VVV-Venlo (, ''VVV'' stands for ''Venlose Voetbal Vereniging'' meaning "Venlo Football Club") is a Dutch

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 from Venlo, a city on the border with Germany. They play in the

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (, en, First Division) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie and with the third-level Tweede Divisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as the ...

, the second tier of

Dutch football Football is the most popular sport in the Netherlands. Football was introduced to the Netherlands by Pim Mulier in the 19th century when in 1879, at the age of 14, he founded Haarlemsche Football Club. Over the next 30 years, football gained ...

, following relegation from the

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

in the

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

season. The club plays its home games in the Covebo Stadion –

De Koel De Koel (), also known as Covebo Stadion – De Koel, is a multi-purpose stadium in Venlo, Limburg (Netherlands), Limburg, Netherlands. It is currently mostly used for association football, football matches and is the home stadium of VVV-Venlo. Th ...

stadium, which is named after one of the club's sponsors Covebo Uitzendgroep. VVV's home colors are yellow and black.

History

Foundation and first decades (1903–1952)

VVV originated from the

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 ''De Gouden Leeuw'', which was founded by a group of friends in Venlo at the end of the nineteenth century. A few more name changes would occur, and the team was also known as ''Valuas'' for some time. Eventually, it was decided on 7 February 1903 to change the name to Venlose Voetbal Vereniging (VVV), the current name of the club. VVV wrote itself into the history books as one of the oldest clubs in Dutch professional football. In 1909, the clubs ''VITOS'' and ''THOR'' merged and became part of VVV. ''Quick'' followed in 1910. During the first years of its existence, VVV could not enter the highest league of Dutch football. This was due to the fact that before the 1911–12 season, there was no first-tier ''

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 ...

'' in the southern Netherlands, but only Eastern and a Western Eerste Klasse. From the 1912–13 season, the South also competed in its own Eerste Klasse. VVV has been part of this since its introduction into Dutch football, with varying degrees of success. After the 1921–22 season, the club suffered relegation to the second-tier '' Tweede Klasse''. Afterwards, the team played for some time in the Tweede Klasse, in which they won the championship during several seasons. They, however, failed to reach promotion to the Eerste Klasse again afterwards. After the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the number of Eerste Klasse teams was expanded, which also included VVV. From 1948 to 1952, the club achieved fourth-place finishes in the Eerste Klasse.

Recent years (2006–present)

VVV returned to the

, the highest league in the Netherlands, by defeating

RKC Waalwijk RKC Waalwijk () is a Dutch professional football club based in Waalwijk, that is currently competing in the Eredivisie. Its name is derived from 'Rooms Katholieke Combinatie' ('Roman Catholic Combination' in Dutch) and was established as a merger ...

(3–0) in the promotion/relegation play-offs in the 2006–07 season. After one season in the Eredivisie, VVV-Venlo were relegated back to the

. After a single season, VVV-Venlo won the

2008–09 Eerste Divisie Eerste Divisie 2008–09 began in August 2008 and concluded in May 2009, with the promotion playoffs. Sixteen clubs remained in the Eerste Divisie, whilst Excelsior and VVV-Venlo were relegated from the 2007–08 Eredivisie. VVV-Venlo won the le ...

title and returned to the Eredivisie. In the 2009–10 season, the team booked its best league result since 1988 after finishing 12th in the Eredivisie. Another remarkable event was the transfer of star player

Keisuke Honda is a Japanese professional football manager and former player. he is the current general manager & head coach of the Cambodia U-23. A versatile player, Honda usually played as an attacking midfielder, but could also play as a winger, a fa ...

to CSKA Moscow. They also signed toddler Baerke van der Meij on a symbolic ten-year contract, after a video featuring him scoring a

hat trick A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...

into a toy box became popular. Honda was replaced by

Gonzalo Gonzalo may refer to: * Gonzalo (name) * Gonzalo, Dominican Republic, a small town * Isla Gonzalo, a subantarctic island operated by the Chilean Navy * Hurricane Gonzalo, 2014 See also * Gonzalez (disambiguation) * Gonzales (disambiguation) * ...

and the club signed Japanese player

Maya Yoshida is a Japanese professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Bundesliga club Schalke 04 and captains the Japan national team. Club career Nagoya Grampus Born in Nagasaki, Japan, Yoshida began playing football at Nanling FC in his secon ...

