Vitesse

Football club infobox
clubname = Vitesse


fullname = Stichting Betaald Voetbal Vitesse
nickname = "Vitas", "FC Hollywood at the Rhine"
founded = May 14, 1892
ground = Gelredome
Arnhem
capacity = 26,600
chairman = flagicon|Netherlands Bert Roetert
manager = flagicon|Netherlands Hans Westerhof
league = Eredivisie
season = 2007/2008
position = Eredivisie, 12th
pattern_la1=_black_stripes|pattern_b1=_stripesonblack2|pattern_ra1=_black_stripes
leftarm1=FFFF00|body1=FFFF00|rightarm1=FFFF00|shorts1=FFFFFF|socks1=FFFFFF
pattern_la2=|pattern_b2=|pattern_ra2=
leftarm2=FFFFFF|body2=FFFFFF|rightarm2=FFFFFF|shorts2=4682B4|socks2=4682B4

Stichting Betaald Voetbal Vitesse is a Dutch football club from Arnhem, which was founded on May 14, 1892. The idea of conceiving a football team stemmed from the club's early roots as a cricket club.

Vitesse has had considerable success in the Eredivisie but it has never been considered a close competitor of the top three clubs of Netherlands football, namely PSV, Feyenoord, and Ajax. Yet Vitesse once attracted big name signings into its ranks including Roy Makaay, Marc van Hintum, Sander Westerveld, Victor Sikora, Pierre van Hooijdonk, Mahamadou Diarra and Philip Cocu.

In the 1980s, the club was threatened with bankruptcy, the solution to which was to form a new administrative board to govern both the professionals and the amateur sides. This is because, up to the 1980s, the club had incorporated both its professional and its amateur players into its club structure.

The club has regularly finished in the Eredivisie top five positions and featured in the UEFA Cup competition. However, since 2003, the club has fallen on tough circumstances after it was discovered that Karel Aalbers was involved in a tax fraud back in 2000 and has since failed to reach its previous heights. The club could have gone bankrupt again had it not been for the timely intervention of the Arnhem city council who bought the Gelredome and created a financial rescue package to salvage the club.

Its home in the city of Arnhem is the unique Gelredome stadium built in 1998, featuring a retractable roof and a convertible pitch that can be retracted when unused during concerts or other events held at the stadium. Its capacity is 26,600. The average league attendance in recent years was just below 20,000.

In 2006, coach Edward Sturing has announced his intention to leave the club after spending 18 years both in the playing and coaching capacities. Sturing's replacement for the 2006-2007 & 2007-2008 season was Aad de Mos, but after a poor campaign de Mos was fired and replaced by Hans Westerhof.

Current squad

Fs player|no=2|name=Paul Verhaegh|nat=Netherlands|pos=DF (Captain)

Reserve squad

Out on loan

Vitesse-managers since 1914

*1914-1915 flagicon|England Chadwick / flagicon|England Sutcliffe
*1919-1920 flagicon|England Mac Pherson
*1920-1922 flagicon|England Charles Griffith
*1922-1923 flagicon|Netherlands Jan van Dort / flagicon|Netherlands Bram Evers
*1923-1924 flagicon|Netherlands Jan van Dort
*1924-1927 flagicon|England Robert William Jefferson
*1927-1936 flagicon|Germany Heinrich Schwarz
*1936-1938 flagicon|Netherlands Gerrit van Wijhe
*1938-1939 flagicon|Netherlands Gerrit Horsten
*1939-1943 flagicon|Netherlands Gerrit Horsten / flagicon|Netherlands Ben Tap
*1943-1944 flagicon|Netherlands Gerrit Horsten / flagicon|Netherlands Jacques Piederiet / flagicon|Netherlands Jan Zonnenberg
*1945-1946 flagicon|Netherlands Gerrit Horsten / flagicon|Netherlands Jacques Piederiet
*1946-1947 flagicon|England George Roper
*1947-1948 flagicon|Netherlands Arie van der Wel
*1948-1954 flagicon|Netherlands Jan Zonnenberg
*1954-1957 flagicon|Austria Joseph Grüber
*1957-1960 flagicon|Netherlands Louis Pastoors
*1960-1962 flagicon|Serbia Branco Vidovic
*1962-1964 flagicon|Netherlands Jan Zonnenberg
*1964-1966 flagicon|Austria Joseph Grüber
*1966-1969 flagicon|Netherlands Frans de Munck
*1969-1972 flagicon|Netherlands Cor Brom
*1972-1974 flagicon|Netherlands Frans de Munck
*1974-1976 flagicon|Serbia Ned Bulatovic (sept. 1975)
*1975-1976 flagicon|Netherlands Jan de Bouter (apr. 1976)
*1976-1976 flagicon|Netherlands Clemens Westerhof
*1976-1982 flagicon|Netherlands Henk Wullems
*1982-1984 flagicon|Netherlands Leen Looijen (feb. 1984)
*1984-1984 flagicon|Netherlands Henk Hofstee
*1984-1985 flagicon|Netherlands Clemens Westerhof
*1985-1986 flagicon|Poland Janusz Kowalik / flagicon|Netherlands Henk Bosveld
*1986-1987 flagicon|Netherlands Hans Dorjee / flagicon|Netherlands Niels Overweg
*1987-1987 flagicon|Netherlands Hans Dorjee (july 1987)
*1987-1987 flagicon|Netherlands Niels Overweg (sept. 1987)
*1987-1992 flagicon|Netherlands Bert Jacobs
*1992-1995 flagicon|Germany Herbert Neumann
*1995-1995 flagicon|Netherlands Ronald Spelbos (nov. 1995)
*1995-1996 flagicon|Netherlands Frans Thijssen
*1996-1997 flagicon|Netherlands Leo Beenhakker (jan. 1997)
*1997-1998 flagicon|Netherlands Henk ten Cate
*1998-1998 flagicon|Portugal Artur Jorge (oct. 1998)
*1998-1999 flagicon|Germany Herbert Neumann (oct. 1999)
*1999-2000 flagicon|Netherlands Edward Sturing / flagicon|Netherlands Jan Jongbloed (jan. 2000)
*2000-2001 flagicon|Netherlands Ronald Koeman (dec. 2001)
*2001-2002 flagicon|Netherlands Edward Sturing
*2002-2003 flagicon|Netherlands Mike Snoei (mar. 2003)
*2003-2006 flagicon|Netherlands Edward Sturing
*2006-2008 flagicon|Netherlands Aad de Mos
*2008-Heden flagicon|Netherlands Hans Westerhof

