The Gorinchemse Voetbalvereniging Unitas is a Dutch

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

club from

Gorinchem Gorinchem ( or ), also spelled Gorkum, is a city and municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland South Holland ( nl, Zuid-Holland ) is a province of the Netherlands with a population of over 3.7 million as of Oc ...

. It is among the oldest football clubs of the Netherlands and for most of the 20th century played in the highest leagues of amateur football. In 2018 the first team of GVV Unitas returned to the

Hoofdklasse The Vierde Divisie, formerly known as Hoofdklasse () is the second-highest league of amateur football in the Netherlands, and the fifth tier in general. Background The league is divided into two sections: Saturday and Sunday. This is a result of ...

. They won promotion to the

Derde Divisie The Derde Divisie (; en, Third Division), formerly known as Topklasse (; en, Top Class), is the fourth tier of football in the Netherlands, which had its inaugural season as a third tier in 2010–11 and as a fourth tier in 2016–17. The league ...

in 2020.

History

GVV Unitas was founded on 19 April 1898. It joined the main KNVB leagues in 2007, initially as a

Derde Klasse The ('Third Class') is the eighth tier of football in the Netherlands and the sixth tier of Dutch amateur football. The league is divided into 44 divisions, 20 played on Saturday and 24 on Sunday. Each division consists of 14 teams. The champion ...

team. In 2011 Unitas promoted to the Tweede Klasse. In 1924 it won a Tweede Klasse championship, promoting to the

Eerste Klasse The Eerste Klasse ( en, First Class) started as the 1st tier of football in the Netherlands and is now the 6th tier. The league is divided into eleven divisions, six for Saturday clubs and five for Sunday clubs. These divisions correspond to the s ...

, at that time the highest league of Dutch football. In 1926 Unitas relegated to the Tweede Klasse. It won Tweede Klasse championships in 1928, 1944, and 1946 but did not promote to the costly leading league. In 1956 Unitas promoted for a second time to the

, after winning its fifth Tweede Klasse championship, and after a league above the Eerste Klasse had been established. In 1963 and 1967 it became champion of the Eerste Klasse without promoting. In 1970 Unitas relegated to the Tweede Klasse, immediately returning to the Eerste with a sixth Tweede Klasse championship. In 1998 the club celebrated 100 years with several events.

Coen Moulijn Coenraadt "Coen" Moulijn (15 February 1937 – 4 January 2011) was a Dutch footballer who played for Feyenoord from 1955 to 1972 and was part of their European Cup victory in 1970. Club career Compared to Stanley Matthews and Garrincha, Moulijn ...

suffered a heart attack at the event he attended. Since 2018 Unitas is back the Hoofdklasse, after taking a championship in the Eerste Klasse. It finished the first Hoofdklasse season in decades in 5th position. Last game of the first Saturday squad of the 2018–2019 season ended in a 7–0 loss to SV Meerkerk.

Current squad

Players who became internationals

* Jan Peters *

Robert Verbeek Robert Verbeek (born 26 July 1961) is a Dutch former soccer player and subsequently a manager. He currently coaches the first football squad of RV & AV Sparta. Verbeek is the younger brother of former Oman manager Pim Verbeek. As a player, he feat ...

* Hans Vonk * Frank Wels

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Unitas Association football clubs established in 1898 1898 establishments in the Netherlands Football clubs in the Netherlands Football clubs in South Holland Sports clubs in Gorinchem