Koninklijke HFC

Koninklijke HFC (Royal Haarlemsche Football Club) is a football club in Haarlem, The Netherlands. It is the oldest club in Dutch history, founded by Pim Mulier in 1879. During the first years the only team played rugby but due to financial problems they switched to association football. The first official football match in the Netherlands was played in 1886 between HFC and Amsterdam Sport.

Overview

In 1899 they moved from their home ground "De Koekamp" to the "Spanjaardslaan" where until today they still play their matches. In that period the Spanjaardslaan (Spaniard's lane), the east-west road at the southern edge of the oldest public park of the Netherlands was part of Heemstede, but switched back to Haarlem in 1927.

The Netherlands national football team played two of their international matches at the Spanjaardslaan. Both matches were versus Belgium, resulting in a 1-2 loss and a 7-0 win. In the past HFC contributed several players to the Netherlands national football team. Of those players goalkeeper Gejus van der Meulen obtained the most caps, 54. At present his grandson still plays for HFC.

Before the Dutch championship was officially established HFC won three unofficial national titles:
* 1889-1890
* 1892-1893
* 1894-1895

Three times in the club's history they won the KNVB Cup (1904, 1913 and 1915). In the cup competition of 1903-1904 HFC beat VVV from Amsterdam with 25-0, still a record in Dutch cup competition.

The club was named Koninklijk (Royal) in 1959, 80 years after the club was founded. Since 1923 the first team of HFC plays the opening match of a new year versus a selection of former Dutch international players on January 1. With more than 1600 members HFC is one of the largest football clubs in the Netherlands.