Club officials

As of 29-08-2008

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Eerste Divisie

Club topscorers by season

Notable players

;Netherlands
*flagicon|Netherlands Sjaak Alberts
*flagicon|Netherlands Theo Bos
*flagicon|Netherlands Henk Bosveld
*flagicon|Netherlands Peter Bosz
*flagicon|Netherlands John van den Brom
*flagicon|Netherlands Philip Cocu
*flagicon|Netherlands Lloyd Doesburg
*flagicon|Netherlands Jan Dommering
*flagicon|Netherlands Jef Dorpmans
*flagicon|Netherlands René Eijer
*flagicon|Netherlands Etiënne Esajas
*flagicon|Netherlands Hans Gillhaus
*flagicon|Netherlands Just Göbel
*flagicon|Netherlands Raimond van der Gouw
*flagicon|Netherlands Glenn Helder
*flagicon|Netherlands Wim Hendriks
*flagicon|Netherlands Dirk Herberts
*flagicon|Netherlands Willem Hesselink
*flagicon|Netherlands Marc van Hintum
*flagicon|Netherlands Bennie Hofs
*flagicon|Netherlands Nicky Hofs
*flagicon|Netherlands Pierre van Hooijdonk
*flagicon|Netherlands Gerrit Horsten
*flagicon|Netherlands Antoon Huiberts
*flagicon|Netherlands Theo Janssen
*flagicon|Netherlands Arco Jochemsen
*flagicon|Netherlands Bert Konterman
*flagicon|Netherlands Jurrie Koolhof
*flagicon|Netherlands Willem Korsten
*flagicon|Netherlands Michel Kreek
*flagicon|Netherlands Martin Laamers
*flagicon|Netherlands Geurt van Laar
*flagicon|Netherlands Job van Laar
*flagicon|Netherlands Gerrit Langeler
*flagicon|Netherlands Bart Latuheru
*flagicon|Netherlands Harry Lubse
*flagicon|Netherlands Roy Makaay
*flagicon|Netherlands Kees Meeuwsen
*flagicon|Netherlands Frans de Munck
*flagicon|Netherlands flagicon|Ghana Riga Mustapha
*flagicon|Netherlands Jan de Natris
*flagicon|Netherlands Martijn Reuser
*flagicon|Netherlands Johan Ricken
*flagicon|Netherlands Remco van der Schaaf
*flagicon|Netherlands Stijn Schaars
*flagicon|Netherlands Victor Sikora
*flagicon|Netherlands Edward Sturing
*flagicon|Netherlands Ben Tap
*flagicon|Netherlands Frans Thijssen
*flagicon|Netherlands Orlando Trustfull
*flagicon|Netherlands Kick van der Vall
*flagicon|Netherlands Herman Veenendaal
*flagicon|Netherlands John Veldman
*flagicon|Netherlands Ferdi Vierklau
*flagicon|Netherlands Piet Velthuizen
*flagicon|Netherlands Harald Wapenaar
*flagicon|Netherlands Sander Westerveld
*flagicon|Netherlands Menno Willems;Belgium
*flagicon|Belgium Gert Claessens
*flagicon|Belgium Tom de Mul
*flagicon|Belgium Bob Peeters
*flagicon|Belgium Gill Swerts
*flagicon|Belgium Stijn Vreven;Burkina Faso
*flagicon|Burkina Faso Mamadou Zongo;Cameroon
*flagicon|Cameroon Emile Mbamba;Ghana
*flagicon|Ghana Matthew Amoah
*flagicon|Ghana Abubakari Yakubu;Greece
*flagicon|Greece Nikos Machlas;Mali
*flagicon|Mali Mahamadou Diarra;Nigeria
*flagicon|Nigeria Tijjani Babangida;Serbia
*flagicon|Serbia Dejan Curovic
*flagicon|Serbia Nenad Grozdic
*flagicon|Serbia Dragoslav Jevrić
*flagicon|Serbia Danko Lazović
*flagicon|Serbia Marko Perovic
*flagicon|Serbia Dejan Stefanovic
*flagicon|Serbia Vladimir Stojkovic;Slovakia
*flagicon|Slovakia Marian Zeman;South Africa
*flagicon|South Africa Darius Dhlomo;Suriname
*flagicon|Suriname Edu Nandlal;Ukraine
*flagicon|Ukraine Evgeniy Levchenko

ee also

*Dutch football league teams

External links

* [http://www.vitesse.nl/ Official website] nl icon
* [http://www.vitesse.org/ Official supporters site]