy and amongst the strongest in the nation. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality, note, Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules
30.
Pierre van Hooijdonk
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Petrus Ferdinandus Johannes Pierre van Hooijdonk is a retired Dutch international footballer who played as a striker. He had spells with clubs across Europe where he was a goal scorer. Van Hooijdonk was capped 46 times for the Dutch national team, scoring 14 goals and he was noted for his spectacular free kicks. Van Hooijdonk was born in Steenbergen and his Moroccan biological father left Van Hooijdonks mother before his birth. He grew up in a village nearby Steenbergen named Welberg. While playing in one of SC Welbergs youth squads Van Hooijdonk became familiar with football and his favourite team was NAC Breda and he was already watching their games at a young age. When he was 11 years old he took part in a talent pool on the day of the team. He was asked to join NAC, which he did and played mainly as a right midfielder, when he was 14 he was told he was not good enough for NAC and he switched to amateur side. Here he switched to the position and he would play five years for the team. Because RBCs main striker suffered from an injury Van Hooijdonk played almost the second half of the season. He signed his first professional contract and his breakthrough came in the following season in which he became a key player for the team. Several teams showed interest and NAC Breda was one of the teams, Van Hooijdonk did not hesitate and signed a contract at the team he supported as a child. NAC paid 400,000 guilders for Van Hooijdonk, a player whom they had sent away while he was playing in their youth squads, returning at NAC gave him a good feeling and he was determined to show them what he was capable of. Van Hooijdonk succeeded in his goal and scored a total of 81 goals in four seasons and he helped the team to win promotion to the Eredivisie in 1993. In his last season at club, in December 1994. He set a scoring streak for 11 Eredivisie matches, not much later, in the 1994–95 winter break, Celtic offered him a contract and made a deal with NAC for him to join them immediately, which he accepted. Van Hooijdonk made his Celtic debut on 11 January 1995 in a match against Hearts at Hampden Park. The big striker made an instant impact for his new team by scoring a stunning opening goal, Hearts went on to equalise and the game finished 1–1
31.
Ton Lokhoff
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Antonius Johannes Jacobus Lokhoff is a Dutch former football midfielder, currently serving as assistant manager of VfB Stuttgart. He also played in the Netherlands for PSV Eindhoven and Feyenoord, Lokhoff started his coaching career again at NAC Breda, serving as the clubs head coach from 2003 to 2005. He was then appointed the coach of Excelsior in the summer of 2006. Lokhoffs contract at Excelsior expired in the spring of 2009, from September 2009 he was named as an assistant trainer for FC Red Bull Salzburg under fellow Dutchman Co Adriaanse. In December 2011, Lokhoff signed a contract from January 2012 until the end of the season with VVV-Venlo and he succeeded Belgian boss Glen De Boeck who had ended his contract because of a lack of confidence in achieving with the current squad. After the relegation of the team in June 2013, Lokhoff was sacked and he joined Huub Stevens as assistant manager of P. A. O. K. On 10 March 2014 Lokhoff joined Stevens as assistant manager of VfB Stuttgart
32.
