SBV Excelsior

Excelsior

Full name	Excelsior Rotterdam
Nickname(s)	The Kralingers Roodzwarten (red-blacks) The Wonder Oud papier-club (Paper recycling club)
Founded	23 July 1902; 119 years ago (1902-07-23)
Ground	Van Donge & De Roo Stadion Rotterdam
Capacity	4,500[1]
Chairman	Bob de Lange
Manager	Marinus Dijkhuizen
League	Eerste Divisie
2020–21	Eerste Divisie, 9th
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours

Excelsior Rotterdam is a professional football club based in Rotterdam, Netherlands. It was founded on 23 July 1902 and was formerly known as "Rotterdamse Voetbal en Atletiek Vereniging Excelsior" (Rotterdam Football and Athletics Club Excelsior). The club was relegated from the top Dutch league, Eredivisie in 2007–08, and promoted back to the Eredivisie at the end of the 2009–10 season. After their relegation in 2012, the team returned to the Eredivisie two years later, but relegated again in 2019.

Until 2005, Excelsior was a satellite club of Feyenoord. As such, Feyenoord gave Excelsior money and players (either on loan or free transfer). In 2005, the link between the two clubs was severed. It was reinstated in 2009, resulting in the loan of several Feyenoord players to Excelsior for the 2009–10 season. Excelsior's home stadium is the Stadion Woudestein - for sponsorship reasons known as the Van Donge & De Roo Stadion - which has a capacity of about 4,500, one of the smallest stadiums hosting professional football in the Netherlands.

The main rival of Excelsior is Sparta, another professional football team from Rotterdam.

History[]

Early history[]

Excelsior were officially formed on 23 July 1902 as Rotterdamse Voetbal en Atletiek Vereniging Excelsior (English: Rotterdam Football and Athletics Club Excelsior). However, the initial founders of the club, a group of close friends located in the Kralingen district of Rotterdam, were already playing their football matches together on the fields of the eighteenth century buitenplaats Woudesteyn. After the actual establishment of the club, the municipality officially gave permission to use the land.^[2] As football was still an elite sport at the beginning of the 20th century, Excelsior became one of the first working class clubs in the Netherlands.^[3]

In the season 1945–46, Excelsior gained their first success by promoting to the Eerste Klasse, the highest tier of Dutch football before professional football was introduced in 1954. The deciding match against was played in De Kuip and attracted 52.000 spectators. Excelsior relegated in the next season, but managed to promote for the second time in the season 1951–52. After the introduction of professional football, Excelsior won the Eerste Divisie championship three times (1974, 1979 and 2006) and promoted to the Eredivisie various times, usually to relegate not long afterwards.

Excelsior once reached the KNVB Cup final in the season 1929–30, but lost the match to fellow Rotterdam club Feyenoord (0–1). Excelsior's biggest pre-war achievement was the win of the Zilveren Bal trophy. Excelsior beat Feyenoord (5–0) in the finals of the highly rated pre-season tournament.^[3]

Pioneering[]

Besides Excelsior, there are two more professional clubs from Rotterdam; Feyenoord and Sparta. Being the smallest professional club in Rotterdam, Excelsior always had to be creative to survive. This creativity made Excelsior play a pioneering role within Dutch football. In the mid-fifties, Excelsior were the leading club behind the introduction of professional football in the Netherlands. When the KNVB continued to refuse payments in football, Excelsior chairman and board member managed to persuade association president , in cooperation with the directors of Feyenoord, Sparta and ADO Den Haag. In August 1954 the KNVB accepted the proposal and professional football was introduced.

