Karel Aalbers (born June 28, 1949, Velp) is a Dutch businessman, who was the President of the

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

club

Vitesse Arnhem Vitesse may refer to: * Vitesse Models, a diecast model car company * Vitesse (band), Dutch rock band * Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse, a car * Rover 216 Vitesse, a car * Rover 3500 Vitesse, a car * Rover 800 Vitesse, a car * Triumph Vites ...

from 1984 until February 2000.

Career

Aalbers' goal was to bring Vitesse from the bottom of the second tier, where the club was when he started, to the top 40 soccer clubs of Europe. Aalbers developed the basic idea for the '

Gelredome The GelreDome () is a football stadium in the city of Arnhem, Netherlands. It is one of the largest and most modern stadiums in the country, built from 1996 to 1998 at a cost equivalent to €75 million, that opened on 25 March 1998. The stadium ...

', a stadium with a sliding pitch that can be moved out of the building. Later, the same system was applied in

Gelsenkirchen Gelsenkirchen (, , ; wep, Gelsenkiärken) is the 25th most populous city of Germany and the 11th most populous in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia with 262,528 (2016) inhabitants. On the Emscher River (a tributary of the Rhine), it lies ...

(

Schalke 04 Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as FC Schalke 04 (), Schalke 04 (), or abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional German football and multi-sports club originally from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine ...

) and in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. Events such as pop concerts can be held without damaging the grass. Gelredome opened in 1998. It has a roof that can be opened and closed and is fully climate controlled. In the first season after the opening, Vitesse's attendance rose to 20,000, from less than 8,000 in the old stadium. Aalbers financed the ambitions by making solid profits on the transfer market. Players such as

Roy Makaay Rudolphus Antonius "Roy" Makaay (born 9 March 1975) is a Dutch former footballer and a coach who is currently first team coach at Rangers. As a striker, he was known for his goal-scoring ability as a result of his "aerial prowess and quick driv ...

Sander Westerveld Sander Westerveld (born 23 October 1974) is a Dutch football coach and former professional player who played as a goalkeeper. He was the goalkeeping coach of South African Premier Soccer League club Ajax Cape Town. The highlight of his playing ...

Nikos Machlas Nikos Machlas ( el, Νίκος Μαχλάς, born 16 June 1973) is a retired Greek former professional footballer who played as a striker. Club career OFI Crete Machlas began his career with OFI Crete, where he made his debut in February 1991 ...

Glenn Helder Glenn Helder (born 28 October 1968) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a winger. He notably played in the Premier League for Arsenal, in the Eredivisie for Sparta Rotterdam, Vitesse Arnhem and NAC Breda. He also played i ...

and

Philip Cocu Phillip John-William Cocu (born 29 October 1970) is a Dutch professional Association football, football manager and former player, he is the manager of SBV Vitesse, Vitesse. Cocu was born in Eindhoven but raised in Zevenaar, playing youth footba ...

were sold for large sums of money. Others came to occupy empty player positions, such as

Mahamadou Diarra Mahamadou Diarra (born 18 May 1981) is a Malian former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. He served as captain for the Mali national team. Club career OFI Crete Diarra started his professional career at Greek club ...

and

Pierre van Hooijdonk Pierre van Hooijdonk (; born 29 November 1969) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a striker. He had spells with clubs across Europe where he was a prolific goal scorer. Van Hooijdonk was capped 46 times for the Dutch nation ...

. Vitesse ranked in the top 4 positions, made a profit and showed a solid balance sheet in the final years of his presidency. Aalbers resigned on 15 February 2000, after the main sponsor, Nuon, threatened to pull the plug if he did not. Nuon, a public utility company owned by local authorities, had trouble explaining why it invested heavily in Aalbers' ambitious plans. The successor was Jan Koning, the former chief of

Sara Lee Sara may refer to: Arts, media and entertainment Film and television * Sara (1992 film), ''Sara'' (1992 film), 1992 Iranian film by Dariush Merhjui * Sara (1997 film), ''Sara'' (1997 film), 1997 Polish film starring Bogusław Linda * Sara (2010 ...

Douwe Egberts Douwe Egberts is a Dutch brand of coffee which is majority-owned by JDE Peet's. It was founded in Joure, Netherlands, by Egbert Douwes in 1753 as De Witte Os ("The White Ox"), a general grocery shop. The company later started dealing specifically ...

. In a short period of time, Vitesse began to show negative financial results, due to poor deals on the transfer market. The club survived numerous financial crises, such as the last one in 2008, when debts were bought of, under the threat of bankruptcy. Aalbers is currently a marketing expert and consultant in city and stadium development. He acts as a matchmaker in international projects. Aalbers and his wife live in

Eerbeek Eerbeek is a town in the municipality of Brummen in the province of Gelderland in the Netherlands. Eerbeek was first mentioned in 1046 as ''Erbeke''. In the 18th century, Eerbeek became a centre of paper production. Due to its proximity to the V ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aalbers, Karel 1949 births Living people People from Rheden Dutch football chairmen and investors Dutch businesspeople