Sportclub Heerenveen (; West Frisian: Sportklub It Hearrenfean) is a Dutch professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

club from Heerenveen. They currently play in the

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; "Honour Division" or "Premier Division") is a professional association football league in the Netherlands and the highest level of the Dutch football league system. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start o ...

, the top level of

football in the Netherlands Football is the most popular sport in the Netherlands. Association football, Football was introduced to the Netherlands by Pim Mulier in the 19th century when in 1879, at the age of 14, he founded Koninklijke HFC, Haarlemsche Football Club. Ov ...

. The club is known for its Frisian identity.

History

Sportclub Heerenveen was founded on 20 July 1920 in the town of Heerenveen,

Friesland Friesland ( ; ; official ), historically and traditionally known as Frisia (), named after the Frisians, is a Provinces of the Netherlands, province of the Netherlands located in the country's northern part. It is situated west of Groningen (p ...

, as Athleta. It changed name twice, first to Spartaan and then to v.v. Heerenveen in 1922. While the Netherlands was occupied by Germany, Heerenveen won three successive North of the Netherlands championships, and following the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

it went on to win the same title six times in a row; the club's dominance partly ascribed to the presence of Abe Lenstra. During this period, Lenstra led Heerenveen to a famous victory over

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), ''Ajax'' (play), by the an ...

in one of the most noted games in Dutch domestic football history. Trailing 5–1 with 25 minutes remaining, the Frisian team inexplicably fought back for a 6–5 victory. During the 1950s, Heerenveen regional dominance faded and after Dutch football turned professional Lenstra left to join Sportclub Enschede, before the club he departed was relegated to the

Tweede Divisie Tweede Divisie (; ) is the highest amateur (and historically the lowest professional) football league in the Netherlands. It was established in 1956, together with the Eredivisie and the Eerste Divisie. Between 1956 and 1960 and between 1962 and 19 ...

. By the end of the decade, Heerenveen was in the

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (; ) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as the Keuken Kampioen Divisie due to sponsorship reasons, while ...

, but found itself relegated again. In 1969–70, the Frisian club won the Tweede Divisie to return to the Eerste Divisie and for two seasons in the 1970s, the club was close to achieving promotion to the top-flight

. By 1974, the club was in financial trouble and to ensure its survival it was split into amateur and professional sections on 1 June 1977, the professional part being renamed sc Heerenveen. In the 1980s, Heerenveen twice made the promotion playoffs, but were unsuccessful both times. It finally reached the Eredivisie in 1990, becoming the first Frisian club to reach the top level, at the expense of near-neighbours Cambuur. The achievement was overseen by Frisian coach

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 Heerenveen. De Haan was the manager of the Tuvalu national team during 2011 and then rejoined Heerenveen's youth prog ...

. Heerenveen's first season in the Netherlands' top division was not at all successful and it was relegated, before returning in 1993, though they reached the final of the

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

while still an Eerste Divisie club. Having established itself as a top-flight club, Heerenveen moved to a new stadium, named after their most celebrated player, the

Abe Lenstra Stadion Abe Lenstra Stadion () is a association football, football stadium, located in Heerenveen, Netherlands. It is currently used mostly as a home ground for Eredivisie club SC Heerenveen, Heerenveen. The current capacity is 27,224. Naming The stad ...

, and reached the final of the KNVB Cup for a second time. The 1998 semi-final in the cup competition was lost to Ajax. Because Ajax and the other finalist, PSV, had both qualified for the cup final, a decision match was needed to fill in the vacant spot for the next season's

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European association football, football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The competition's official name was originally the European Cup Winners' Cup; it was renam ...

. Heerenveen had to play against the other losing semi-finalist, Twente. Heerenveen won that match in which

Ruud van Nistelrooy Rutgerus Johannes Martinus van Nistelrooij (; born 1 July 1976), commonly known as Ruud van Nistelrooy (), is a Dutch professional Association football, football manager and former player who is the current manager of EFL Championship club Leic ...

scored his last goal for Heerenveen. The match ended 3–1. Heerenveen became regular competitors in the

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

, and in 1999–2000 finished second in the Eredivisie, its highest ever finish, and qualified for the 2000–01 UEFA Champions League. The club was led from 1983 until September 2006 by president Riemer van der Velde, the longest tenure of any president with a professional club in the Netherlands. As the results of recent transfers that include

Klaas-Jan Huntelaar Dirk Jan Klaas Huntelaar (born 12 August 1983), known professionally as Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (), is a Dutch former professional association football, footballer who played as a Striker (association football), striker. Huntelaar played for PSV Ein ...

