| Full name | Sportclub Heerenveen | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | De Superfriezen (The Super Frisians) | |||
| Founded | 20 July 1920; 104 years ago (1920-07-20) | |||
| Ground | Abe Lenstra Stadion | |||
| Capacity | 26,100[1] | |||
| Chairman | Dennis Gijsman | |||
| Head coach | Robin Veldman | |||
| League | Eredivisie | |||
| 2023–24 | Eredivisie, 11th of 18 | |||
| Website | sc-heerenveen.nl | |||
 Current season | ||||
Sportclub Heerenveen (Dutch pronunciation:[ˈspɔrtklʏpˌɦeːrə(ɱ)ˈveːn];West Frisian:Sportklub It Hearrenfean) is a Dutch professionalfootball club fromHeerenveen. They currently play in theEredivisie, the top level offootball in the Netherlands. The club is known for itsFrisian identity.[2]
Sportclub Heerenveen was founded on 20 July 1920 in the town ofHeerenveen,Friesland, asAthleta.[3] It changed name twice, first toSpartaan and then tov.v. Heerenveen in 1922.[3] While the Netherlands wasoccupied by Germany, Heerenveen won three successive North of the Netherlands championships, and following the end ofWorld War II it went on to win the same title six times in a row; the club's dominance partly ascribed to the presence ofAbe Lenstra.[3] During this period, Lenstra led Heerenveen to a famous victory overAjax in one of the most noted games in Dutch domestic football history.[4] Trailing 5–1 with 25 minutes remaining, the Frisian team inexplicably fought back for a 6–5 victory.[4]
During the 1950s, Heerenveen regional dominance faded and after Dutch football turned professional Lenstra left to joinSportclub Enschede, before the club he departed was relegated to theTweede Divisie.[3] By the end of the decade, Heerenveen was in theEerste Divisie, but found itself relegated again.[3] In 1969–70, 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 top-flightEredivisie.[3] By 1974, the club was in financial trouble and to ensure its survival it was split into amateur and professional sections on 1 June 1977, the professional part being renamedsc Heerenveen.[3]
In the 1980s, Heerenveen twice made the promotion playoffs, but were unsuccessful both times.[3] It finally reached the Eredivisie in 1990, becoming the first Frisian club to reach the top level, at the expense of near-neighboursCambuur.[4] The achievement was overseen by Frisian coachFoppe de Haan. Heerenveen's first season in the Netherlands' top division was not at all successful and it was relegated, before returning in 1993, though they reached the final of theKNVB Cup while still an Eerste Divisie club.[4] Having established itself as a top-flight club, Heerenveen moved to a new stadium, named after their most celebrated player, theAbe Lenstra Stadion, and reached the final of the KNVB Cup for a second time.[4] The 1998 semi-final in the cup competition was lost to Ajax. Because Ajax and the other finalist,PSV, had both qualified for the cup final, a decision match was needed to fill in the vacant spot for the next season'sUEFA Cup Winners' Cup. Heerenveen had to play against the other losing semi-finalist,Twente. Heerenveen won that match in whichRuud van Nistelrooy scored his last goal for Heerenveen. The match ended 3–1.[citation needed]
Heerenveen became regular competitors in theUEFA Cup, and in 1999–2000 finished second in the Eredivisie, its highest ever finish, and qualified for the2000–01 UEFA Champions League.[3]
The club was led from 1983 until September 2006 by presidentRiemer van der Velde, the longest tenure of any president with a professional club in the Netherlands.[citation needed] As the results of recent transfers that includeKlaas-Jan Huntelaar,Afonso Alves,Michael Bradley,Miralem Sulejmani,Petter Hansson andDanijel Pranjić (and earlier players likeJon Dahl Tomasson,Marcus Allbäck,Erik Edman, Ruud van Nistelrooy,Igor Korneev andDaniel 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.[5] Under the tenure ofTrond Sollied, Heerenveen won its first KNVB Cup, also its first ever major trophy. Trond Sollied, however, was sacked on 31 August 2009 due to a weak opening of the season and a conflict with the board.[citation needed]
On 17 May 2009, the club defeatedTwente 5–4 in a penalty shoot-out to win the Dutch Cup for the first time after a 2–2 draw in the final, withGerald Sibon scoring the winning penalty.[6] On 13 February 2012, it was announced thatMarco van Basten would replace Ron Jans, who had led Heerenveen for two years, as team manager for the2012–13 season.[citation needed].
