FC Zwolle
THE RETURN OF AN EREDIVISIE DEBUTANT
Officially the 2002-2003 season marked the Eredivisie debut
of FC Zwolle. Officially the club, playing in a jersey with
horizontal blue and white stripes, was founded in 1990 and
always played in the First Division: in the centre-group during
the first half of the 1990s, in the top five during the latter
half. The First Division championship came in 2002, by winning
a direct battle against runner-up Excelsior.
Those are the plain, official facts. But there's much more
to tell about the club from the ancient commerce city of
Zwolle, capital of the north-eastern province of Overijssel.
Its story actually started in 1910, as local sides Prins
Hendrik (PH) and EDN became the 'PH EDN Combination' (PEC). PEC
made it to the Dutch cup final of 1928 (which was lost to RCH
from Hilversum), was a professional club from the very start in
1955, jumped from the Second to the First Division in 1971,
beat Ajax in spectacular style in a KNVB Cup quarter final in
1976 (3-0) and pulled into the Eredivisie in 1978.
Holland's only Johan Cruijff
Stand can not be found in Amsterdam, but in Zwolle's old
Oosterenk Stadium.
Many older Dutch football fans still remember the Zwolle
side by is old name: PEC Zwolle, the club with its green jersey
and its 'giant killer' reputation. The club never finished
higher than 8th, but Feyenoord, PSV and Ajax suffered several
defeats in Oosterenk Stadium in the early 1980s. PEC Zwolle is
the club where Ajax and Oranje legends Piet Schrijvers
and Johnny Rep played in the fall of their careers. The club of
famous goalgetters such as Foeke Booy, Koko Hoekstra and Cees
van Kooten.
PEC Zwolle was a respectable Eredivisie side from 1978 to
1989, a period in which the relegation of 1985 turned out to be
a minor accident: a young coach from Amsterdam named Co
Adriaanse immediately brought them back to the highest level,
with spectacularly offensive football. However, despite beating
Holland's giants on many occasions, PEC Zwolle never managed to
qualify for 'Europe' or penetrate the real top of the
Eredivisie. Most of the time the club was either in the middle
regions of the table, or fighting relegation.
The First Division championship
of 2003 brought the club its
first ever admission to the Eredivisie under the name of FC
Zwolle.
The result, inevitably, was financial trouble. Business man
Marten Eibrink came to rescue in 1982, re-organizing the club's
structure and changing its official name into PEC Zwolle '82,
but after Eibrink had called it quits in the late 1980s, the
clubs soon found itself on the brink of bankruptcy again. This
time the saviour was named Gaston Sporre, whose
re-organizations marked the birth of a new, financially healthy
club, with new club colours (blue and white), a new logo and a
new name: FC Zwolle.
Slowly but surely the new club is writing its own history.
It already has one thing that Ajax - for some reason - still
hasn't: a Johan Cruijff Stand in its stadium. Apart from that,
FC Zwolle seems to be particularly good at developing high
quality defenders: Dutch stars such as Jaap Stam (PSV,
Manchester United, Lazio Roma) and Bert Konterman (Feyenoord,
Glasgow Rangers) were developed on the banks of the river
IJssel, in Zwolle. After a succesful Amstel Cup campaign in
1997-1998 was terminated by Ajax in the quarter final, FC
Zwolle finally reaped the fruits of the sensible and
professional way it was managed. The First Division champion of
2002 was an Eredivisie débutant, but - paradoxically -
one that returned to where it belonged. (Menno Pot)
FC ZWOLLE FACTS
Founded: 01 July 1990, continuation of PEC
Zwolle '82. Founded as PEC (merger of PH and EDN) on 12 June
1910. Name changed to PEC Zwolle in 1971 and to PEC Zwolle '82
in 1982.
City: Zwolle
Stadium: Oosterenk Stadium
Capacity: 6,834
Official website: www.fczwolle.nl
Honors:
- No national or international trophies won
Recent History: Ajax vs FC Zwolle
- 2003-2004
- 2002-2003
- 1999-2002
- FC Zwolle in First Division; no games
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