Excelsior in the 1963/64 Season

In 1958 Excelsior became the first Dutch club with covered stands. Later, in 1974, Excelsior also were the first Dutch club with shirt advertising. Against the then existing rules, the club put an 'A' on the shirt. The character was supposed to stand for 'Team A', but in reality it stood for Akai, the company of main investor Rob Albers. The KNVB decided to ban the 'A' from the shirt and it would take until 1982 for shirt advertising to be introduced. Akai would adorn the shirts of Excelsior until the season 1999–00.^[3]

Feyenoord partnership[]

In 1979, Excelsior chairman and Feyenoord manager Peter Stephan were at the start of the close relationship between the two Rotterdam clubs Excelsior and Feyenoord. The finger tight relationship that existed between the two clubs since then was contractually sealed in 1996 with an official partnership. Excelsior became Feyenoord's feeder club and provided experience and training for young talented Feyenoord players.^[3]

On 20 December 2008, Feyenoord announced not to renew the partnership contract with Excelsior due to financial and flexibility reasons.^[4] However, only five months later, Feyenoord and Excelsior agreed on an even more extensive partnership. As part of the new agreement, the clubs started a joint regional youth academy called Feyenoord Academy and merged the club's reserve teams. Also, Excelsior continued to be Feyenoord's feeder club. Excelsior's managing director was pleased with the new extensive partnership: "I already regretted the earlier withdrawal of cooperation from Feyenoord, but now we get something better in return. It doesn't only reduces the costs, but I am also convinced both clubs will benefit on sportive grounds."^[5]

A majority of the Excelsior fans have always been against a partnership with Feyenoord. Michel van der Neut, chairman of Excelsior's supporters club, claimed: "Excelsior sold her soul with the extended partnership. Excelsior simply stops existing this way."^[6]

Recent history[]

In 2010 Excelsior returned to the highest tier of Dutch football, after defeating crosstown rival Sparta Rotterdam in the final of the Eredivisie promotion/relegation play-offs. The team was mostly composed by Feyenoord loanees and was coached by former Feyenoord youth coach Alex Pastoor. In the 2010–11 season Excelsior made a flying start in the Eredivisie, gaining ten points in its first five matches, including a home victory in the Rotterdam derby against Feyenoord (3–2). In the remainder of the season, Excelsior upset some of the larger league teams at home, winning against AZ and getting draws against Groningen and eventual league champions Ajax. In the final match of the regular season, Excelsior got a 4–1 win away at Vitesse Arnhem, a result that left them one goal short of staying up. Finishing 16th, Excelsior had to face FC Den Bosch and Helmond Sport in the relegation / promotion play-offs. A 4–2 home win against Helmond sport ensured another season of Eredivisie football for Excelsior.

Excelsior finished bottom of the table in the Eredivisie at the end of the 2011–12 season, managing only four wins in 34 matches. The club was again relegated to the Eerste Divisie.

Stadium[]

Excelsior's home venue Stadion Woudestein.

Excelsior's home venue is Stadion Woudestein, which has a capacity of 3,531 seats, one of the smallest stadiums hosting professional football in the Netherlands.

The club had two short spells at different locations. For the season 1907–08 Excelsior played on the Afrikaanderplein. After returning to Woudestein, Excelsior moved to the Toepad terrain for seasons 1922–39. When the Dutch government decided to build marine barracks on the Toepad area right before the start of the second world war, Excelsior moved back to the familiar Woudestein.^[3]

In the early nineties Excelsior went through a difficult period. The club barely survived a financial crisis, but a newly appointed board under the chairmanship of Martin de Jager had one important goal; a new Excelsior stadium. Various plans were made, one of them being a joint stadium for Excelsior and Sparta, but eventually none of the plans were implemented. Due to financial pressure, Excelsior decided to take the plunge and started renovating Woudestein themselves. The club built two new stands themselves and with the help of the municipality the main stand got renovated as well, including business seats and office space. On 31 July 2000, the new stadium was opened with a friendly match against Feyenoord.^[7]

When Excelsior promoted to the Eredivisie after the season 2009–10, the club decided to replace the grass surface with artificial turf. Main reason for the change was the lack of financial resources to install under-soil heating, which is mandatory for clubs participating on the highest level of Dutch football.^[8]

Honours[]

League[]

• Eerste Divisie

Winners (3): 1973–74, 1978–79, 2005–06

Promotion (4): 1969–70, 1981–82, 2001–02, 2009–10, 2013–14

• Tweede Divisie

Promotion (1): 1968–69

Domestic results[]

Below is a table with Excelsior's domestic results since the introduction of the Eredivisie in 1956.

