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KPN Eredivisie, 2000-2001: Club Profile

PSV: FOREVER IN THE SHADOW OF AJAX AND FEYENOORD

What more can PSV do to make PSV vs Feyenoord and PSV vs Ajax acknowledged 'Classics' as well? The list of honors of the Eindhoven side contains the same European trophies as Feyenoord's, and they were won more recently. Since a few years, PSV won more national titles and domestic trophies than the Rotterdammers. Also, Ajax' average performance against PSV in the past five seasons can hardly be described with any other word than 'disastrous'. Philips Stadium is packed during every home game and PSV's history is unique and 88 years long. So, once again: what more should PSV do?

A cynical PSV fan may answer: "Moving to the Randstad area." He would probably be partially right. *Randstad* is a collective noun for the western provinces of The Netherlands, the area where the large part of the Dutch population lives, where the four major cities (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht) are, where most trade and industry takes place and - the crucial factor - where all national newspapers and TV stations are based. Sometimes it really seems as if PSV is not taken seriously, because they're not from the west.

Not that PSV is from the countryside: Eindhoven is Holland's fifth city (with just over 200,000 inhabitants) and the cradle of one of the world's main electronics companies: Philips. In fact, PSV is the 'Philips Sport Vereniging' and was founded in 1913 as a recreational club for Philips factory workers, who used to live in the central Eindhoven neighborhoods of small workman's houses. Football was only one out of the 19 sports that were practiced at PSV. The club's football ground was on the exact same spot where modern Philips Stadium is now, in the heart of Eindhoven, which is, by the way, not considered one of Holland's most beautiful cities.

PSV was a slow starter, which is indicated by the fact that half of the club's sixteen Dutch championships were won in the last fifteen years. Initially, the club's milestones were modest, but remarkable: PSV were the first Dutch team in history to participate in the precursor of the European Champions Cup in 1955, the 'Coupe Européenne'. And there's the still unrivalled 1957 Dutch record of Coen Dillen, PSV's Johan Cruijff, who scored 43 goals in one Eredivisie season.

The real success came later, especially in the latter half of the 1970s, as the PSV team of Willy van der Kuylen and brothers René and Willy van der Kerkhof won the UEFA Cup of 1978, by winning the final against French side Bastia. In the legendary Holland squad that reached the final of the World Cup '78 in Argentina, PSV's golden team was exactly as dominant as the Ajax of those days. But people tend to forget that, remembering the sassiest players with the biggest mouths. And that was the Amsterdam clan, for sure. But did they play better…?

A second golden generation followed a decade later, as Brazilian superstar, Romario, was the key figure in a long period of PSV dominance in Dutch football, with the winning European Champions Cup of 1988 as a spectacular climax, although it was won with more draws than victories. Benfica was beaten in the final, after a penalty shoot-out (6-5, after a 0-0 game). The semi final saw a heroic battle against Leo Beenhakker's Real Madrid, which PSV won with one away goal by youngster, Edward Linskens: 1-1 in Madrid and a stressful 0-0 in Eindhoven.

PSV may not be from a beautiful big city in the west, they may not have the biggest mouths and they may lack a traditional shirt (their red and white strip has had numerous patterns over the years), but they still haven't lost one single game at the Amsterdam ArenA, and most Dutch talents nowadays rather sign a contract with the kind-hearted and genial provincial club from Eindhoven than with the harsh sides from the *Randstad*. Just let those arrogant Amsterdammers and Rotterdammers play their 'Classics'. PSV taught them the hard way that feeling superior does not always bring you trophies. (MP)

PSV FACTS

Founded: 31 August, 1913
City: Eindhoven
Stadium: Philips Stadium
Capacity: 33,500

Honors:

• Dutch champions (16 times): 1929, 1935, 1951, 1963, 1975, 1976, 1978, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1997, 2000, 2001
• Dutch Cup winners (7 times): 1950, 1974, 1976, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1996
• Dutch Super Cup winners (6 times): 1992, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001
• European Champions Cup winners: 1988
• UEFA Cup winners: 1978

Ajax vs PSV, the last five Eredivisie seasons: RELATED LINKS

• Official PSV website