Fortuna Sittard

Fortuna Sittard
Full name Fortuna Sittard
Nickname(s) Fortuna, Fortunezen
Founded 1 July 1968 (1968-07-01)
Ground Fortuna Sittard Stadion,
Sittard
Ground Capacity 12,500
Chairman Özgür Işıtan Gün
Manager Sunday Oliseh
League Eerste Divisie
2016–17 Eerste Divisie, 17th

Fortuna Sittard is a football club in Sittard, The Netherlands. The club currently plays its football in the 12,500 capacity Fortuna Sittard Stadion and features in the Dutch Eerste Divisie. The club was a merger of former clubs 'Fortuna 54' and 'Sittardia' who merged as the Fortuna Sittardia Combinatie on 1 July 1968.

History

The club experienced mixed fortunes throughout its history although they were a regular fixture in the Eredivisie in the 1990s, with many talented players such as Kevin Hofland, Mark van Bommel and Fernando Ricksen emerging from its youth system. These players later joined PSV Eindhoven and Rangers thereafter featured for the Dutch team. The team's management also had an eye for talent, as they snapped up Wilfred Bouma and Patrick Paauwe from the youth setup of PSV. Both players developed well under manager Bert van Marwijk, before breaking into the Dutch national side and moving towards bigger clubs.

'Fortuna 54' was a relatively successful club which once won the KNVB Cup in the 1956/1957 season where they finished the Eredivisie season 2nd place behind champions Ajax whereas the 'Sittardia' battled against relegation for many seasons. Another KNVB Cup triumph was also celebrated by 'Fortuna 54' in 1964 before the merging of the two clubs in 1968 due to financial difficulties.

At the end of the 1999–2000 season, successful manager Bert van Marwijk left to join Feyenoord and the team seemed to collapse. Due to poor management, the team signed a number of over-paid and under-performing "stars". Fortuna relegated to the First Division in the 2001–2002 season, where things were getting from bad to worse very quickly. Financial irregularities had been discovered and the team has been facing bankruptcy for the past 4 seasons. A little highlight came in the winter of 2003, when two of the club's fans won the Dutch lottery and donated all of the prize money to the club.

Things started to look up for Fortuna, when they were able to clear most of their debts by selling of the new stadium, the Wagner & Partners stadium. Unfortunately, the team hasn't been performing on the pitch and finished dead-last in the Dutch First Division for three consecutive seasons.

On 19 May 2009 the KNVB announced it would withdraw the license to play of Fortuna Sittard for the 2010–2011 season. After going to civil court, this decision was revoked and the club did not lose its license.[1] Even though financial troubles kept plaguing the club, recent years have seen a slow but steady return to financial health, with sportive successes following suit. In the 2011–2012 season they missed qualification for the playoffs for promotion to the Eredivisie by a hair's breadth, conceding an equalizer in the dying seconds of the season in the home match against the Go Ahead Eagles, seeing them take the final playoff spot instead. In 2012–2013 and 2013–2014 they were successful in qualifying, having a first chance at returning to the Eredivisie since their relegation in 2002, but they lost both first round matches against De Graafschap.

Honours

Results

Eerste Divisie Eredivisie Eerste Divisie Eredivisie

Below is a table with Fortuna Sittard's domestic results since the introduction of professional football in 1956.

Current squad

As of 11 August 2017[2]

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

No. Position Player
1 Portugal GK Miguel Santos
2 Germany DF Christopher Braun
3 Netherlands DF Perr Schuurs
4 Netherlands DF Kai Heerings
5 Belgium DF Marco Ospitalieri
6 Netherlands DF Wessel Dammers
7 Portugal FW André Vidigal (on loan from Académica)
8 Martinique MF Mickael Malsa
9 Netherlands FW Finn Stokkers
10 Netherlands FW Gavin Vlijter
11 France FW Djibril Dianessy
No. Position Player
12 Netherlands DF Clint Essers
14 Portugal FW Lisandro Semedo
15 Republic of Macedonia DF Stefan Aškovski
16 Poland MF Adrian Purzycki
17 Netherlands MF Dries Saddiki
18 Netherlands MF Jorrit Smeets
22 Turkey GK Aykut Özer
22 Netherlands MF Mo Korouma
24 Netherlands MF Luuk Tinnemans
31 Netherlands GK Job van de Walle

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
Netherlands FW Sjoerd Ars (at De Graafschap until 30 June 2018)

Managers

As Fortuna '54
As Sittardia
As Fortuna Sittard

See also

References

  1. (in Dutch)KNVB gaat licentie Fortuna Sittard intrekken, Voetbal International (19 May 2009)
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