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| Full name | Excelsior Rotterdam | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nicknames | The Kralingers Roodzwarten (red-blacks) The Wonder Oud papier-club (Paper recycling club) | ||
| Founded | 23 July 1902; 123 years ago (1902-07-23) | ||
| Ground | Stadion Woudestein | ||
| Capacity | 4,500[1] | ||
| Chairman | Bob de Lange | ||
| Head coach | Ruben den Uil | ||
| League | Eredivisie | ||
| 2024–25 | Eerste Divisie, 2nd of 20 (promoted) | ||
| Website | excelsiorrotterdam | ||
 Current season | |||
Excelsior Rotterdam, commonly known asExcelsior, is a Dutch professionalfootball club based inRotterdam. Founded on 23 July 1902, it competes in theEredivisie, the highest tier of theDutch football league system. The team plays its home matches atStadion Woudestein, which has a capacity of approximately 4,500, making it one of the smallest stadiums used by professional clubs in the Netherlands.
Excelsior has spent much of its history fluctuating between the top two divisions, achieving multiple promotions and relegations. The club's most notable periods of sustained top-flight presence occurred in the early 2010s and again in the early 2020s. Known for its long-standing partnership withFeyenoord, from which it has frequently received loaned players, Excelsior has developed a reputation for nurturing young talent. The club's local rivalry withSparta Rotterdam is a regular feature of Rotterdam football.
Excelsior was officially formed on 23 July 1902 asRotterdamse Voetbal en Atletiek Vereniging Excelsior (English:Rotterdam Football and Athletics Club Excelsior). The initial founders of the club, a group of close friends located in theKralingen district ofRotterdam, started playing football matches on the fields of the eighteenth centurybuitenplaats Woudesteyn. After the actual establishment of the club, themunicipality officially gave permission to use the land.[2] 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.[3]
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 againstVUC was played inDe 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 theEerste Divisie championship three times (1974, 1979 and 2006) and promoted to theEredivisie various times, usually to relegate not long afterwards.
Excelsior once reached theKNVB Cup final in the season 1929–30, but lost the match to fellow Rotterdam clubFeyenoord (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.[3]
In the mid-fifties, Excelsior were the leading club behind the introduction of professional football in the Netherlands. When theKNVB continued to refuse payments in football, Excelsior chairmanHenk Zon and board memberAad Libregts managed to persuade association presidentHans Hopster, in cooperation with the directors of Feyenoord, Sparta andADO Den Haag. In August 1954 the KNVB accepted the proposal and professional football was introduced in the Netherlands.
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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 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 forAkai, 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 season1999–00.[3]
In 2002, the year in which the club was officially 100 years old, Excelsior returned to theEredivisie. They did this after spending more than 20 years in thesecond tier of Dutch football. They were relegated after one season. In the 2005/2006 season Excelsior became champions of theEerste Divisie and were promoted back to the Eredivisie once again.
Between 1997 and 2005 Excelsior had a partnership with Rotterdam rivalsFeyenoord. Excelsior became Feyenoord's satellite club. As such, Feyenoord gave Excelsior money and players (either on loan or free transfer).
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."[4]
Excelsior returned to theEredivisie in2010 after defeating city rivalsSparta Rotterdam in the promotion–relegation play-offs.[5] The decisive goal was scored byGuyon Fernandez deep into stoppage time, only minutes after Sparta had taken the lead. Coached byAlex Pastoor, the squad was largely composed of loanees fromFeyenoord.[6]
The club made a strong start to the2010–11 season, collecting ten points from its first five matches, including a 3–2 home victory over Feyenoord in theRotterdam derby.[7] Later in the season, Excelsior recorded several notable results at home, defeatingAZ and drawing against bothGroningen and eventual championsAjax. A 4–1 away victory overVitesse on the final matchday left the club one goal short of automatic safety.[8] Finishing 16th, Excelsior retained its top-flight status via the relegation play-offs.[9]
The following season proved more difficult, and Excelsior finished bottom of the table in the2011–12 Eredivisie with only four league wins, resulting in relegation to theEerste Divisie.[10] A disappointing2012–13 campaign followed, culminating in a 15th-place finish underLeon Vlemmings.[11][12]
Ahead of the2013–14 season,Jon Dahl Tomasson was appointed head coach, but he departed in December 2013 to joinRoda JC.[13] He was replaced byMarinus Dijkhuizen, under whom Excelsior enjoyed a strong second half of the season, highlighted by an 8–0 away victory overTelstar.[14] The club finished third and secured promotion to the Eredivisie through the play-offs, marking its eighth promotion to the top flight.[15]
In January 2014, chairman Albert de Jong revealed that Excelsior had narrowly avoided bankruptcy, citing a financial deficit of approximately €3 million, largely attributed to poor sporting results during the 2012–13 season.[16]
Excelsior remained in the Eredivisie for five consecutive seasons from 2014 to 2019. The club secured survival in both the2014–15 and2015–16 seasons with 15th-place finishes, the latter underAlfons Groenendijk. Following Groenendijk's departure,Mitchell van der Gaag was appointed head coach.[17] After several seasons spent battling relegation, Excelsior were relegated at the end of the2018–19 season.[18]
Marinus Dijkhuizen returned as head coach in 2020.[19] In May 2022, Excelsior achieved promotion to theEredivisie after a dramatic play-off final againstADO Den Haag. After drawing 1–1 at home and falling behind in the return leg, Excelsior scored three goals in the final 13 minutes to force extra time. Despite conceding again, the team equalised through captainRedouan El Yaakoubi before winning the penalty shoot-out, with goalkeeperStijn van Gassel saving the decisive penalty.[20]
Excelsior spent two seasons in the Eredivisie before being relegated at the end of the2023–24 season.[21] The club returned immediately, securing promotion on 2 May 2025 following a 5–0 victory overJong PSV, marking another swift return to the top tier of Dutch football.[22]
Excelsior's home venue isStadion Woudestein, which has a capacity of 4,500 seats, one of the smallest stadiums hosting professional football in the Netherlands. The official name of the stadium is Van Donge & De Roo Stadion.