Fabian Wilnis
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Fabian Wilnis is a Dutch-Surinamese footballer who plays as a defender for Leiston. He played for NAC Breda, De Graafschap, Ipswich Town, Wilnis played for NAC Breda and De Graafschap before signing for Ipswich in 1999. The Dutchman joined the Blues from De Graafschap for £200,000 in January 1999, Wilnis quickly established himself in the side and was a key part of George Burleys side which won promotion to the Premiership. Wilnis scored a rare and memorable goal against Manchester United in the first home game after the return to the top flight, former Norwich striker Joe Royles arrival as manager a year later saw Wilnis get his chance once more. He was a regular mainly at right-back but often at left-back, Wilnis scored the opening goal in the 2–0 win at Norwich City in 2003. Wilnis became one of the players at the club. He was the supporters Player of the Year for 2005–06, under Jim Magilton, Wilnis frequently found himself on the sidelines, but signed a new one-year contract in May 2007. The revival of form by Spanish defender Sito Castro and the partnership of Alex Bruce and Jason de Vos. After Ipswichs final game of the 2007–08 season, Wilnis announced that he was to retire as a player, unfortunately he was told there were no vacancies at Portman Road at the time, which brought to an end a long association with the club. He was released by the club at the end of the 2007–08 season, in August 2008, Wilnis signed for Grays Athletic on a one-year contract. He retired at the end of the 2008–09 season, Wilnis played his last game for Ipswich Town in his Testimonial game with Colchester United in 2009. A stunning own goal from Colchester defender Magnus Okuonghae and a strike from Jordan Rhodes gave the Blues a 2–0 victory, Fabian Wilnis made his final appearance in a Town shirt with 12 minutes left, his every touch applauded by the Blues supporters. After the final whistle Fabian Wilnis thanked and said goodbye to Town fans for the time at the end of his distinguished 11 years in English football 10 of them with the Blues. Said Norwich werent good enough to top the table, wouldnt survive in the Premier League, in Wilnis 2009 autobiography, he wrote, I got letters saying I was a dead man and threatening to break my arms and legs if I ever set foot in Norwich. At the time, it was really frightening, I upset and offended some of their fans and for that I really am sorry. I think the dust has settled now, though, ive only been back there for football. And wont risk doing anything else, especially if Im with my family, Fabian Wilnis player profile at itfc. co. uk Fabian Wilnis at Soccerbase
33.
's-Hertogenbosch
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S-Hertogenbosch, colloquially known as Den Bosch, is a city and municipality in the southern Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Brabant, the citys official name is a contraction of the Dutch des Hertogen bosch—the Dukes forest. The duke in question was Duke Henry I of Brabant, whose family had owned an estate at nearby Orthen for at least four centuries. He founded a new town located on some forested dunes in the middle of a marsh, at age 26, he granted s-Hertogenbosch city rights and the corresponding trade privileges in 1185. This is, however, the date given by later chroniclers. The original charter has been lost and his reason for founding the city was to protect his own interests against encroachment from Gelre and Holland, from its first days, he conceived of the city as a fortress. It was destroyed in 1203 in a joint expedition of Gelre and Holland, some remnants of the original city walls may still be seen. In the late 14th century, a larger wall was erected to protect the greatly expanded settled area. Artificial waterways were dug to serve as a city moat, through which the rivers Dommel, until 1520, the city flourished, becoming the second largest population centre in the territory of the present Netherlands, after Utrecht. The city was also a center of music, and composers, such as Jheronimus Clibano, the wars of the Reformation changed the course of the citys history. During the Eighty Years War, the city took the side of the Habsburg authorities and it was besieged several times by Prince Maurice of Orange, stadtholder of most of the Dutch Republic, who wanted to bring s-Hertogenbosch under the rule of the rebel United Provinces. The city was defended by Claude de Berlaymont, also known as Haultpenne. In the years of Truce, before the fighting after 1618. The surrounding marshes made a siege of the conventional type impossible, after a siege of three months, the city had to surrender—an enormous blow to Habsburg geo-political strategy during the Thirty Years War. This surrender cut the town off from the rest of the duchy, after the Peace of Westphalia, the fortifications were again expanded. In 1672, the Dutch rampjaar, the city held against the army of Louis XIV of France. In 1794, French revolutionary troops under command of Charles Pichegru took the city with hardly a fight, in the Batavian Republic, from 1806, the city became part of the Kingdom of Holland and from 1810, it was incorporated into the First French Empire. It was captured by the Prussians in 1814, the next year,1815, when the United Kingdom of the Netherlands was established, it became the capital of North Brabant
34.
