SBV Excelsior


S.B.V. Excelsior 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". 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 2015, Excelsior was a satellite club of Feyenoord. As such, Feyenoord gave Excelsior money and players. 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. 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. 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.
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 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. Excelsior's biggest pre-war achievement was the win of the Zilveren Bal trophy. Excelsior beat Feyenoord in the finals of the highly rated pre-season tournament.

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 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 1999–00.

Feyenoord partnership

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.
On 20 December 2008, Feyenoord announced not to renew the partnership contract with Excelsior due to financial and flexibility reasons. 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."
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."

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. 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.

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Stadium

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.
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.
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.

Honours

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

Current squad

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.
SeasonWinner
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

SeasonWinner
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

PositionName
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

SeasonManager
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

SeasonManager
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 for their respective countries. Players whose name is listed represented their countries while playing for Excelsior.