The club had two short spells at different locations. For the season 1907–1908 Excelsior played on theAfrikaanderplein. After returning to Woudestein, Excelsior moved to the Toepad terrain for seasons 1922–1939. When the Dutch government decided to build marine barracks on the Toepad area right before the start of theSecond World War, Excelsior moved back to the familiar Woudestein.[3]
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 ofMartin de Jager had one important goal; a new Excelsior stadium. Various plans were made, one of them being a joint stadium for Excelsior andSparta, 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 themunicipality 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 againstFeyenoord.[23]
When Excelsior promoted to theEredivisie after the season2009–10, the club decided to replace the grass surface withartificial turf. Main reason for the change was the lack of financial resources to installunder-soil heating, which is mandatory for clubs participating on the highest level of Dutch football.[24]
Excelsior is known as the Oud papier-club (paper recycling club), because former chairman Henk Zon often used to collect old paper in order to secure the financial position of the club.
Since 2008 'Woutje Stein' is the official Excelsior mascot. He is named after the Woudestein-stadium.
Rotterdam is the city with the most professional teams in the Netherlands. Besides Excelsior there areFeyenoord andSparta Rotterdam.
Excelsior is from theKralingen-neighbourhood and Sparta Rotterdam is from theSpangen-neighbourhood. Both clubs are not always playing in theEredivisie, hence they play matches against each other in both the Eredivisie and theEerste Divisie. The Feyenoord partnership Excelsior had in the past has resulted in more hatred from Sparta Rotterdam supporters.
One of the more spectacular matches between Excelsior and Sparta was the 2010 derby. Excelsior managed to gain promotion to the Eredivisie by winning against Sparta in the 94th minute of the match.[25]
Ever since the clubs used to work together Excelsior players and supporters have grown a more serious rivalry against Feyenoord. The majority of Excelsior supporters never wanted a cooperation with Feyenoord in the first place. On 22 May 2009, Excelsior supporters hosted a funeral as they felt like their club's identity had died due to the partnership with Feyenoord.[26]
In 2017 Excelsior won against Feyenoord (3–0), resulting in the latter not winning the Eredivisie title on that day. This resulted in riots.[27]
Below is a table with Excelsior's domestic results since the introduction of theEredivisie in 1956.
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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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 clubPro Excelsior since 1996.[28][29]
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| Position | Name |
|---|---|
| Head coach |  Ruben den Uil |
| Assistant head coach | André Hoekstra |
| Assistant coach / 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 |
| Chief scout | Dave Coelers |
| Scout | Bert Ebbens |
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The following players were called up to represent theirnational teams ininternational football and receivedcaps during their tenure with Excelsior Rotterdam:
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Member associations are listed in order of most to least amount of current and former Excelsior players represented Internationally
| Confederation | Total | (Nation) Association |
|---|---|---|
| AFC | 2 | Japan (1), Indonesia (1) |
| CAF | 5 |  Cape Verde (2), DR Congo (1), Ghana (1), Guinea (1) |
| CONCACAF | 7 |  Aruba (2), Curaçao (2), Sint Maarten (2), Trinidad & Tobago (1) |
| CONMEBOL | 0 | |
| OFC | 0 | |
| UEFA | 9 | Netherlands (4), Iceland (3), Ireland (2) |
The following is a list of Excelsior Rotterdam players who have competed in international tournaments, including theAfrica Cup of Nations. To this date no Excelsior players have participated in theFIFA World Cup,UEFA European Championship,CONCACAF Gold Cup,AFC Asian Cup,Copa América or theOFC Nations Cup while playing for Excelsior Rotterdam.
| Cup | Players |
|---|---|
 2015 Africa Cup of Nations | Toni Varela |
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