SC Heerenveen

Heerenveen

Full name	Sportclub Heerenveen
Nickname(s)	De Superfriezen (The Super Frisians) Fean
Founded	20 July 1920 (1920-07-20)
Ground	Abe Lenstra Stadium
Ground Capacity	26,100
Chairman	vacant
Manager	Foppe de Haan (int.)
League	Eredivisie
2014–15	Eredivisie, 7th
Website	Club home page
Home colours Away colours

Sportclub Heerenveen (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈspɔrtklʏp ˌɦeːrə(n)ˈveːn]; Frisian: Sportklub It Hearrenfean) is a Dutch football club currently playing in the Eredivisie, the top level of football in the Netherlands.

History

Sportclub Heerenveen was founded on 20 July 1920 in the town of Heerenveen, Friesland, as Athleta.^[1] They changed name twice, first to Spartaan, and then to v.v. Heerenveen in 1922.^[1] Whilst the Netherlands was occupied by Germany Heerenveen won three successive North of the Netherlands championships, and following the end of the Second World War they went on to win the same title six times in a row; the club's dominance partly ascribed to the presence of Abe Lenstra.^[1] During this period Lenstra led Heerenveen to a famous victory over AFC Ajax in one of the most noted games in Dutch domestic football history.^[2] Trailing 1–5 with 25 minutes remaining, the Frisian team inexplicably fought back for a 6–5 victory.^[2]

During the 1950s, Heerenveen regional dominance faded and after Dutch football turned professional Lenstra left to join Sportclub Enschede, before the club he departed was relegated to the Tweede Divisie.^[1] By the end of the decade, Heerenveen were in the Eerste Divisie, but they found themselves relegated again.^[1] In 1969–1970, the Frisian club won the Tweede Divisie to return to the Eerste Divisie and for two seasons in the 1970s, the club was close to achieving promotion to the Eredivisie.^[1] By 1974 the club were in financial trouble and to ensure survival was split into amateur and professional sections, the professional part being renamed sc Heerenveen.^[1]

In the 1980s, Heerenveen twice made the promotion playoffs, but were unsuccessful both times.^[1] They finally reached the Eredivisie in 1990, becoming the first Frisian club to reach the top level, at the expense of near-neighbours Cambuur Leeuwarden.^[2] The achievement was overseen by Frisian coach Foppe de Haan. Heerenveen's first season in the Netherlands' top division was not at all successful and they were relegated, before returning in 1993, though they reached the final of the KNVB Cup whilst still an Eerste Divisie club.^[2] Having established themselves as a top-flight club Heerenveen moved to a new stadium, named after their most celebrated player, the Abe Lenstra Stadion and reached the final of the KNVB Cup for a second time.^[2] The 1998 semi-final in the cup competition was lost to Ajax. Due to the fact Ajax and the other finalist (PSV) both qualified for the cupfinal a decision match was needed to fill in the vacant spot to the next UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. Heerenveen had to play against the other losing semifinalist, Twente. Heerenveen won that match in which Ruud van Nistelrooy scored his last goal for Heerenveen. The match ended 3–1.

Heerenveen became regular competitors in the UEFA Cup, and in 1999–2000 finished second in the Eredivise, their highest ever finish, and qualified for the 2000–01 UEFA Champions League.^[1]

The club was led from 1983 until September 2006 by president Riemer van der Velde, the longest tenure of any president with a professional club in the Netherlands. As the results of recent transfers that include Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, Afonso Alves, Michael Bradley, Miralem Sulejmani, Petter Hansson and Danijel Pranjic (and earlier players like Jon Dahl Tomasson, Marcus Allbäck, Erik Edman, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Igor Korneev and Daniel Jensen), Heerenveen is one of the most financially secure Eredivisie clubs. A 2010 report by the Dutch football association showed that Heerenveen is the only Eredivisie club that has a financially secure budget.^[3] Under the tenure of Trond Sollied, Heerenveen won their first KNVB Cup in the club's history, their first ever major prize. Trond Sollied was sacked on 31 August 2009 due to a weak opening of the season and a conflict with the board.

