Excelsior Rotterdam, commonly known asExcelsior, is a Dutch professionalfootball club based inRotterdam. It plays in theEerste Divisie, the 2nd tier ofDutch football from the 2024–25 season following relegation. The club was founded on 23 July 1902 and was formerly known as "Rotterdamse Voetbal en Atletiek Vereniging Excelsior" (Rotterdam Football and Athletics Club Excelsior). Excelsior's home stadium is the Stadion Woudestein – for sponsorship reasons known as theVan Donge & De Roo Stadion – which has a capacity of about 4,500, one of the smallest stadiums hosting professional football in the Netherlands.
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.
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]
In 2010 Excelsior returned to the highest tier ofDutch football, after defeating crosstown rivalSparta Rotterdam in the final of theEredivisie promotion/relegation play-offs. The team was mostly composed by Feyenoord loanees and was coached by former Feyenoord youth coachAlex Pastoor. In the2010–11 season Excelsior made a flying start in the Eredivisie, gaining ten points in its first five matches, including a home victory in theRotterdam derby against Feyenoord (3–2). 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 atVitesse 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 theEredivisie at the end of the 2011–12 season, managing only four wins in 34 matches. The club was again relegated to theEerste Divisie and has had ups and downs since. In the 2022–23 season Excelsior will be playing in the Eredivisie after being relegated in 2019.[citation needed]
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.[5]
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.[6]
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.
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.[7]
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.[8]
In 2017 Excelsior won against Feyenoord (3–0), resulting in the latter not winning the Eredivisie title on that day. This resulted in riots.[9]
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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.[10][11]
^"Excelsior Stadion" [Excelsior Stadium].Excelsior Rotterdam (in Dutch).Archived from the original on 16 September 2013. Retrieved21 August 2010.
^"Excelsior op kunstgras in eredivisie" [Excelsior on artificial turf in Eredivisie].Excelsior Rotterdam (in Dutch). 4 June 2010.Archived from the original on 28 July 2017. Retrieved21 August 2010.