Afonso Alves Afonso Alves Martins Júnior (born 30 January 1981), better known as Afonso Alves, is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a striker. He represented Atlético Mineiro, Örgryte, Malmö FF, Heerenveen, Middlesbrough, Al- ...

, Michael Bradley,

Miralem Sulejmani Miralem Sulejmani ( sr-Cyrl, Миралем Сулејмани, ; born 5 December 1988) is a Serbian professional Association football, footballer who plays as a winger (association football), winger. When he signed for AFC Ajax, Ajax in 2008, h ...

Petter Hansson Carl Johan Petter Hansson (; born 14 December 1976) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a defender. He most notably represented Halmstads BK, SC Heerenveen, Rennes, and Monaco during a career that spanned between 1994 and ...

and Danijel Pranjić (and earlier players like Jon Dahl Tomasson,

Marcus Allbäck Marcus Christian Allbäck (; born 5 July 1973) is a Swedish former professional association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football), striker. He was known for his sharp finishing ability and represented clubs in Sweden ...

, Erik Edman, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Igor Korneev and Daniel Jensen), Heerenveen is one of the most financially secure Eredivisie clubs. A 2010 report by the Dutch football association showed that Heerenveen is the only Eredivisie club that has a financially secure budget. Under the tenure of Trond Sollied, Heerenveen won its first KNVB Cup, also its first ever major trophy. Trond Sollied, however, was sacked on 31 August 2009 due to a weak opening of the season and a conflict with the board. On 17 May 2009, the club defeated Twente 5–4 in a penalty shoot-out to win the Dutch Cup for the first time after a 2–2 draw in the final, with Gerald Sibon scoring the winning penalty. On 13 February 2012, it was announced that

Marco van Basten Marcel "Marco" Van Basten (; born 31 October 1964) is a Dutch former football manager and player who played as a striker for Ajax and AC Milan, as well as the Netherlands national team. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all t ...

would replace Ron Jans, who had led Heerenveen for two years, as team manager for the 2012–13 season..

Stadium

The club plays its home matches at the Abe Lenstra Stadium, which opened in 1994 and holds 26,100 people. Before that, the team played at a ground with the same name elsewhere in the town, but it could not meet the increasing popularity of the club. Throughout the years, the club developed several plans to further expand the stadium. One of the plans was to extend at least one side stand towards the pitch, as seen in English football stadiums. Due to deteriorating league results and financial limitedness, however, those plans were shelved. It is uncertain whether or not the club will ever carry them out. Before the move to the Abe Lenstra Stadion, Heerenveen played at the Sportpark Noord. The club's training facilities are regarded as world class, which is said to be a major factor in their recruitment of younger players. The name of the clubs facilities is sportpark . The facilities are shared with VV Heerenveen and sc Heerenveen (women).

Colours, crest and anthem

The crest on the club emblem is the symbol of the flag of

. The flag of Friesland is based on the arms of the 15th century. The stripes and '' seeblatt'' shapes represent the districts of Friesland. A unique tradition in the Dutch Eredivisie is that the Frisian national anthem is played and sung before every domestic match.

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

does not allow this tradition in European matches. Nevertheless, the anthem is sung by the supporters anyway.

Rivalry

SC Cambuur

Heerenveen retain a very fierce rivalry with SC Cambuur. One of the reasons of the rivalry is the short distance between the two clubs. Because of that the clubs often refer to each other as DKV which stands for Dertig Kilometer Verderop (Thirty Kilometers Away) so that they do not have to mention each other's names. However, the biggest and also the most confusing reason is the background of the clubs. Many people who aren't involved in the rivalry find it difficult to understand. Most of the Heerenveen fans are from small villages from the entire province (and even outside it) and are very proud of their Frisian identity. Since the 80's the club have been expressing this Frisian pride to the rest of the Netherlands. The Frisian flag, the Frisian anthem, all Frisian symbols were linked to the club, which made Heerenveen the face of Frisia. Because of this Cambuur slowly disappeared in the shadow of Heerenveen, as a reaction to this Cambuur fans started distancing themselves from the Frisian identity. Nowadays Cambuur do not consider themselves Frisian even though they are from the capital of the province. They now call themselves Leeuwarders aka people from the city. Heerenveen fans are mockingly called boeren (farmers) because Heerenveen isn't a city and the fans mainly live in small villages. Because of the successes of Heerenveen and the meager performances of Cambuur including almost going bankrupt, the rivalry was almost forgotten. When Cambuur got promoted back to the

in 2013 by winning the 2012/13 season of the Jupiler League the rivalry got revived. Before the meeting on 29 September 2013 the game hadn't been played for 13 years, giving Cambuur a great opportunity to prove themselves. Heerenveen won that game 2–1. The away game later in the season was won 3–1 by Cambuur.

