Riemer van der Velde (born 28 October 1940 in Bakkeveen) is a Dutch football functionary, who was a chairman of Dutch football club

SC Heerenveen Sportclub Heerenveen (; West Frisian: Sportklub It Hearrenfean) is a Dutch football club from Heerenveen. They currently play in the Eredivisie, the top level of football in the Netherlands. History Sportclub Heerenveen was founded on 20 Jul ...

. He was in charge of the club for 23 years before resigning on 1 October 2006. At the time Van der Velde became chairman of SC Heerenveen in 1983 the club had many debts and was an anonymous club in the

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (, en, First Division) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie and with the third-level Tweede Divisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as th ...

. He realized to get rid of the debts before appointing

Foppe de Haan Foppe Geert de Haan (, born 26 June 1943) is a Dutch football coach. He is known for his long association with Frisian club SC Heerenveen. De Haan was the manager of the Tuvalu national football team during 2011 and then rejoined Heerenveen' ...

as the club's manager, who was at the time coaching amateur side FC Steenwijk. Van der Velde and De Haan became a close duo from 1985 to 2004, although De Haan was replaced as a manager in 1988 and was given another job at the club. In the upcoming seasons a few other managers were not able to improve Heerenveen's football potential until Fritz Korbach, who previously managed

FC Wageningen FC Wageningen (before 1978 ''Wageningen'' and ''WVV Wageningen'') was a Dutch football club which was founded on 27 August 1911., The club played its matches in the Wageningse Berg stadium. Its first success came on 18 June 1939, when the team w ...

PEC Zwolle PEC Zwolle is a Dutch football club based in Zwolle, Netherlands. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, following relegation from the Eredivisie in the 2021–22 season. They have played in the Eredivisie for a tot ...

FC Volendam Football Club Volendam () is a professional football club based in Volendam, Netherlands. They play in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football from the 2022–23 season following promotion. Nicknamed "de Palingboeren", the club was founded ...

and

FC Twente Football Club Twente () is a Dutch professional football club from the city of Enschede, sometimes known internationally as Twente Enschede. The club was formed in 1965 by the merger of 1926 Dutch champions Sportclub Enschede with Enschedes ...

towards the

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is ...

, also managed Heerenveen to the highest level of Dutch football. After Heerenveen relegated the following season and were not able to promote again immediately Korbach was fired and De Haan got his former job as a manager back. Heerenveen then reached the final of the

KNVB Cup The KNVB Beker (; en, KNVB Cup), branded as the TOTO KNVB Beker for sponsorship reasons, is a competition in the Netherlands organized by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. O ...

(losing 6-2 to

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * ''Ajax'' (play), by the ancient Gree ...

) and promoted back to the Eredivisie. Since then Heerenveen played continuously at the highest level and even became one of the most important teams. The club qualified for several European tournaments, inclusive the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

. De Haan resigned in 2004 to become manager of the

Netherlands national under-21 football team The Netherlands national under-21 football team is the national under-21 team of the Netherlands and is controlled by the Royal Dutch Football Association. The team competes in the European Under-21 Championship, held every two years. Followi ...

and was replaced by Gertjan Verbeek. As of August 2006 Van der Velde started his 23rd season as Heerenveen's chairman and he was along with his wife Annie named in the

Order of Orange-Nassau The Order of Orange-Nassau ( nl, Orde van Oranje-Nassau, links=no) is a civil and military Dutch order of chivalry founded on 4 April 1892 by the queen regent, Emma of the Netherlands. The order is a chivalric order open to "everyone who has ...

on 29 September, just one day after Heerenveen qualified for the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, cla ...

groups stage and just two days before resigning as Heerenveen's chairman during the match versus

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; en, Philips Sports Association ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional football department, wh ...

on 1 October. Van der Velde was succeeded by Koos Formsma

References

The history of Heerenveen
club web site {{DEFAULTSORT:Velde, Riemer van der 1940 births Living people People from Opsterland Dutch football chairmen and investors SC Heerenveen Recipients of the Order of Orange-Nassau