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. 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 on 1 June 1977, 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 Eredivisie, 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.. Van Basten would lead Heerenveen to an 8th place finish in his first season and a 5th place finish in the 13 - 14 season, missing out on European qualification by just 2 points. In this season Alfreð Finnbogason would also crown himself top scorer of the league, whilst also becoming Heerenveen's all time top scorer in the Eredivisie. In January 2014 Van Basten would announce he wouldn't sign a new contract with the club. Dwight Lodeweges would be his replacement, joining from rivals Cambuur. Lodeweges would stay at the club until October 2015, where a bad start in the 15 - 16 season would see Heerenveen in 15th after nine games with just one win would see him resign.

Foppe de Haan would return as interim manager for the next few games, but in the end ended up finishing the entire season. At the start of 2016 the club would announce that Luuc Eisinga would become director. In March of 2016 the club would announce that Jurgen Streppel would join from Willem II for the 2016 - 17 Eredivisie season. He would lead the club to consecutive European play-offs, leaving the club after 2 years in 2018. His replacement Jan Olde Riekerink would get sacked in April of 2019 with the club in 10th place of the Eredivisie. His assistant Johnny Jansen would see out the season as the interim manager. Jansen would sign a contract keeping him as permanent manager at the end of the season. On the 1st of March 2019 Luuc Eisinga would also get removed from his position as director, getting replaced by Cees Roozemond, who would stay in the job until 2023.

In January of 2022 Jansen would get sacked, being replaced by Ole Tobiasen on an interim basis. Tobiasen would lead the team to European play-offs in the 21 - 22 season. In the summer Kees van Wonderen would take the job, joining from Go Ahead Eagles. He would bring the club to the European play-offs in his first season, but failed to do so in his second, meaning the club wouldn't renew his contract. He would be replaced by Robin van Persie in the summer of 2024. Van Persie would leave the club after just eight months to rejoin Feyenoord. Robin Veldman who had previously been manager of several youth teams at the club, would come in to replace him. Heerenveen would end the 24 - 25 Eredivisie in 9th place, once again sending them into the European play-offs.

Stadium

The club plays its home matches at the Abe 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 the Sportpark 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 sportpark . The facilities are shared with VV Heerenveen and sc Heerenveen (women).

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 seeblatt shapes 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.

Rivalry

SC Cambuur

Heerenveen retain a very fierce rivalry with SC 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 the Eredivisie in 2013 by winning the 2012/13 season of the Jupiler 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.

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. 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 Stadion Oosterpark, 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.

In the 2001–02 season, Groningen fans awarded Heerenveen player Anthony Lurling with the title of "biggest cheat of the season" ("matennaaier van het seizoen" in Dutch) and handed him therefore a sewing machine ("naaimachine" in Dutch). 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.

Honours

• Netherlands Football League Championship / Eredivisie
  • Runners-up (3): 1946–47, 1947–48, 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.

European competition

Main article: SC Heerenveen in European football

SC Heerenveen played 16 seasons in one of the European club football competitions. : score marked with * = first played match

: Due to safety concerns in Israel, the first leg was cancelled by UEFA. : Played in Estádio José Alvalade, Lisbon.

Current squad

Notable former players

Players listed below have had junior and/or senior international cap(s) for their respective countries before, while and/or after playing at Heerenveen.

