SC Heerenveen

History

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

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. By the end of the decade, Heerenveen was in the Eerste Divisie, but found itself relegated again. 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-flight Eredivisie. By 1974, the club was in financial trouble and to ensure its survival it was split into amateur and professional sections, the professional part being renamed sc Heerenveen.

In the 1980s, Heerenveen twice made the promotion playoffs, but were unsuccessful both times. It finally reached the Eredivisie in 1990, becoming the first Frisian club to reach the top level, at the expense of near-neighbours Cambuur. 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 it was relegated, before returning in 1993, though they reached the final of the KNVB Cup while still an Eerste Divisie club. Having established itself 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. 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's UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. Heerenveen had to play against the other losing semi-finalist, 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, its highest ever finish, and qualified for the 2000–01 UEFA Champions League.

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 Pranjić (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. Under the tenure of Trond 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.

On 17 May 2009, the club 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. On 13 February 2012, it was announced that Marco van Basten would replace Ron Jans, who had led Heerenveen for two years, as team manager for the 2012–13 season.

Stadium

The club plays its home matches 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. 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 the Sportpark Noord.

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.

SC Cambuur

Heerenveen's main rival is SC Cambuur, based in Leeuwarden. The rivalry is partly based on geographical location, as the distance between Heerenveen and Leeuwarden is a mere 30 kilometres. For this reason, supporters of both teams usually call each other DKV (Dertig Kilometer Verderop), which translates to Thirty Kilometres Ahead. The most important, however, 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 are not 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 essentially took 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 is not officially a city.

Throughout the years, the derby had become less high-profile due to the absence of Cambuur in the top flight. After Cambuur's promotion at the end of the 2012–13 season, however, the derby revived. Before the clash on 29 September 2013, Heerenveen and Cambuur had not played each other for 13 years; Heerenveen won 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.

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 club football competitions.

score marked with * = first played match ^1 Due to safety concerns in Israel, the first leg was cancelled by UEFA. ^2 Played in Estádio José Alvalade, Lisbon.

Current squad

As of 30 July 2016

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

On loan

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

Notable former players

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

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.