On 17 May 2009, they defeated Twente 5–4 in a penalty shoot-out to win the Dutch Cup for the first time after a 2–2 draw in the final, with Gerald Sibon scoring the winning penalty.^[4] On 13 February 2012 it was announced that Marco van Basten will replace Ron Jans, who had then lead SC Heerenveen for 2 years, as team manager for the 2012/2013 season.

Stadium

Home of Heerenveen, Abe Lenstra Stadion

The team plays its home games at the Abe Lenstra Stadium which opened in 1994 and holds 26,100 people. Throughout the years, the club developed several plans to further expand the stadium. One of the plans was to extend at least one side stand towards the pitch, as seen in English football stadiums. However, due to deteriorating league results and financial limitedness, those plans were shelved. It is uncertain whether or not the club will ever carry them out.

Colours, crest, and anthem

The crest on the club emblem is the symbol of the flag of Friesland. The flag of Friesland is based on the arms of the 15th century. The stripes and waterlily leaves represent the districts of Friesland. A unique tradition in the Dutch Eredivisie is that the Frisian national anthem is played and sung before every domestic match. UEFA does not allow this tradition in European matches. Nevertheless, the anthem is sung by the supporters anyway.

Rivalry

SC Cambuur

Heerenveen's main rivals are SC Cambuur from Leeuwarden. The rivalry is partly based on geographical location, as the distance between Heerenveen and Leeuwarden is a mere thirty kilometres. For this reason, supporters of both teams usually call each other DKV (Dertig Kilometer Verderop), which translates to Thirty Kilometres Ahead. However, the most important, and by far the most complicated reason for the rivalry is the origin of both sides. In fact, the rivalry appears to be difficult to understand for those who aren't involved. Most Heerenveen fans live in villages throughout the province of Friesland and are proud of being Frisians. Especially since the 1980s, the club has been propagating and emphasising this Frisian nature by using the famous Frisian flag and also the Frisian anthem, which is played and sung before every home game. In this way, Heerenveen managed to make people automatically link Friesland with the club, which basically put Cambuur out of the spotlights. Therefore, Cambuur fans started to oppose and even hate this attitude by claiming not to be Frisians, but Leeuwarders (inhabitants of the city of Leeuwarden). They consider themselves as city folks and mockingly they consider Heerenveen fans as farmers, as they mostly live in villages. Also, Heerenveen itself isn't officially a city. Throughout the years, the derby had become less known, due to the absence of Cambuur in the top flight. After their promotion at the end of the 2012-13 season, the derby revived. Before the clash on September 29, 2013, Heerenveen and Cambuur hadn't played each other for 13 years, making it the ultimate opportunity for Cambuur to show themselves. However, Heerenveen won the game by 2-1.

FC Groningen

The absence of Cambuur caused FC Groningen to be the nearest Eredivisie team and soon it became rivals with Heerenveen. Strikingly, both northern sides used to maintain more or less of a friendship in the past. Therefore, this Northern Derby rivalry is only based on geographical location. Because most Heerenveen fans have always considered Cambuur as main rivals, this derby is often referred to as a surrogate derby. However, Groningen fans do consider Heerenveen as main rivals, which created a situation in which there is hatred from Groningen towards Heerenveen, but not vice versa. Traditionally, the winner claims the title Pride of the North. Days before the game, Heerenveen and Groningen fans tease each other by means of playful actions, usually with no violence. Heerenveen fans once stole the centre spot from the Euroborg, and raised the Frisian flag at the Martinitoren, the highest tower in Groningen, combined with a banner saying "SCH op eenzame hoogte" (SCH on lonely height). The front yard of a Groningen chairman once got filled with rubble from a construction site. This was because the construction of the Euroborg had to be halted due to a major design mistake. Groningen fans countered by painting a statue of all-time Heerenveen hero Abe Lenstra green and white, the colours of Groningen. They also transformed a viaduct near Heerenveen to green and white.^{[5] [6]}