FC Den Bosch
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FC Den Bosch is a football club from s-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands. It was founded August 18,1965, as FC Den Bosch/BVV and it is the successor of BVV and Wilhelmina. Its stadium is called De Vliert, an 8,500 all-seater, ruud van Nistelrooy started his professional career at this club. In 2005 they finished bottom of the Eredivisie and were relegated, during the 2012–13 KNVB Cup quarter-final match against AZ, American forward Jozy Altidore was the target of racist chants. The clubs director, Peter Bijvelds, blamed malicious supporters making a mess of the evening. He said Den Bosch, AZ and the referee considered abandoning the match and we cant deny that, certainly when we play top matches, we have a structural problem with a group of people who ruin things, Bijvelds told Dutch radio. This racial incident, however, was a one. Following this incident, the club and fans went on a series of actions to rectify the image of the club, evident to this was a campaign launched by the club to equip a village in Africa with football kits and football equipment. As of 10 March 2017 For recent transfers, see List of Dutch football transfers summer 2016 Note, players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality. Dutch football league teams Official website
35.
Newcastle United F.C.
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Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne. Following the clubs most recent relegation from the top-flight during the 2015–16 season, Newcastle returned to the Football Leagues 2nd tier, the Championship, for the 2016–17 campaign. Newcastle United was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End and Newcastle West End, the ground was developed into an all-seater stadium in the mid-1990s and now has a capacity of 52,354. They have won four League Championship titles, six FA Cups and a Charity Shield, as well as the 1969 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, Newcastle United has the ninth highest total of trophies won by an English club. The clubs most successful period was between 1904 and 1910, when they won an FA Cup and three of their First Division titles. The club were successful in the Premier League in the 1990s and early 2000s, but have been mostly struggling since the 2006–07 season. Newcastle has a local rivalry with Sunderland, and the two clubs have engaged in the Tyne–Wear derby since 1898. The clubs traditional kit colours are black and white striped shirts, black shorts and their traditional crest takes elements of the city coat of arms, which features two grey seahorses. The club has been owned by Mike Ashley since 2007, succeeding long term chairman, the club is the seventeenth highest revenue producing club in the world in terms of annual revenue, generating €169. 3m in 2015. Historically, Newcastles highest placing was in 1999 when they were the fifth highest revenue producing club in the world. The first record of football being played on Tyneside dates from 3 March 1877 at Elswick Rugby Club, later that year, Newcastles first football club, Tyne Association, was formed. The origins of Newcastle United Football Club itself can be traced back to the formation of a club by the Stanley Cricket Club of Byker in November 1881. This team was renamed Newcastle East End F. C. in October 1882, to avoid confusion with the club in Stanley. Rosewood F. C. of Byker merged with Newcastle East End a short time later, in 1886, Newcastle East End moved from Byker to Heaton. In August 1882, Newcastle West End F. C. formed from West End Cricket Club, and in May 1886, the two clubs became rivals in the Northern League. In 1889, Newcastle East End became a team, before becoming a limited company the following March. However, on the hand, Newcastle West End were in serious financial trouble. With only one club in the city for fans to support
36.