• Australia Raphael Bove
• Austria Thomas Prager
• Belgium Sven Kums
• Belgium Brian Vandenbussche
• Brazil Afonso Alves
• Brazil Paulo Henrique
• Bulgaria Ivan Tsvetkov
• Canada Tristan Borges
• Canada Rob Friend
• Canada Will Johnson
• Cape Verde Cecilio Lopes
• Croatia Danijel Pranjić
• Czech Republic Martin Lejsal
• Czech Republic Michal Papadopulos
• Czech Republic Michal Švec
• Denmark Kristian Bak Nielsen
• Denmark Daniel Jensen
• Denmark Allan K. Jepsen
• Denmark Hjalte Nørregaard
• Denmark Marc Nygaard
• Denmark Jakob Poulsen
• Denmark Lasse Schöne
• Denmark Ole Tobiasen
• Denmark Jon Dahl Tomasson
• Estonia Sergei Mošnikov
• Finland Hannu Haarala
• Finland Mika Nurmela
• Finland Juska Savolainen
• Finland Niklas Tarvajärvi
• Finland Mika Väyrynen
• Germany Mark Uth
• Ghana Matthew Amoah
• Greece Georgios Samaras
• Guatemala Marco Pappa
• Haiti Lesly Fellinga
• Iceland Arnór Smárason
• Iceland Alfred Finnbogason
• Indonesia Thom Haye
• Indonesia Nathan Tjoe-A-On
• Iran Reza Ghoochannejhad
• Ivory Coast Bonaventure Kalou
• Japan Yuki Kobayashi
• Kosovo Ibrahim Drešević
• Kosovo Arbër Zeneli
• Macedonia Samir Fazli
• Macedonia Mile Krstev
• Macedonia Goran Popov
• Moldova Ion Nicolaescu
• Morocco Oussama Assaidi
• Morocco Ali Elkhattabi
• Morocco Abdelkarim Kissi
• Morocco Khalid Sinouh
• Morocco Oussama Tannane
• Morocco Hakim Ziyech
• Netherlands Mario Been
• Netherlands Roy Beerens
• Netherlands Paul Bosvelt
• Netherlands Michel Breuer
• Netherlands Arnold Bruggink
• Netherlands Jerry de Jong
• Netherlands Marten de Roon
• Netherlands Romano Denneboom
• Netherlands Bas Dost
• Netherlands Denzel Dumfries
• Netherlands Johan Hansma
• Netherlands Germ Hofma
• Netherlands Klaas-Jan Huntelaar
• Netherlands Daryl Janmaat
• Netherlands Kees Kist
• Netherlands Martin Koeman
• Netherlands Abe Lenstra
• Netherlands Henny Meijer
• Netherlands Luciano Narsingh
• Netherlands Andries Noppert
• Netherlands Stijn Schaars
• Netherlands Gerald Sibon
• Netherlands Victor Sikora
• Netherlands Daley Sinkgraven
• Netherlands Jerry St. Juste
• Netherlands Jeffrey Talan
• Netherlands Henk Timmer
• Netherlands René van der Gijp
• Netherlands Milan van Ewijk
• Netherlands Jan Paul van Hecke
• Netherlands Ruud van Nistelrooy
• Netherlands Henk Veerman
• Netherlands Joey Veerman
• Netherlands Michel Vlap
• Netherlands Uğur Yıldırım
• Nigeria Emmanuel Ebiede
• Nigeria Henry Onwuzuruike
• Norway Daniel Berg Hestad
• Norway Tarik Elyounoussi
• Norway Christian Grindheim
• Norway Thomas Holm
• Norway Martin Ødegaard
• Poland Radosław Matusiak
• Poland Arkadiusz Radomski
• Poland Tomasz Rząsa
• Romania Ioan Andone
• Romania Rodion Cămătaru
• Romania Florin Constantinovici
• Romania Dumitru Mitriță
• Russia Igor Korneev
• Serbia Filip Đuričić
• Serbia Igor Đurić
• Serbia Miralem Sulejmani
• South Africa Hans Vonk
• Sweden Marcus Allbäck
• Sweden Erik Edman
• Sweden Viktor Elm
• Sweden Petter Hansson
• Sweden Sam Larsson
• Sweden Lasse Nilsson
• Sweden Amin Sarr
• Sweden Stefan Selaković
• USA Michael Bradley
• USA Robbie Rogers
• FR Yugoslavia Radoslav Samardžić

Club staff

Coaching history

No official trainer from 1920 to 1930

• Netherlands Sjoerd van Zuylen (1930–32)
• England Sid Castle (1932)
• Netherlands Otto Pinter (1932–33)
• Netherlands Dirk Steenbergen (1934)
• Netherlands Theo Eikenaar (1934–36)
• England Sid Castle (1936–38)
• Netherlands Piet Smit (1938–39)
• Netherlands (1939–45)
• Netherlands Otto Bonsema (1945)
• Netherlands Abe Lenstra (1946–47)
• Netherlands Piet van der Munnik (1947–51)
• England Bob Kelly (1951–55)
• Netherlands Volgert Ris (1955–58)
• Netherlands Siem Plooijer (1958–61)
• Netherlands Arie de Vroet (1961–63)
• Netherlands Evert Mur (1963–65)
• Hungary László Zalai (1965–66)
• Netherlands Ron Groenewoud (1966–67)
• Netherlands Evert Teunissen (1967–69)
• Netherlands Bas Paauwe Jr. (1969–71)
• Netherlands Meg de Jongh (1971–73)
• Hungary Laszlo Zalai (1973–78)
• Netherlands Jan Teunissen (1978–80)
• Netherlands Hylke Kerkstra (interim) (1980)
• Netherlands Henk van Brussel (1980–85)
• Netherlands Foppe de Haan (1985–88)
• Netherlands Ted Immers (1988–89)
• Netherlands Ab Gritter (1989–90)
• Germany Fritz Korbach (1 July 1990 – 30 June 1992)
• Netherlands Foppe de Haan (18 October 1992 – 30 June 2004)
• Netherlands Gertjan Verbeek (1 July 2004 – 30 June 2008)van Cuilenborg, C. (Ed.) (2007). Voetbal international, seizoengids 2007–2008. (p. 92). Amsterdam: WP Sport Media BV.
• Norway Trond Sollied (1 July 2008 – 31 August 2009)
• Netherlands Jan de Jonge (31 August 2009 – 3 February 2010)
• Netherlands Jan Everse (int.) (5 February 2010 – 30 June 2010)
• Netherlands Ron Jans (1 July 2010 – 30 June 2012)
• Netherlands Marco van Basten (1 July 2012 – 30 June 2014)
• Netherlands Dwight Lodeweges (1 July 2014 – 20 October 2015)
• Netherlands Foppe de Haan (int.) (20 October 2015 – 30 June 2016)
• Netherlands Jurgen Streppel (1 July 2016 – 30 June 2018)
• Netherlands Jan Olde Riekerink (1 July 2018 – 10 April 2019)
• Netherlands Johnny Jansen (10 April 2019 – 24 January 2022)
• Denmark Ole Tobiasen (int.) (4 February 2022 – 30 June 2022)
• Netherlands Kees van Wonderen (1 July 2022 – 17 May 2024)
• Netherlands Robin van Persie (17 May 2024 – 23 February 2025)
• Netherlands Henk Brugge (int.) (23 February 2025 – 21 March 2025)
• Netherlands Robin Veldman (21 March 2025 –)