. The departure of Honda turned out to be a key point in the club's season. In the second half of the season, the team was not able to win matches and barely escaped from relegation. At the end of the season, key players

Ruben Schaken Ruben Schaken (; born 3 April 1982) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a right winger. He has represented the Netherlands national team on seven occasions between 2012 and 2013, scoring two goals in the process. Career Ear ...

and

Adil Auassar Adil Auassar (born 6 October 1986) is a Dutch professional footballer of Moroccan descent who currently plays for Sparta Rotterdam in the Dutch Eredivisie. Early life Auassar was born in Dordrecht, South Holland, the Netherlands. He grew up in ...

both signed with

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the club changed to various names before settling on being called after its ...

on a free transfer. Gonzalo returned to his employer

Groningen Groningen (; gos, Grunn or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen province in the Netherlands. The ''capital of the north'', Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of the northern part of t ...

, while

Sandro Calabro Sandro Calabro (born 11 April 1983) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a striker. Club career Calabro was born in The Hague, the son of Sicilian parents. He moved from FC Volendam to Helmond Sport. In May 2007, it was an ...

signed with Swiss side St. Gallen. The club contracted

Ruud Boymans Ruud Boymans (born 28 April 1989) is a Dutch former professional footballer. He played for Fortuna Sittard, VVV-Venlo, AZ, Willem II, FC Utrecht, Al Shabab and Almere City FC. Club career Ruud Boymans was born in Born, Netherlands. He made h ...

and the Nigerian Ahmed Musa to strengthen the squad for the 2010–11 season. They avoided relegation, but it was a harsh season in which Jan van Dijk was fired and former international

Patrick Paauwe Patrick Paauwe (born 27 December 1975) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a defender. Club career Paauwe played as a defender in the past but for Feyenoord Rotterdam as a defensive midfielder role. Other teams he served ...

terminated his contract after losing the competition from his competitors. Belgian manager

Glen De Boeck Glen De Boeck (; born 22 August 1971) is a Belgian football manager and former player who most recently managed Lokeren in the Belgian First Division B. During his career he played as central defender, mostly on the books of Anderlecht. Clu ...

was signed for the next season, but failed to improve the results. As a result of that, he resigned in December 2011.

Ton Lokhoff Antonius Johannes Jacobus "Ton" Lokhoff (born 25 December 1959) is a Dutch football manager and former player, currently serving as assistant coach and interim head coach of NAC Breda. Playing career Lokhoff is named ''Mister NAC'' due to his l ...

was recruited as the new manager and succeeded in avoiding relegation by winning the post-season play-offs. However, in the 2012–13 season, the club was relegated after losing the promotion/relegation play-offs against

Go Ahead Eagles Go Ahead Eagles () are a Dutch professional football club from the city of Deventer. They play in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football, having achieved promotion from the second tier Eerste Divisie in the 2020-21 season. The club's h ...

. The club finished fifth in its first

season since its promotion in 2009. But again, the club bounced back and returned to the Eredivisie in 2017, after clinching promotion by defeating RKC Waalwijk. On 24 October 2020, VVV-Venlo suffered the biggest defeat in Eredivisie history by losing to Ajax at home 13–0.

Japanese players

Since

transferred from Nagoya Grampus in 2008, a slew of Japanese players have played at VVV-Venlo, including

, Robert Cullen and

Yuki Otsu Yuki, Yūki or Yuuki may refer to: Places * Yuki, Hiroshima (Jinseki), a town in Jinseki District, Hiroshima, Japan * Yuki, Hiroshima (Saeki), a town in Saeki District, Hiroshima, Japan * Yūki, Ibaraki, a city on Honshu island in Japan * Yuki, ...

Sef Vergoossen Josephus Gerardus Dominicus "Sef" Vergoossen (, born 5 August 1947 in Echt) is a former Dutch football manager. Biography Vergoossen began his managerial career in 1978 with VVV-Venlo, managing the club for 12 years until 1989, after which he man ...

, a legendary manager of the club, and Japanese agent Tetsuro Kiyooka were a bridge between the Japanese players and the club.

Community support

The official club mascot since 1 July 2004 is a dog named ''"Koelie" ( en, Coolie)''. The

Jan Klaassens Jan Klaassens (4 September 1931 – 12 February 1983) was a Dutch football player who played for VVV-Venlo and Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier i ...

Museum, set up in 2003 is located in the city center of Venlo and is operated by the Limburgs Museum. Since 2005, VVV has annually presented the Jan Klaassens Award to the greatest talent from its own youth academy. The Herman Teeuwen Memorial, named after the club icon who died suddenly in 2003, since 2004 has been organised by the club, usually with well-known foreign clubs participating on an invitational basis. VVV announced in July 2015 that they would be retiring the number 28 shirt in memory of youth player

Beau Vilters Beau may refer to: *Beau (name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name, nickname or surname *Beau (guitarist) (born 1946), songwriter and 12-string guitar specialist *Beau (grape), another name for the Italian wine grape Tr ...

, who had previously worn that number but was killed in a traffic accident on 14 June 2015, at the age of 18. In April 2011, after a viral video of a local toddler, Baerke van der Meij, grandson of VVV player Jan van der Meij, showing him scoring a hat trick into his toy box, the club gave the 18-month-old an honorary contract.