Villarreal CF
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Usually abbreviated to Villarreal CF or just Villarreal, is a Spanish football club based in Vila-real, a city in the province of Castellón within the Valencian Community. Founded in 1923, it plays in La Liga, holding home games at Estadio de la Cerámica, Villarreal has often been touted as an example of a small but successful club. Villarreal CF was founded as Villarreal CD on 10 March 1923 to promote all sports especially Soccer, the stadium was rented for 60 pesetas a month and ticket prices were set at half a peseta for men and a quarter of a peseta for children. On 17 June 1923, Castellón, a rival of the club. On 21 October of that year, Villarreal played their first game ever, Villarreal started off with a kit of white shirts and black shorts, reflected in their first badge. Villarreal entered regional competitions within the Spanish football pyramid from 1929–30 onwards, the 1934–35 season saw the team lose to Cartagena when a win would have seen them promoted to the nationwide Second Division. The following season saw Villarreal win the First Division of the region before the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, when the war finished in 1939, the club played again in the Second Division of the region, before promotion in 1950–51 to the first. In 1942, the changed their name to CAF Villarreal. The F stood for Foghetcaz, a club and supporter of the team. The name changed again to the current Villarreal CF in 1954 and they finished seventh and then fourth twice in the First regional league before being promoted to the Tercera Liga as champions in 1956. They were relegated in 1960–61 after finishing 14th, the club adopted their present badge in the middle of 1966. In 1966–67, Villarreal returned to the Tercera as champions, in 1970, they reached the national Segunda for the first time. After narrowly avoiding relegation in their first season, they were relegated the following season, in 1975–76, they were relegated from the Tercera to the Regionals, but were promoted back again the next season. In 1986–87, Villarreal were promoted to the Segunda Liga B, in 1990, they finished 18th and were relegated back to the Tercera. There were back-to-back promotions as the returned to Segunda B and finished second. From 1992–93, Villarreal were often in low or mid-table positions, the two-legged play-off was against Compostela. Villarreal hosted the first leg which was a 0–0 draw, but the leg at the home of the Galician team was a 1–1 draw. Villarreals Primera Liga debut started with a match against reigning European champions Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium on 31 August 1998, the first home game was against Celta de Vigo the week after
37.
AZ Alkmaar
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Alkmaar Zaanstreek, better known as AZ Alkmaar or simply AZ, is a Dutch professional football club from Alkmaar and the Zaanstreek. The club plays in the Eredivisie, the highest professional league in the Netherlands. AZ has won the Eredivisie twice, in 1980–81 and 2008–09, in the same season as their first league title, they also reached the UEFA Cup Final, which they lost to Ipswich Town. In addition, the team has won the KNVB Cup on four occasions, AZ was founded on 10 May 1967 as AZ67, the result of a merger of Alkmaar 54 and FC Zaanstreek. FC Zaanstreek was formed in 1964, continuing the adventure of the Kooger Football Club. KFC had been founded in 1910, had nearly become National Champion in 1934 through a loss to Ajax in the finals. After this merger failed, they successfully merged KFC with Alkmaar 54, partially through the hiring of expensive foreign players, the new club soon acquired large debts. They won the title with overwhelming power, winning 27 of 34 matches and only losing once while scoring a club record 101 goals and that same season, AZ reached the final of the UEFA Cup, losing 5–4 on aggregate to Ipswich Town. The next year, in the European Cup, they lost in the second round 3–2 on aggregate to Liverpool. Additional stars included John Metgod, who spent six years at AZ playing 195 games as a defender, like Hovenkamp, Metgod was also included in the Dutch squad for Euro 1980. Meanwhile, Danish forward Kristen Nygaard spent ten years at AZ, the club deteriorated after Klaas Molenaar left the club in 1985. AZ were relegated in 1988 from the Eredivisie, the involvement of businessman Dirk Scheringa in the mid-1990s marked the revival of the club as AZ returned to the Eredivisie in 1998. After a 22-year hiatus from European football, AZ appeared in the 2004–05 UEFA Cup, in the same season, AZ finished third in the Eredivisie, thus also qualifying for the subsequent seasons UEFA Cup. In the summer of 2006, the moved to a new 17,000 capacity stadium AZ Stadion. Despite playing strongly for the majority of the 2006–07 season, AZs season ended in disappointment, additionally, AZ then lost the KNVB Cup final to Ajax 8–7 after a penalty shoot-out, while also falling to Ajax over two play-off games for participation in the Champions League. After the season, key players like Tim de Cler, Danny Koevermans, AZ had a poor season, suffering elimination in the first round of the KNVB Cup and the group stage of the UEFA Cup, as well as finishing the 2007–08 Eredivisie in 11th place. The 2008–09 season had a start after two opening defeats against NAC Breda and ADO Den Haag. Three weeks before the end of the season, AZ became Eredivisie champions, edging nearest title rivals Twente, being league champions, AZ qualified for the Champions League for the second time, but only took four points from six matches and finished bottom of their group
Joost Gielen