Current squad[]

As of 7 August 2021

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  NED Stijn van Gassel 2 DF  BEL Siebe Horemans 4 DF  NED Redouan El Yaakoubi (captain) 6 DF  NED Abdallah Aberkane 7 FW  NED Thijs Dallinga 8 MF  NED Mats Wieffer 10 MF  NED Reuven Niemeijer 16 DF  NED Sven Nieuwpoort 17 FW  NED Dave van Delft 18 MF  FRA Modeste Doku

No. Pos. Nation Player 20 GK  BEL Bo Geens 24 DF  ENG Brandon Ormonde-Ottewill 28 DF  NED Nathan Tjoe-A-On 30 GK  NED Lars Bleijenberg 31 DF  NED Jaimy Buter 32 MF  NED Joshua Eijgenraam 33 MF  NED Julian Baas 34 DF  NED Serano Seymor 36 FW  NED Delano Gouda 38 GK  NED Pascal Kuiper

Player of the year[]

The Excelsior 'Player of the Year' award is voted for by the club's supporters, in recognition of the best overall performance by an individual player throughout the football season. The annual election is organized by the supporters club Pro Excelsior since 1996.^[9][10]

Season Winner 1995–96 Marinus Dijkhuizen 1996–97 John Schuurhuizen 1997–98 Ferry de Haan 1998–99 Michael van der Kruis 1999–00 David Connolly 2000–01 Jarda Simr 2001–02 Michel Breuer 2002–03 Steve Olfers 2003–04 Danny Buijs 2004–05 Brett Holman 2005–06 Luigi Bruins 2006–07 René van Dieren

Season Winner 2007–08 Kees Luijckx 2008–09 Jeffrey Altheer 2009–10 Ryan Koolwijk 2010–11 Daan Bovenberg 2011–12 Roland Alberg 2012–13 Jordy Deckers 2013–14 Lars Veldwijk 2014–15 Sander Fischer 2015–16 Rick Kruys 2016–17 Nigel Hasselbaink 2017–18 Hicham Faik 2018–19 Jerdy Schouten

Managers[]

Current staff[]

Position	Name
Manager	Marinus Dijkhuizen
Assistant manager	André Hoekstra
Assistant manager / technology strategist	Takahisa Shiraishi
Team manager	Dennis van der Neut
Goalkeeping coach	Ronald Graafland
Fitness coach	Mario Meijer
Physio	Maurice de Groot
Physio	Rinus Kerskes
Club doctor	Robert Jan de Vos
Kit manager	Rien van Wijk
Kit manager	John van Tilburg

Former managers[]

Season(s) Manager 1954–56 Rinus Smits 1956–62 Bob Janse 1962–68 Rinus Smits 1968–70 Bob Janse 1970 Jaap Kouters 1970–71 Bob Janse 1971–73 Joop Castenmiller 1973–75 Ben Peeters 1975–76 Thijs Libregts Bob Janse 1976–80 Thijs Libregts 1980–82 Hans Dorjee 1982–86 Rob Jacobs 1986–88 Henk Wullems 1988–90 Joop van Daele 1990 Martin van der Kooy 1990–92 Sándor Popovics 1992–94 Cor Pot 1994–95 Rob Baan

Season(s) Manager 1995–96 Hans van der Pluijm 1996-03 Adrie Koster 2003–04 Henk van Stee 2004–05 John Metgod 2005–06 Mario Been 2006–09 Ton Lokhoff 2009–11 Alex Pastoor 2011–12 John Lammers 2012–13 Leon Vlemmings 2013–14 Jon Dahl Tomasson 2014–15 Marinus Dijkhuizen 2015–16 Alfons Groenendijk 2016–18 Mitchell van der Gaag 2018–19 Adrie Poldervaart 2019–20 Ricardo Moniz 2020– Marinus Dijkhuizen

Notable former players[]

The players below had senior international cap(s) for their respective countries. Players whose name is listed represented their countries while playing for Excelsior.

References[]

External links[]

• Official website (in Dutch)
• Excelsior Fans (in Dutch)
• Excelsior Fansite (in Dutch)