Ajax USA  

Vitesse

FROM 200 TO 20,000 FANS IN THIRTEEN YEARS' TIME

It will be hard to think of any other European football club that made such spectacular progress in such a short period of time as Vitesse from the eastern city of Arnhem. Between 1985 and 1999 Vitesse's budget increased from 360,000 to 26 million euros, while the average home attendance increased from 800 to well over 23,000 and the number of sponsors increased from 10 to 400. As for the actual football: until 1989 Vitesse had spent only four seasons in the Eredivisie, with a 9th slot in 1978 as their best ever achievement. After 1989 the Arnhem side never finished as low as 9th anymore until their dismal battle against relegation in 2003 and 2004 (which they survived and recovered from). Vitesse were a regular in the UEFA Cup throughout the 1990s.

One man was largely responsible for the football revolution on the banks of the river Rhine. His name: Karel Aalbers, a devoted Vitesse fan and self-made millionaire. He stood up when the old club were about to go out of business. Aalbers took over in 1984, George Orwell's year, and his ambitions (or in fact: promises) sounded pretty 'Orwellian' indeed: he claimed that Vitesse would one day be Holland's fourth club, playing its home games at a futuristic facility with a retractable roof. 'Windbag' Aalbers was the laughing stock in the Dutch media for years, but he made his dream come true: today, Vitesse play at Gelredome, a supermodern facility where Ajax went K.O. for five seasons straight after the opening. Vitesse were, indeed, Holland's fourth club, sassily provoking the 'Big Three', for almost a full decade.


The Vitesse squad of 1914 was two minutes away from winning the Dutch championship.
The Arnhem club never came closer to claiming the title. [Photo: Vitesse.nl]

However, dark clouds gathered over Arnhem at the start of the 21st century, when the club became the victim of a dodgy sponsoring deal and in some mysterious way ended up with an enormous debt to a sponsor. The story of Vitesse did not have a happy ending for Karel Aalbers, who became the key suspect in an ugly case of tax fraud in 2000. He was never convicted, but had to leave the club, watching from a distance how the dream came to an end in the 2002-2003 season, in which Vitesse would have gone out of business if it wasn't for the city council, who decided to buy Gelredome and rescue the club. For two seasons Vitesse, who are still under legal restraint of the city, battled against relegation.


Maligned for megalomania, but still adored by the supporters:
'King' Karel Aalbers, the man who made Vitesse big. Below, his 'baby':
The futuristic Gelredome is Holland's fourth stadium in size.

Vitesse are now 'safe' and the club surprisingly returned into the race for UEFA Cup tickets in 2005, but their future will inevitably be more modest than Karel Aalbers had envisioned for his beloved Vitesse, one of the oldest professional football clubs in Holland. Originally founded as a cricket club, the football section started only months later, in May 1892. More than 110 years of history have never seen Vitesse win any official domestic silverware, but several regional championships were clinched before World War Two. Also, three Dutch Cup finals were played, but all lost: in 1912 (to Haarlem), 1927 (to VUC) and more recently in 1990 (to PSV). The yellow and black, vertically striped shirt, however, is a famous one, an icon in Dutch football.


Never as productive for Ajax as he was for Vitesse: Nikos
Machlas, European topscorer in Arnhem's yellow and black.

1990 was Vitesse's most memorable year ever. Freshly promoted to the Eredivisie, the club had a tremendous first season at the top flight. Vitesse finished third and the team's entire right flank (Edward Sturing, Martin Laamers and Bart Latuheru) was called up to play for Holland against Brazil. The climax at season's end was the KNVB Cup final in Rotterdam, a game with a dramatic ending for the Arnhemmers: Vitesse icon John van den Brom (who would later join Ajax) missed a penalty in the very last minute, so that PSV held on to their highly fortunate 1-0 lead.


1999: Vitesse fans say goodbye to two of most enigmatic fan
favourites and local heroes: defenders Theo Bos and Edward Sturing.

Vitesse's best international performances include the UEFA Cup triumphs over Dundee United (1990) and AEK Athens (1998) and a heroic battle against Inter Milan in 2000. The Italian giants were unable to beat Vitesse (0-0 and 1-1), but advanced on a single away goal. Even the dramatic 2002-2003 season saw a fine UEFA Cup run, with the elimination of Germany's Werder Bremen as the memorable highlight. Arnhem will have to accept that those times are over, at least for the time being. But the work of 'King Karel' has not been in vain: Aalbers revived football in Arnhem by saving a club that was virtually dead. He deserves the credit for that, no matter what. (MP)

VITESSE FACTS

Founded: 14 May 1892
City: Arnhem
Stadium: Gelredome
Capacity: 26,600
Official website: www.vitesse.nl

Honors:

  • No national or international trophies won.

Recent History: Ajax vs Vitesse