FC Groningen

The absence of Cambuur caused

FC Groningen Football Club Groningen () is a Dutch professional association football club based in Groningen, Groningen (province), Groningen province. Founded in 1971 as the successor of GVAV-Rapiditas, GVAV, Groningen compete in the Eredivisie, the first t ...

to be the nearest Eredivisie team and soon it became rivals with Heerenveen. Strikingly, both northern sides used to maintain more or less of a friendship in the past. Therefore, this Northern Derby rivalry is only based on geographical location. Because most Heerenveen fans have always considered Cambuur as main rivals, this derby is often referred to as a surrogate derby. Days before the game, Heerenveen and Groningen fans tease each other by means of playful actions, usually with no violence. Heerenveen fans once stole the centre spot from Stadion Oosterpark, and raised the Frisian flag at the Martinitoren, the highest tower in Groningen, combined with a banner saying ''"SCH op eenzame hoogte" (SCH on lonely height)''. The front yard of a Groningen chairman once got filled with rubble from a construction site. This was because the construction of the Euroborg had to be halted due to a major design mistake. Groningen fans countered by painting a statue of all-time Heerenveen hero Abe Lenstra green and white, the colours of Groningen. They also transformed a viaduct near Heerenveen to green and white. In the 2001–02 season, Groningen fans awarded Heerenveen player Anthony Lurling with the title of "biggest cheat of the season" ("matennaaier van het seizoen" in Dutch) and handed him therefore a sewing machine ("naaimachine" in Dutch). In that same week the town signs of Heerenveen were changed to "Hoerenveen It Sucks" (''Whore''-veen) by the Groningen supporters. The following season, Groningen fans teased the Heerenveen following again, this time by establishing a border post on the border of Groningen and Friesland.

Honours

*Netherlands Football League Championship /

**Runners-up (3): 1946–47, 1947–48, 1999–2000 *

**Champions (1): 2008–09 **Runners-up (2): 1992–93, 1996–97 *

**Play-off Winners (2): 1989–90, 1992–93 **Runners-up (1): 1980–81 *

**Champions (1): 1969–70 **Play-off Winners (1): 1959–60

Domestic results

Below is a table with sc Heerenveen's domestic results since the introduction of the

in 1956.

European competition

SC Heerenveen played 16 seasons in one of the European club football competitions. : score marked with * = first played match : Due to safety concerns in Israel, the first leg was cancelled by UEFA. : Played in Estádio José Alvalade, Lisbon.

Current squad

Out on loan

Notable former players

Players listed below have had junior and/or senior international cap(s) for their respective countries before, while and/or after playing at Heerenveen. *

Raphael Bove Raphael Bove (born 5 March 1977) is an Italian Australian former professional footballer who represented Australia at international level. Career Bove was born in Cassino, Italy, and moved to Australia at a young age. He played his early foot ...

* Thomas Prager * Sven Kums * Brian Vandenbussche *

* Paulo Henrique * Ivan Tsvetkov *

Tristan Borges Tristan Daniel Borges (born August 26, 1998) is a Canadian professional Association football, soccer player who plays as a midfielder for Canadian Premier League club Forge FC. Early life Borges began playing youth soccer with Vaughan Azzurri, V ...

* Rob Friend * Will Johnson * Cecilio Lopes * Danijel Pranjić * Martin Lejsal * Michal Papadopulos * Michal Švec * Kristian Bak Nielsen * Daniel Jensen * Allan K. Jepsen * Hjalte Nørregaard *

Marc Nygaard Marc Stephen Griffith Nygaard (born 1 September 1976) is a Danish former professional footballer who played as a striker. Club career Nygaard started his professional career in SC Heerenveen in 1995. He stayed with Heerenveen until 1997. He wa ...

* Jakob Poulsen * Lasse Schöne * Ole Tobiasen * Jon Dahl Tomasson * Sergei Mošnikov * Hannu Haarala * Mika Nurmela * Juska Savolainen * Niklas Tarvajärvi * Mika Väyrynen * Mark Uth * Matthew Amoah * Georgios Samaras *

Marco Pappa Marco Pablo Pappa Ponce (born 15 November 1987) is a Guatemalan professional Association football, footballer who plays as a midfielder. Club career Born in Guatemala City, Pappa, who plays as a Midfielder (football)#Winger, winger, joined his ...