Match statistics

; All competitions

• Biggest home win: SC Heerenveen - FC Oss 11–1; KNVB Cup (21 December 2011)
• Biggest score: Ton Pentre AFC - sc Heerenveen 0–7; Intertoto (2 July 1995)
• Largest double result: Helsingborg IF - sc Heerenveen 8-6 (3-5 and 5–1); UEFA Cup 1st Round (2007)
• Most goals in a season: 88 goals, 2007/08
• Most goals in a game: Afonso Alves 7 (also an Eredivisie record); sc Heerenveen - Heracles (7 October 2007)

; Eredivisie

• Biggest home win: sc Heerenveen - Heracles Almelo 9-0 (7 October 2007)
• Biggest game: Willem II - sc Heerenveen 1-6 (23 February 2001)
• Largest home defeat: sc Heerenveen - PSV Eindhoven 0-8 (25 April 2024)
• Fastest penalty for: sc Heerenveen - sc Cambuur (19 October 2014)

; Champions League

• Biggest home win: SC Heerenveen - Olympiakos Piraeus 1-0 (17 October 2000)
• Most spacious stay: none
• Highest draw: Valencia CF - sc Heerenveen 1-1 (7 November 2000)
• Largest double result: SC Heerenveen - Lyon 1-5 (2000)

; European Cup II

• Biggest home win: SC Heerenveen - KS Amica Wronki 3-1 (17 September 1998)
• Biggest game: KS Amica Wronki - sc Heerenveen 0-1 (1 October 1998)
• Largest double result: sc Heerenveen - KS Amica Wronki 4-1 (1998)

; UEFA Cup

• Biggest home win: SC Heerenveen - Maccabi Petach Tikwa 5-0 (30 September 2004), SC Heerenveen - FC Baník Ostrava 5-0 (29 September 2005) and SC Heerenveen - FK Ventspils 5-0 (16 December 2009)
• Biggest game: Vitória Setúbal - sc Heerenveen 0-3 (14 September 2006)
• Largest double result: Helsingsborg IF - sc Heerenveen 8-6 (2007)

; Intertoto Cup

• Biggest home win: SC Heerenveen - Aalborg BK 8-2 (19 July 1997)
• Biggest score: Ton Pentre AFC - sc Heerenveen 0-7 (2 July 1995)
• Largest double result: FHK Liepajas Metalurgs - sc Heerenveen 4-8 (2001)

Women's team

Main article: SC Heerenveen (women)

In 2007, SC Heerenveen created a women's football team, which competes in the Vrouwen Eredivisie, and between 2012 and 2015 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. Vivianne Miedema and Sherida Spitse started their professional career at Heerenveen.

References

References

1. "Abe Lenstra stadion".
2. "ECMI Minorities Blog. National and Linguistic Minorities in the Context of Professional Football across Europe: Five Examples from Non-kin State Situations.".
3. "The history of Heerenveen". www.sc-heerenveen.nl.
4. "sc Heerenveen: EVERY DUTCHMAN'S SECOND FAVORITE TEAM". www.ajax-usa.com.
5. (2 August 2010). "Financiële problemen voor profclubs". RTL Nieuws.
6. (17 May 2009). "Heerenveen prevail in Dutch final shoot-out". [[UEFA]].
7. (2014-03-22). "Finnbogason all-time Eredivisie-topscorer Heerenveen".
8. (2014-01-29). "Van Basten verlaat sc Heerenveen".
9. (2014-03-31). "Pikante transfer Lodeweges uniek".
10. (2015-10-20). "Lodeweges stapt op bij Heerenveen".
11. (2015-10-21). "Foppe: op een paar posities zou het best anders kunnen worden".
12. (2016-01-22). "Luuc Eisenga benoemd tot algemeen directeur SC Heerenveen".
13. (2018-05-19). "Streppel: dankbaar en trots na twee jaar Heerenveen".
14. (2019-04-10). "Heerenveen zet trainer Olde Riekerink op non-actief".
15. (2019-06-03). "Heerenveen stelt Johnny Jansen definitief aan als hoofdtrainer".
16. (2019-01-27). "Roozemond grijpt de macht bij sc Heerenveen".
17. (2022-01-25). ""Ontslag Johnny Jansen was onvermijdelijk"".
18. (2024-03-11). "Trainer Van Wonderen verlaat Heerenveen aan eind van dit seizoen".
19. "Robin van Persie vertrekt per direct bij sc Heerenveen".
20. "Robin Veldman nieuwe hoofdtrainer sc Heerenveen".
21. "Frisian flag in Groningen".
22. "The painted statue".
23. "Trots van het Noorden".
24. "Selectie".