This article is about the Dutch club, 'Excelsior', for the Surinamese club of a similar name, see SV Excelsior

Excelsior

175px
Full name	Stichting Betaald Voetbal Excelsior
Nickname(s)	The Kralingers Roodzwarten (red-blacks)
Founded	July 23, 1902; 109 years ago  (1902-07-23)
Ground	Stadion Woudestein Rotterdam (Capacity: 3,531)
Chairman	Nico Janssens
Manager	Leon Vlemmings
League	Eredivisie
2011–12	Eredivisie, 18th (Relegated)
Home colours Away colours

SBV Excelsior is a professional football club from the Kralingen-Crooswijk district of Rotterdam, Netherlands. It was founded on July 23, 1902 and was formerly known as 'Rotterdamse Voetbal en Atletiek Vereniging Excelsior' (Rotterdam Football and Athletics Union 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.

Excelsior used to be a satellite club of Feyenoord this ended in 2005, a satellite club is where Excelsior received money and players (either on loan or free transfer) from Feyenoord. The agreement was set up again in 2009, which resulted in the loan of several Feyenoord players to Excelsior for the 2009–10 season. Excelsior's home stadium is the Stadion Woudestein, which has a capacity of about 3,531, 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[link]

Early history[link]

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.^[1] 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.^[2]

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 VUC 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 1929–1930, 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.^[2]

Pioneering[link]

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 Henk Zon and board member Aad Libregts managed to persuade association president Hans Hopster, 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.

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 1999–2000.^[2]

Feyenoord partnership[link]

In 1979, Excelsior chairman Jaap Bontenbal 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.^[2]

On December 20, 2008, Feyenoord announced not to renew the partnership contract with Excelsior due to financial and flexibility reasons.^[3] 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 Simon Kelder 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."^[4]

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."^[5]

Recent history[link]

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, 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.

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Stadium[link]

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.^[2]

In the early nineties Excelsior went through a difficult period. The club merely survived the financial crisis, but the 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 July 31, 2000, the new stadium was opened with a friendly match against Feyenoord.^[6]

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.^[7]

Players[link]

Current squad[link]

As of 1 August 2011

For recent transfers, see List of Dutch football transfers summer 2011

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

No. Position Player 1 GK Wesley de Ruiter 2 DF Mohammad Yatzir 3 DF Samuel Scheimann 4 DF Leen van Steensel 5 MF Hamit Yaküp 6 MF Kevin Wattamaleo 7 FW Tim Vincken (vice-captain) 8 MF Johann Laqűer (captain) 9 FW Mitchell te Vrede 10 MF Roland Alberg 11 FW Nayib Lagouireh 12 DF Chen Chen 13 MF Erwin Nuytinck 14 MF Javiér Sebarittó 15 MF Hery Supratman

No. Position Player 16 GK Saït Kareni 17 FW Darren Maatsen 18 FW Andréa Fileccia 19 FW Marley Berkvens F 20 FW Mick van Buren 21 MF Kevin Jansen F 22 DF Daan Smith F 23 DF Tim Eekman 24 MF Joost Broerse 25 FW Raúl Sanchez 26 MF Edwin de Graaf 27 FW Jason Oost 28 MF Rangelo Janga (On loan from Willem II) 29 FW Tomasz Sczlekny 30 MF Luigi Bruins

^F = On loan from Feyenoord

Player of the year[link]

The Excelsior 'Player of the Year' award is voted for by the clubs 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.^[8][9]

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

Season Winner 2002–03 Steve Olfers 2003–04 Danny Buijs 2004–05 Brett Holman 2005–06 Luigi Bruins 2006–07 René van Dieren 2007–08 Kees Luijckx 2008–09 Jeffrey Altheer

Notable players[link]

The calm environment at Excelsior is a good atmosphere for young players to mature and gain experience. Also thanks to the partnership with Feyenoord, various notable players were once at the start of their career at Excelsior.^[2] Most recently, six former Excelsior players were present at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, namely Michel Bastos, Brett Holman, Salomon Kalou, Kim Nam-Il, Patrick Mtiliga and Robin van Persie.^[10]

Managers[link]

Current staff[link]

Position	Name
Manager	John Lammers
Assistant manager	André Hoekstra
Assistant manager	Jon Dahl Tomasson
Goalkeeping coach	Peter den Otter
Intern	Marinus Dijkhuizen
Intern	Robert Molenaar

Notable managers[link]

Honours[link]

League

• Eerste Divisie

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

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

• Tweede Divisie

Promotion (1): 1968–69

Cup

• KNVB Cup

Runners-up (1): 1929–30

Domestic Results[link]

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

References[link]

External links[link]

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