* Lesly Fellinga * Arnór Smárason * Alfred Finnbogason * Thom Haye * Nathan Tjoe-A-On * Reza Ghoochannejhad * Bonaventure Kalou * Yuki Kobayashi * Ibrahim Drešević * Arbër Zeneli * Samir Fazli * Mile Krstev * Goran Popov * Oussama Assaidi * Ali Elkhattabi * Abdelkarim Kissi * Khalid Sinouh * Oussama Tannane * Hakim Ziyech *

Mario Been Marinus Antonius Been (born 11 December 1963) is a Dutch football manager and former professional player. As a footballer, Been played for Feyenoord, Pisa, Roda JC, Heerenveen, Tirol Innsbruck and Excelsior. He played in an attacking midf ...

* Roy Beerens * Paul Bosvelt * Michel Breuer * Arnold Bruggink * Jerry de Jong * Marten de Roon * Romano Denneboom * Bas Dost * Denzel Dumfries * Johan Hansma * Germ Hofma *

* Daryl Janmaat * Kees Kist * Martin Koeman * Abe Lenstra * Henny Meijer * Luciano Narsingh * Andries Noppert * Stijn Schaars * Gerald Sibon * Victor Sikora * Daley Sinkgraven * Jerry St. Juste * Jeffrey Talan * Henk Timmer * René van der Gijp * Milan van Ewijk * Jan Paul van Hecke *

* Henk Veerman * Joey Veerman * Michel Vlap * Uğur Yıldırım * Emmanuel Ebiede * Henry Onwuzuruike * Daniel Berg Hestad * Tarik Elyounoussi * Christian Grindheim * Thomas Holm * Martin Ødegaard * Radosław Matusiak * Arkadiusz Radomski * Tomasz Rząsa * Ioan Andone * Rodion Cămătaru * Florin Constantinovici * Dumitru Mitriță * Igor Korneev * Filip Đuričić * Igor Đurić *

* Hans Vonk *

* Erik Edman * Viktor Elm *

* Sam Larsson * Lasse Nilsson * Amin Sarr * Stefan Selaković * Michael Bradley * Robbie Rogers *

Đoàn Văn Hậu Đoàn Văn Hậu (born 19 April 1999) is a Vietnamese professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Defender (association football)#Full-back, left-back or centre back for V.League 1 club Hanoi Police FC, Công An Hà Nội and th ...

* Radoslav Samardžić

Club staff

Coaching history

''No official trainer from 1920 to 1930'' * Sjoerd van Zuylen (1930–32) * Sid Castle (1932) * Otto Pinter (1932–33) * Dirk Steenbergen (1934) * Theo Eikenaar (1934–36) * Sid Castle (1936–38) * Piet Smit (1938–39) * Anton Dalhuysen (1939–45) * Otto Bonsema (1945) * Abe Lenstra (1946–47) * Piet van der Munnik (1947–51) * Bob Kelly (1951–55) * Volgert Ris (1955–58) * Siem Plooijer (1958–61) * Arie de Vroet (1961–63) * Evert Mur (1963–65) * László Zalai (1965–66) * Ron Groenewoud (1966–67) * Evert Teunissen (1967–69) * Bas Paauwe Jr. (1969–71) * Meg de Jongh (1971–73) * Laszlo Zalai (1973–78) * Jan Teunissen (1978–80) * Hylke Kerkstra ''( interim)'' (1980) * Henk van Brussel (1980–85) *

(1985–88) * Ted Immers (1988–89) * Ab Gritter (1989–90) * Fritz Korbach (1 July 1990 – 30 June 1992) *

(18 October 1992 – 30 June 2004) * Gertjan Verbeek (1 July 2004 – 30 June 2008)van Cuilenborg, C. (Ed.) (2007). ''Voetbal international, seizoengids 2007–2008''. (p. 92). Amsterdam: WP Sport Media BV. * Trond Sollied (1 July 2008 – 31 August 2009) * Jan de Jonge (31 August 2009 – 3 February 2010) * Jan Everse ''( int.)'' (5 February 2010 – 30 June 2010) *

Ron Jans Ron Jans (; born 29 September 1958) is a Dutch professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player, who is the head coach of FC Utrecht, Utrecht. Coaching career Groningen Born in Zwolle, Overijssel ...