The club plays its home matches at theAbe Lenstra Stadium, which opened in 1994 and holds 26,100 people. Before that, the team played at a ground with the same name elsewhere in the town, but it could not meet the increasing popularity of the club. 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. Due to deteriorating league results and financial limitedness, however, those plans were shelved. It is uncertain whether or not the club will ever carry them out. Before the move to the Abe Lenstra Stadion, Heerenveen played at theSportpark Noord. The club's training facilities are regarded as world class, which is said to be a major factor in their recruitment of younger players. The name of the clubs facilities is sportparkSkoatterwâld [nl]. The facilities are shared withVV Heerenveen andsc Heerenveen (women).
The crest on the club emblem is the symbol of the flag ofFriesland. Theflag of Friesland is based on the arms of the 15th century. The stripes andseeblatt shapes represent the districts of Friesland.
A unique tradition in the Dutch Eredivisie is that theFrisian 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.
Heerenveen retain a very fierce rivalry withSC Cambuur. One of the reasons of the rivalry is the short distance between the two clubs. Because of that the clubs often refer to each other as DKV which stands for Dertig Kilometer Verderop (Thirty Kilometers Away) so that they do not have to mention each other's names. However, the biggest and also the most confusing reason is the background of the clubs. Many people who aren't involved in the rivalry find it difficult to understand. Most of the Heerenveen fans are from small villages from the entire province (and even outside it) and are very proud of their Frisian identity. Since the 80's the club have been expressing this Frisian pride to the rest of the Netherlands. The Frisian flag, the Frisian anthem, all Frisian symbols were linked to the club, which made Heerenveen the face of Frisia. Because of this Cambuur slowly disappeared in the shadow of Heerenveen, as a reaction to this Cambuur fans started distancing themselves from the Frisian identity. Nowadays Cambuur do not consider themselves Frisian even though they are from the capital of the province. They now call themselves Leeuwarders aka people from the city. Heerenveen fans are mockingly called boeren (farmers) because Heerenveen isn't a city and the fans mainly live in small villages. Because of the successes of Heerenveen and the meager performances of Cambuur including almost going bankrupt, the rivalry was almost forgotten. When Cambuur got promoted back to theEredivisie in 2013 by winning the2012/13 season of theJupiler League the rivalry got revived. Before the meeting on 29 September 2013 the game hadn't been played for 13 years, giving Cambuur a great opportunity to prove themselves. Heerenveen won that game 2–1. The away game later in the season was won 3–1 by Cambuur.
The absence of Cambuur causedFC 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, thisNorthern 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. 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 fromStadion Oosterpark, and raised the Frisian flag at theMartinitoren, the highest tower in Groningen, combined with a banner saying"SCH op eenzame hoogte" (SCH on lonely height).[7] The front yard of a Groningen chairman once got filled with rubble from a construction site. This was because the construction of theEuroborg had to be halted due to a major design mistake. Groningen fans countered by painting a statue of all-time Heerenveen heroAbe Lenstra green and white, the colours of Groningen.[8] They also transformed a viaduct near Heerenveen to green and white.
A year later, in the 2001–02 season, Groningen fans awarded Heerenveen playerAnthony Lurling the title of "Biggest cheat of the season" and handed him therefore a sewing machine. In that same week the town signs of Heerenveen were changed to "Hoerenveen It Sucks" (Whore-veen) by the Groningen supporters. The following season, Groningen fans teased the Heerenveen following again, this time by establishing a border post on the border of Groningen and Friesland.[9]
Below is a table with sc Heerenveen's domestic results since the introduction of theEredivisie in 1956.
SC Heerenveen played 16 seasons in one of the European club football competitions.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Players listed below have had junior and/or senior international cap(s) for their respective countries before, while and/or after playing at Heerenveen.