Honours

• Eredivisie
  • Runners-up (1): 1999–2000

• KNVB Cup
  • Champions (1): 2008–09
  • Runners-up (2): 1992–93, 1996–97

• Eerste Divisie
  • Play-off Winners (2): 1989-90, 1992-93
  • Runners-up (1): 1980-81

• Tweede Divisie
  • Champions (1): 1969–70
  • Play-off Winners (1): 1959-60

Domestic results

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

In Europe

SC Heerenveen played 16 seasons in one of the European clubfootball competitions.

score marked with * = first played match

Season	Competition	Round	Opposition	Home	Away
1995	UEFA Intertoto Cup	Group 4	Næstved BK	2-1
			Ton Pentre F.C.		7-0
			Békéscsaba Előre	4-0
			U.D. Leiria		0-1
		Round of 16	Farul Constanţa	4-0
		Quarterfinals	FC Girondins de Bordeaux		0-2
1996	UEFA Intertoto Cup	Group 5	Sligo Rovers F.C.		0-0
			Lillestrøm SK	0-1
			FC Nantes		1-3
			FBK Kaunas	3-1
1997	UEFA Intertoto Cup	Group 1	FC Dinamo-93 Minsk		0-1
			Polonia Warsaw	0-0
			MSV Duisburg		0-2
			Aalborg BK	8-2
1998-99	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	First round	Amica Wronki	3-1 *	1-0
		Second round	NK Varaždin	2-1 *	2-4 (aet)
1999	UEFA Intertoto Cup	Third round	Hammarby IF	2-0 *	2-0
		Semi-finals	West Ham United F.C.	0-1	0-1 *
2000-01	UEFA Champions League	Group C	Valencia CF	0-1	1-1
			Olympique Lyonnais	0-2	1-3
			Olympiacos F.C.	1-0	0-2
2001	UEFA Intertoto Cup	Second round	FK Liepājas Metalurgs	6-1	2-3 *
		Third round	FC Basel	2-3	1-2 *
2002-03	UEFA Cup	First round	FC Naţional Bucureşti	2-0	0-3 *
2003	UEFA Intertoto Cup	Third round	Lierse S.K.	4-1 *	1-0
		Semi-finals	FC Koper	2-0 *	0-1
		Finals	Villarreal CF	1-2 *	0-0
2004-05	UEFA Cup	First round	Maccabi Petah Tikva FC	5-0	n.p. *
		Group G	S.L. Benfica		2-4
			VfB Stuttgart	1-0
			Dinamo Zagreb		2-2
			K.S.K. Beveren	1-0
		Third round	Newcastle United F.C.	1-2 *	1-2
2005-06	UEFA Cup	First round	FC Baník Ostrava	5-0	0-2 *
		Group F	FC Dinamo Bucureşti		0-0
			CSKA Moscow	0-0
			Olympique de Marseille		0-1
			Levski Sofia	2-1
		Third round	Steaua Bucureşti	1-3 *	1-0
2006-07	UEFA Cup	First round	Vitória Setúbal	0-0	3-0 *
		Group D	CA Osasuna		0-0
			Odense BK	0-2
			Parma F.C.		1-2
			RC Lens	1-0
2007-08	UEFA Cup	First round	Helsingborgs IF	5-3 *	1-5
2008-09	UEFA Cup	First round	Vitória Setúbal	5-2	1-1 *
		Group E	A.C. Milan	1-3
			VfL Wolfsburg		1-5
			Sporting Braga	1-2
			Portsmouth F.C.		0-3
2009-10	UEFA Europa League	Play-off round	PAOK Thessaloniki	1-1 (a) *	0-0
		Group D	Sporting CP	2-3	1-1
			Hertha BSC	2-3	1-0
			FK Ventspils	5-0	0-0
2012-13	UEFA Europa League	Third Q-round	FC Rapid București	4-0 *	0-1
		Play-off round	Molde FK	1-2	0-2 *

^1 Due to safety concerns in Israel, the first leg was cancelled by UEFA.

^2 Played in Estádio José Alvalade, Lissabon.