Stadium

VVV-Venlo currently play at

in Venlo. The stadium holds 8,000 people and was built in 1972. It is named after its main sponsor, hence its current name, Covebo Stadion De Koel.

Results

ImageSize = width:800 height:60 PlotArea = left:10 right:10 bottom:30 top:10 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1990 till:01/01/2021 ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:1 start:1990 Colors = id:bl1 value:rgb(0.9,0.9,0.3) id:bl2 value:rgb(0.5,0.8,0.5) id:rs value:rgb(0.8,0.6,0.6) id:rn value:rgb(0.9,0.1,0.1) PlotData= bar:Position width:15 color:white align:center from:01/01/1990 till:01/01/1991 shift:(0,-4) text:3 from:01/01/1991 till:01/01/1992 shift:(0,-4) text:18 from:01/01/1992 till:01/01/1993 shift:(0,-4) text:1 from:01/01/1993 till:01/01/1994 shift:(0,-4) text:17 from:01/01/1994 till:01/01/1995 shift:(0,-4) text:12 from:01/01/1995 till:01/01/1996 shift:(0,-4) text:5 from:01/01/1996 till:01/01/1997 shift:(0,-4) text:4 from:01/01/1997 till:01/01/1998 shift:(0,-4) text:11 from:01/01/1998 till:01/01/1999 shift:(0,-4) text:11 from:01/01/1999 till:01/01/2000 shift:(0,-4) text:15 from:01/01/2000 till:01/01/2001 shift:(0,-4) text:18 from:01/01/2001 till:01/01/2002 shift:(0,-4) text:13 from:01/01/2002 till:01/01/2003 shift:(0,-4) text:13 from:01/01/2003 till:01/01/2004 shift:(0,-4) text:7 from:01/01/2004 till:01/01/2005 shift:(0,-4) text:3 from:01/01/2005 till:01/01/2006 shift:(0,-4) text:2 from:01/01/2006 till:01/01/2007 shift:(0,-4) text:2 from:01/01/2007 till:01/01/2008 shift:(0,-4) text:17 from:01/01/2008 till:01/01/2009 shift:(0,-4) text:1 from:01/01/2009 till:01/01/2010 shift:(0,-4) text:12 from:01/01/2010 till:01/01/2011 shift:(0,-4) text:17 from:01/01/2011 till:01/01/2012 shift:(0,-4) text:16 from:01/01/2012 till:01/01/2013 shift:(0,-4) text:17 from:01/01/2013 till:01/01/2014 shift:(0,-4) text:5 from:01/01/2014 till:01/01/2015 shift:(0,-4) text:6 from:01/01/2015 till:01/01/2016 shift:(0,-4) text:2 from:01/01/2016 till:01/01/2017 shift:(0,-4) text:1 from:01/01/2017 till:01/01/2018 shift:(0,-4) text:15 from:01/01/2018 till:01/01/2019 shift:(0,-4) text:12 from:01/01/2019 till:01/01/2020 shift:(0,-4) text:13 from:01/01/2020 till:01/01/2021 shift:(0,-4) text:17 from:01/01/1990 till:01/01/1991 color:bl1 shift:(0,13) text: from:01/01/1991 till:01/01/1992 color:bl2 shift:(0,13) text: from:01/01/1992 till:01/01/1993 color:bl1 shift:(0,13) text: from:01/01/1993 till:01/01/1994 color:bl2 shift:(0,13) text: from:01/01/1994 till:01/01/2007 color:bl1 shift:(0,13) text: "

" from:01/01/2007 till:01/01/2008 color:bl2 shift:(0,13) text: from:01/01/2008 till:01/01/2009 color:bl1 shift:(0,13) text: from:01/01/2009 till:01/01/2013 color:bl2 shift:(0,13) text: "

" from:01/01/2013 till:01/01/2017 color:bl1 shift:(0,13) text: "

" from:01/01/2017 till:01/01/2021 color:bl2 shift:(0,13) text: "

Players

Current squad

Retired numbers

28 —

, defender (2014–15) — ''posthumous honour''

Notable players

Remco Torken Remco Torken (born 3 January 1972 in the Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = B ...

* Giorgos Giakoumakis

Domestic results

Below is a table with VVV-Venlo's domestic results since the introduction of the

in 1956.

Club staff

Coaching history

References

External links

Fanclub – Fanclub D'n Twellefde Man Fanclub – GoodOld VVV Fanclub – East Side Venlo (ESV)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Venlo Football clubs in the Netherlands Association football clubs established in 1903 1903 establishments in the Netherlands Football clubs in Limburg (Netherlands) Sport in Venlo