Raphael Bove
Thomas Prager
Sven KumsBrian Vandenbussche
Afonso AlvesPaulo Henrique
Ivan Tsvetkov
Tristan BorgesRob FriendWill Johnson
Cecilio Lopes
Danijel Pranjić
Martin LejsalMichal PapadopulosMichal Švec
Kristian Bak NielsenDaniel JensenAllan K. JepsenHjalte NørregaardMarc NygaardJakob PoulsenLasse SchöneOle TobiasenJon Dahl Tomasson
Sergei Mošnikov
Hannu HaaralaMika NurmelaJuska SavolainenNiklas TarvajärviMika Väyrynen
Mark Uth
Matthew Amoah
Georgios Samaras
Lesly Fellinga
Arnór SmárasonAlfred Finnbogason
Reza Ghoochannejhad
Bonaventure Kalou
Yuki Kobayashi
Ibrahim DreševićArbër Zeneli
Samir FazliMile KrstevGoran Popov
Oussama AssaidiAli ElkhattabiAbdelkarim KissiKhalid SinouhOussama TannaneHakim Ziyech
Mario BeenRoy BeerensPaul BosveltMichel BreuerArnold BrugginkJerry de JongMarten de RoonRomano DenneboomBas DostDenzel DumfriesJohan HansmaGerm HofmaKlaas-Jan HuntelaarDaryl JanmaatKees KistMartin KoemanAbe LenstraHenny MeijerLuciano NarsinghAndries NoppertStijn SchaarsGerald SibonVictor SikoraDaley SinkgravenJerry St. JusteJeffrey TalanHenk TimmerRené van der GijpMilan van EwijkJan Paul van HeckeRuud van NistelrooyHenk VeermanJoey VeermanMichel VlapUğur Yıldırım
Emmanuel EbiedeHenry Onwuzuruike
Daniel Berg HestadTarik ElyounoussiChristian GrindheimThomas HolmMartin Ødegaard
Radosław MatusiakArkadiusz RadomskiTomasz Rząsa
Ioan AndoneRodion CămătaruFlorin ConstantinoviciDumitru Mitriță
Igor Korneev
Filip ĐuričićIgor ĐurićMiralem Sulejmani
Hans Vonk
Marcus AllbäckErik EdmanViktor ElmPetter HanssonSam LarssonLasse NilssonAmin SarrStefan Selaković
Michael BradleyRobbie Rogers
Đoàn Văn Hậu
Radoslav Samardžić| Position | Staff |
|---|---|
| Head Coach | Robin Veldman |
| Assistant Coach | Henk Brugge Brian Pinas |
| First-Team Coach | Michiel de Boer |
| First-Team Goalkeeper Coach | Harmen Kuperus |
| Rehab Coach | Jeroen Smit |
| Video Analyst | Yöri Bosschaart |
| Chief Scout | Peter Maas |
| Scout | André Hanssen Søren Frederiksen Dirk Jan Derksen |
| Youth Chief Scout | Marten van der Kamp |
| Physiotherapist | Erik ten Voorde Johnny de Vries |
| Masseur | Thom van der Heide |
| Performance Manager | Nico Romeijn |
| Kit Manager | Catrinus Stoker Benny Hulzinga |
| Strategic Advisor | Rob Koeken |
| Academy Manager | Marcel van Buuren |
No official trainer from 1920 to 1930
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)
László 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 (1 July 1990 – 30 June 1992)Foppe de Haan (18 October 1992 – 30 June 2004)Gertjan Verbeek (1 July 2004 – 30 June 2008)[11]Trond Sollied (1 July 2008 – 31 August 2009)Jan de Jonge (31 August 2009 – 3 February 2010)Jan Everse(int.) (5 February 2010 – 30 June 2010)Ron Jans (1 July 2010 – 30 June 2012)Marco van Basten (1 July 2012 – 30 June 2014)Dwight Lodeweges (1 July 2014 – 20 October 2015)Foppe de Haan(int.) (20 October 2015 – 30 June 2016)Jurgen Streppel (1 July 2016 – 30 June 2018)Jan Olde Riekerink (1 July 2018 – 10 April 2019)Johnny Jansen (10 April 2019 – 24 January 2022)Ole Tobiasen(int.) (4 February 2022 – 30 June 2022)Kees van Wonderen (1 July 2022 – 17 May 2024)Robin van Persie (17 May 2024 – 23 February 2025)Henk Brugge(int.) (23 February 2025 – 21 March 2025)Robin Veldman (21 March 2025 –)
In 2007, SC Heerenveen created awomen's football team, which competes in theVrouwen Eredivisie, and between 2012 and 2015 in theBeNe League. While it has ranked mostly in the table's bottom positions, in 2011 it reached thenational cup's final, lost againstAZ.Vivianne Miedema andSherida Spitse started their professional career at Heerenveen.
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