Current squad

As of 1 January 2016

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

No. Position Player 1 GK Erwin Mulder 2 DF Pele van Anholt 3 DF Kenny Otigba 4 DF Joost van Aken 5 DF Lucas Bijker 6 DF Stefano Marzo 7 FW Luciano Slagveer 8 MF Morten Thorsby 9 FW Mitchell te Vrede 10 MF Simon Thern 11 FW Sam Larsson 12 DF Doke Schmidt 13 MF Arber Zeneli 14 DF Robert van Koesveld 15 FW Luka Zahović 16 DF Jerry St. Juste

No. Position Player 17 MF Branco van den Boomen 18 MF Younes Namli 20 FW Henk Veerman 21 MF Joey van den Berg (captain) 22 DF Caner Cavlan 23 MF Jordy ter Borgh 25 DF Willem Huizing 27 DF Stefan Gartermann 28 FW Pascal Huser 30 GK Wieger Sietsma 32 DF Joris Voest 33 GK Maarten de Fockert 34 FW Rewan Amin 37 FW Michel Vlap 38 DF Rannick Schoop

On loan

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

No. Position Player DF Stephen Warmolts (at Helmond Sport until 30 June 2016) MF Szabolcs Varga (at MTK Budapest until 30 June 2016) FW Pelle van Amersfoort (at Almere City until 30 June 2016)

Players with dual citizenship

• Pele van Anholt
• Kenny Otigba
• Lucas Bijker
• Stefano Marzo
• Luciano Slagveer
• Luka Zahović
• Jerry St. Juste
• Younes Namli
• Caner Cavlan
• Rewan Amin
• Tarik Kada
• Rannick Schoop

Notable former players

Had senior international cap(s) for their respective countries. Players whose name is listed in bold represented their countries while playing for SC Heerenveen

Managers

No official trainer (1920–30) Sjoerd van Zuylen (1930–32) Sid Castle (1932) Otto Pinter (1932–33) Dirk Steenbergen (1934) Theo Eikenaar (1934–36) Sid Castle (1936–38) Piet Smit (1938–39) Anton Dalhuysen (1939–45) Otto Bonsema (1945) Abe Lenstra (1946–47) Piet van der Munnik (1947–51) Bob Kelly (1951–55)

Volgert Ris (1955–58) Siem Plooijer (1958–61) Arie de Vroet (1961–63) Evert Mur (1963–65) Laszlo Zalai (1965–66) Ron Groenewoud (1966–67) Evert Teunissen (1967–69) Bas Paauwe Jr. (1969–71) Meg de Jongh (1971–73) Laszlo Zalai (1973–78) Jan Teunissen (1978–80) Hylke Kerkstra (interim) (1980) Henk van Brussel (1980–85)

Foppe de Haan (1985–88) Ted Immers (1988–89) Ab Gritter (1989–90) Fritz Korbach (July 1, 1990 – June 30, 1992) F. de Haan (Oct 18, 1992–June 30, 2004) G. Verbeek (July 1, 2004 – June 30, 2008)[7] Trond Sollied (July 1, 2008–Aug 31, 2009) Jan de Jonge (Aug 31, 2009–Feb 3, 2010) J. Everse (int.) (Feb 5, 2010–June 30, 2010) Ron Jans (July 1, 2010 – June 30, 2012) Marco van Basten (July 1, 2012 – June 30, 2014) Dwight Lodeweges (July 1, 2014– October 20, 2015) Foppe de Haan (int.) (October 20, 2015 –)

Foppe de Haan – manager from 1992 until 2004 and since 2015 (int.).

Women's team

In 2007 SC Heerenveen created a women's football team, which competed first in the Vrouwen Eredivisie and since 2012 in the BeNe League. While it has ranked mostly in the table's bottom positions in 2011 it reached the national cup's final, lost against AZ Alkmaar.

See also

• Dutch football league teams

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to SC Heerenveen.

• Official website of sc Heerenveen (Dutch) / (English)
• Official website of the supportsclub of sc Heerenveen (Dutch)
• Unofficial website of sc Heerenveen (Dutch)
• Unofficial website of sc Heerenveen (Dutch)