(1 July 2010 – 30 June 2012) *

(1 July 2012 – 30 June 2014) * Dwight Lodeweges (1 July 2014 – 20 October 2015) *

''( int.)'' (20 October 2015 – 30 June 2016) * Jurgen Streppel (1 July 2016 – 30 June 2018) * Jan Olde Riekerink (1 July 2018 – 10 April 2019) * Johnny Jansen (10 April 2019 – 24 January 2022) * Ole Tobiasen ''( int.)'' (4 February 2022 – 30 June 2022) * Kees van Wonderen (1 July 2022 – 17 May 2024) *

Robin van Persie Robin van Persie (; born 6 August 1983) is a Dutch football coach and former professional association football, footballer who is the head coach of Eredivisie club Feyenoord. He is regarded as one of the best strikers of his generation and was ...

(17 May 2024 – 23 February 2025) * Henk Brugge ''( int.)'' (23 February 2025 – 21 March 2025) * Robin Veldman (21 March 2025 –) Foppe de Haan

Match statistics

; All competitions * Biggest home win: SC Heerenveen - FC Oss 11–1; KNVB Cup (21 December 2011) * Biggest score: Ton Pentre AFC - sc Heerenveen 0–7; Intertoto (2 July 1995) * Largest double result: Helsingborg IF - sc Heerenveen 8-6 (3-5 and 5–1); UEFA Cup 1st Round (2007) * Most goals in a season: 88 goals, 2007/08 * Most goals in a game: Afonso Alves 7 (also Dutch record); sc Heerenveen - Heracles (7 October 2007) ; Eredivisie * Biggest home win: sc Heerenveen - Heracles Almelo 9-0 (7 October 2007) * Biggest game: Willem II - sc Heerenveen 1-6 (23 February 2001) * Largest home defeat: sc Heerenveen - PSV Eindhoven 0-8 (25 April 2024) * Fastest penalty for: sc Heerenveen - sc Cambuur (19 October 2014) ; Champions League * Biggest home win: SC Heerenveen - Olympiakos Piraeus 1-0 (17 October 2000) * Most spacious stay: none * Highest draw: Valencia CF - sc Heerenveen 1-1 (7 November 2000) * Largest double result: SC Heerenveen - Lyon 1-5 (2000) ; European Cup II * Biggest home win: SC Heerenveen - KS Amica Wronki 3-1 (17 September 1998) * Biggest game: KS Amica Wronki - sc Heerenveen 0-1 (1 October 1998) * Largest double result: sc Heerenveen - KS Amica Wronki 4-1 (1998) ; UEFA Cup * Biggest home win: SC Heerenveen - Maccabi Petach Tikwa 5-0 (30 September 2004), SC Heerenveen - FC Baník Ostrava 5-0 (29 September 2005) and SC Heerenveen - FK Ventspils 5-0 (16 December 2009) * Biggest game: Vitória Setúbal - sc Heerenveen 0-3 (14 September 2006) * Largest double result: Helsingsborg IF - sc Heerenveen 8-6 (2007) ; Intertoto Cup * Biggest home win: SC Heerenveen - Aalborg BK 8-2 (19 July 1997) * Biggest score: Ton Pentre AFC - sc Heerenveen 0-7 (2 July 1995) * Largest double result: FHK Liepajas Metalurgs - sc Heerenveen 4-8 (2001)

Women's team

In 2007, SC Heerenveen created a women's football team, which competes in the Vrouwen Eredivisie, and between 2012 and 2015 in the

BeNe League The BeNe League was the highest women's football league in Belgium and the Netherlands. To increase competitiveness in their national leagues, the BeNe League was a joint cooperation between the Royal Belgian Football Association and the Royal D ...

. While it has ranked mostly in the table's bottom positions, in 2011 it reached the national cup's final, lost against AZ.

Vivianne Miedema Anna Margaretha Marina Astrid "Vivianne" Miedema (; born 15 July 1996) is a Dutch professional association football, footballer who plays as a forward (association football), forward for FA Women's Super League, Women's Super League club Manches ...

and

Sherida Spitse Sherida Spitse (; born 29 May 1990) is a Dutch Association football, footballer who plays as a midfielder for AFC Ajax (women), Ajax and the Netherlands women's national football team, Netherlands national team. Club career Spitse started her c ...

started their professional career at Heerenveen.

References

External links

Official website of the supportsclub of sc Heerenveen

Unofficial website of sc Heerenveen

Unofficial website of sc Heerenveen
{{DEFAULTSORT:Heerenveen Association football clubs established in 1920 1920 establishments in the Netherlands Football clubs in the Netherlands Football clubs in Heerenveen