nec.html

KPN Eredivisie, 2000-2001: Club Profile

NEC

Other clubs' supporters usually pronounce NEC as 'neck'. Fans of the Nijmegen side itself, however, do not. The name of their club stands for 'Nijmegen Eendracht Combination' and is pronounced N-E-C, as three separate letters. Yes, NEC is a combination of two clubs, but no living fan is old enough to have been a conscious supporter of either Nijmegen football club (of 1900) or Eendracht ('Unity', of 1908). The fusion of the two (1910) is old enough to make NEC one of Holland's respectable football old-timers, residing in the picturesque south-eastern city of Nijmegen, which origins were built over a thousand years ago, by the Romans, on the south-bank of the river Waal.

Everyone in Holland will agree that the city of Nijmegen is beautiful, but not everyone will think the club NEC is. The unusual combination of colours (black, red and green) in the club's logo and jersey is considered 'interesting' by many, whereas the gray cycling-track around the pitch was the reason for most Dutch players and fans to call old, concrete De Goffert stadium the ugliest football ground in The Netherlands. The cycling-track is no longer there in NEC's new stadium with the same name and built on the same location in beautifully sloping Goffert Park. And those club colours - well, tastes differ. At least they're unique in Dutch football. It's all about the football, isn't it? And NEC's play looks good, these days, especially under the reign of 'Johan the Second, 1970s Ajax and Holland legend Johan Neeskens, who was signed as NEC's coach in 2000.

NEC is one of those Dutch clubs that goes up and down quite regularly, to the First Division and back to the Eredivisie again: there was relegation in 1983, promotion in '85, relegation in '86, promotion in '89, relegation in '91 and promotion in '94. When fighting for survival like that, there's not much time to think of winning any national, let alone international trophies. But despite its existence as a small-timer, there's a handful of very special achievements that deserve to be mentioned.

NEC reached four Dutch Cup finals, in 1974, 1983, 1994 and 2000. They were all lost, but what makes NEC unique, however, is that one of those finals was reached as a First Division team ('94), and two more in years of relegation ('74, '83). The 1983 final, against Ajax, consisted of two legs, both of which were won 3-1 by the Amsterdammers. Ajax won the championship as well, that year, which made NEC the first and only club in history to represent Holland in a European Cup tournament while playing in the First Division.

After having eliminated Norway's Brann Bergen in the first round, a no less than legendary second round clash against Diego Maradona's FC Barcelona followed. Before a crowd of 25,000 in Goffert Stadium, Anton Janssen and Michel Mommertz gave the Nijmegen team - halfway down the First Division table at that moment - a shocking 2-0 lead within 25 minutes. Barcelona ended up winning, 2-3, and wrapped it up at Nou Camp (2-0), but who cares about that?

In 1994, NEC made it to their third Dutch Cup final, once again - believe it or not - as a First Division club. After having left the invincible Ajax of Litmanen, Blind and the De Boers flabbergasted in De Meer (1-2 in extra time), NEC gave Feyenoord a hard time in the final, but did succumb to the Rotterdammers in the end, 2-1. No trophy, but one more heroic Cup campaign. NEC a small timer? Yes, but not if you think they are, like Diego Maradona and Bernd Schuster did in 1983, in those unforgettable 25 minutes at Goffert Stadium. (MP)

NEC FACTS

Founded: 15 November, 1900
City: Nijmegen
Stadium: De Goffert
Capacity: 12,500

Honors:

• No national or international trophies won

Ajax vs NEC, the last five Eredvisie seasons: