VVV-Venlo (, ''VVV'' stands for ''Venlose Voetbal Vereniging'' meaning "Venlo Football Club") is a Dutch

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

Venlo Venlo () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in southeastern Netherlands, close to the border with Germany. It is situated in the province of Limburg (Netherlands), ...

, a city on the border with Germany. They play 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 ...

, the second tier of Dutch football, following relegation from 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 ...

in the

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

season. The club plays its home games in the Covebo Stadion –

De Koel De Koel (), also known as Covebo Stadion – De Koel, is a multi-purpose stadium in Venlo, Limburg (Netherlands), Limburg, Netherlands. It is currently mostly used for association football, football matches and is the home stadium of VVV-Venlo. T ...

stadium, which is named after one of the club's sponsors Covebo Uitzendgroep. VVV's home colours are yellow and black.

History

Foundation and first decades (1903–1952)

VVV originated from the

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

club ''De Gouden Leeuw'', which was founded by a group of friends in

at the end of the nineteenth century. A few more name changes would occur, and the team was also known as ''Valuas'' for some time. Eventually, it was decided on 7 February 1903 to change the name to Venlose Voetbal Vereniging (VVV), the current name of the club. VVV wrote itself into the history books as one of the oldest clubs in Dutch professional football. In 1909, the clubs ''VITOS'' and ''THOR'' merged and became part of VVV. ''Quick'' followed in 1910. During the first years of its existence, VVV could not enter the highest league of Dutch football. This was due to the fact that before the 1911–12 season, there was no first-tier ''

Eerste Klasse The Eerste Klasse () started as the 1st tier of football in the Netherlands and is now the 6th tier. The league is divided into ten divisions. These divisions correspond to the six districts of the Royal Dutch Football Association: each district i ...

'' in the southern Netherlands, but only Eastern and a Western Eerste Klasse. From the 1912–13 season, the South also competed in its own Eerste Klasse. VVV has been part of this since its introduction into Dutch football, with varying degrees of success. After the 1921–22 season, the club suffered relegation to the second-tier ''

Tweede Klasse The Tweede Klasse () is the seventh tier of football in the Netherlands and the fifth tier of Dutch amateur football. The league is divided into 21 divisions, 12 played on Saturday and nine on Sunday. Each division consists of 14 teams. The ch ...

''. Afterwards, the team played for some time in the Tweede Klasse, in which they won the championship during several seasons. They, however, failed to reach promotion to the Eerste Klasse again afterwards. After 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 ...

, the number of Eerste Klasse teams was expanded, which also included VVV. From 1948 to 1952, the club achieved fourth-place finishes in the Eerste Klasse.

Recent years (2006–present)

VVV returned to the

, the highest league in the Netherlands, by defeating

RKC Waalwijk RKC Waalwijk () is a Dutch professional association football, football club based in Waalwijk. They currently play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football league system, Dutch football, following relegation from the Eredivisie i ...

(3–0) in the promotion/relegation play-offs in the 2006–07 season. After one season in the Eredivisie, VVV-Venlo were relegated back to the

. After a single season, VVV-Venlo won the

2008–09 Eerste Divisie Eerste Divisie 2008–09 began in August 2008 and concluded in May 2009, with the promotion playoffs. Sixteen clubs remained in the Eerste Divisie, whilst Excelsior and VVV-Venlo were relegated from the 2007–08 Eredivisie. VVV-Venlo won the l ...

title and returned to the Eredivisie. In the 2009–10 season, the team booked its best league result since 1988 after finishing 12th in the Eredivisie. Another remarkable event was the transfer of star player

Keisuke Honda Keisuke Honda is a Japanese former professional footballer and manager who played as a midfielder. A versatile player, Honda usually played as an attacking midfielder, but could also play as a winger, a false nine or as a deep-lying playmak ...

CSKA Moscow CSKA Moscow () is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. It was created in 1911 in the Russian Empire on base of OLLS (Skiing Society, founded 1901). Later, during the Soviet Union, Soviet era, it was the central part of the Armed Forces (sports ...

. They also signed toddler Baerke van der Meij on a symbolic ten-year contract, after a video featuring him scoring a

hat trick A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mechan ...

into a toy box became popular. Honda was replaced by

Gonzalo Gonzalo may refer to: * Gonzalo (name) * Gonzalo, Dominican Republic, a small town * Isla Gonzalo, a subantarctic island operated by the Chilean Navy * Hurricane Gonzalo, 2014 See also

* Gonzalez (disambiguation) * Gonzales (disambiguatio ...

and the club signed Japanese player

Maya Yoshida is a Japanese professional footballer who captains and plays as a Defender (association football)#Centre-back, centre-back for Major League Soccer club LA Galaxy. Yoshida formerly played for the Japan national football team, Japan national team ...

. The departure of Honda turned out to be a key point in the club's season. In the second half of the season, the team was not able to win matches and barely escaped from relegation. At the end of the season, key players

Ruben Schaken Ruben Schaken (; born 3 April 1982) is a Dutch former professional association football, footballer who played as a Midfielder#Winger, right winger. He has represented the Netherlands national football team, Netherlands national team on seven occ ...

and

Adil Auassar Adil Auassar (born 6 October 1986) is a Dutch former professional footballer. Early life Auassar was born in Dordrecht, South Holland, the Netherlands. He grew up in Zwijndrecht, South Holland, and has two older brothers and one younger siste ...

both signed with

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Netherlands, Dutch professional association football, football club based in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football league system, Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the ...

on a free transfer. Gonzalo returned to his employer

Groningen Groningen ( , ; ; or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen (province), Groningen province in the Netherlands. Dubbed the "capital of the north", Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of ...

, while

Sandro Calabro Sandro Calabro (born 11 April 1983) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a striker. Club career Calabro was born in The Hague, the son of Sicilian parents. He moved from FC Volendam to Helmond Sport. In May 2007, it was ann ...

signed with Swiss side St. Gallen. The club contracted

Ruud Boymans Ruud Boymans (born 28 April 1989) is a Dutch former professional footballer. He played for Fortuna Sittard, VVV-Venlo, AZ, Willem II, FC Utrecht, Al Shabab and Almere City FC. Club career Ruud Boymans was born in Born, Netherlands. He made ...

and the Nigerian

Ahmed Musa Ahmed Musa (; born 14 October 1992) is a Nigerian professional footballer who plays as a forward or winger for Kano Pillars in the NPFL and the Nigeria national team. Musa became the first Nigerian to score more than once in a FIFA Worl ...

to strengthen the squad for the 2010–11 season. They avoided relegation, but it was a harsh season in which Jan van Dijk was fired and former international Patrick Paauwe terminated his contract after losing the competition from his competitors. Belgian manager

Glen De Boeck Glen De Boeck (; born 22 August 1971) is a Belgian football manager and former player. He was most recently in charge of Kortrijk in the Belgian Pro League after previously managing Cercle Brugge and Waasland-Beveren in the top flight, and Loker ...

was signed for the next season, but failed to improve the results. As a result of that, he resigned in December 2011.

Ton Lokhoff Antonius Johannes Jacobus "Ton" Lokhoff (born 25 December 1959) is a Dutch football manager and former player, he is the currently assistant manager of Super Lig club Samsunspor. Playing career Lokhoff is named ''Mister NAC'' due to his long-tim ...

was recruited as the new manager and succeeded in avoiding relegation by winning the post-season play-offs. However, in the 2012–13 season, the club was relegated after losing the promotion/relegation play-offs against

Go Ahead Eagles The Go Ahead Eagles are a Dutch professional football club from the city of Deventer in the province of Overijssel. They play in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football, having achieved promotion from the second tier Eerste Divisie in th ...

. The club finished fifth in its first

season since its promotion in 2009. But again, the club bounced back and returned to the Eredivisie in 2017, after clinching promotion by defeating RKC Waalwijk. On 24 October 2020, VVV-Venlo suffered the biggest defeat in Eredivisie history by losing 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), ''Ajax'' (play), by the an ...

at home 13–0.

Japanese players

Since

transferred from

Nagoya Grampus ; formerly known as is a Japanese association football club that plays in the J1 League, and have for all but one season since the inauguration of the league, following promotion from the J2 League in 2017. Based in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture an ...

in 2008, a slew of Japanese players have played at VVV-Venlo, including

, Robert Cullen and Yuki Otsu.

Sef Vergoossen Josephus Gerardus Dominicus "Sef" Vergoossen (; born 5 August 1947) is a former Dutch football manager. Biography Vergoossen began his managerial career in 1978 with VVV-Venlo, managing the club for 12 years until 1989, after which he managed MV ...

, a legendary manager of the club, and Japanese agent Tetsuro Kiyooka were a bridge between the Japanese players and the club.

Community support

The official club mascot since 1 July 2004 is a dog named ''"Koelie" ()''. The Jan Klaassens Museum, set up in 2003 is located in the city center of Venlo and is operated by the Limburgs Museum. Since 2005, VVV has annually presented the Jan Klaassens Award to the greatest talent from its own youth academy. The Herman Teeuwen Memorial, named after the club icon who died suddenly in 2003, since 2004 has been organised by the club, usually with well-known foreign clubs participating on an invitational basis. VVV announced in July 2015 that they would be retiring the number 28 shirt in memory of youth player Beau Vilters, who had previously worn that number but was killed in a traffic accident on 14 June 2015, at the age of 18. In April 2011, after a viral video of a local toddler, Baerke van der Meij, grandson of VVV player Jan van der Meij, showing him scoring a hat trick into his toy box, the club gave the 18-month-old an honorary contract.

Stadium

VVV-Venlo currently play at

in Venlo. The stadium holds 8,000 people and was built in 1972. It is named after its main sponsor, hence its current name, Covebo Stadion De Koel.

Results

ImageSize = width:800 height:60 PlotArea = left:10 right:10 bottom:30 top:10 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1990 till:01/01/2021 ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:1 start:1990 Colors = id:bl1 value:rgb(0.9,0.9,0.3) id:bl2 value:rgb(0.5,0.8,0.5) id:rs value:rgb(0.8,0.6,0.6) id:rn value:rgb(0.9,0.1,0.1) PlotData= bar:Position width:15 color:white align:center from:01/01/1990 till:01/01/1991 shift:(0,-4) text:3 from:01/01/1991 till:01/01/1992 shift:(0,-4) text:18 from:01/01/1992 till:01/01/1993 shift:(0,-4) text:1 from:01/01/1993 till:01/01/1994 shift:(0,-4) text:17 from:01/01/1994 till:01/01/1995 shift:(0,-4) text:12 from:01/01/1995 till:01/01/1996 shift:(0,-4) text:5 from:01/01/1996 till:01/01/1997 shift:(0,-4) text:4 from:01/01/1997 till:01/01/1998 shift:(0,-4) text:11 from:01/01/1998 till:01/01/1999 shift:(0,-4) text:11 from:01/01/1999 till:01/01/2000 shift:(0,-4) text:15 from:01/01/2000 till:01/01/2001 shift:(0,-4) text:18 from:01/01/2001 till:01/01/2002 shift:(0,-4) text:13 from:01/01/2002 till:01/01/2003 shift:(0,-4) text:13 from:01/01/2003 till:01/01/2004 shift:(0,-4) text:7 from:01/01/2004 till:01/01/2005 shift:(0,-4) text:3 from:01/01/2005 till:01/01/2006 shift:(0,-4) text:2 from:01/01/2006 till:01/01/2007 shift:(0,-4) text:2 from:01/01/2007 till:01/01/2008 shift:(0,-4) text:17 from:01/01/2008 till:01/01/2009 shift:(0,-4) text:1 from:01/01/2009 till:01/01/2010 shift:(0,-4) text:12 from:01/01/2010 till:01/01/2011 shift:(0,-4) text:17 from:01/01/2011 till:01/01/2012 shift:(0,-4) text:16 from:01/01/2012 till:01/01/2013 shift:(0,-4) text:17 from:01/01/2013 till:01/01/2014 shift:(0,-4) text:5 from:01/01/2014 till:01/01/2015 shift:(0,-4) text:6 from:01/01/2015 till:01/01/2016 shift:(0,-4) text:2 from:01/01/2016 till:01/01/2017 shift:(0,-4) text:1 from:01/01/2017 till:01/01/2018 shift:(0,-4) text:15 from:01/01/2018 till:01/01/2019 shift:(0,-4) text:12 from:01/01/2019 till:01/01/2020 shift:(0,-4) text:13 from:01/01/2020 till:01/01/2021 shift:(0,-4) text:17 from:01/01/1990 till:01/01/1991 color:bl1 shift:(0,13) text: from:01/01/1991 till:01/01/1992 color:bl2 shift:(0,13) text: from:01/01/1992 till:01/01/1993 color:bl1 shift:(0,13) text: from:01/01/1993 till:01/01/1994 color:bl2 shift:(0,13) text: from:01/01/1994 till:01/01/2007 color:bl1 shift:(0,13) text: "

" from:01/01/2007 till:01/01/2008 color:bl2 shift:(0,13) text: from:01/01/2008 till:01/01/2009 color:bl1 shift:(0,13) text: from:01/01/2009 till:01/01/2013 color:bl2 shift:(0,13) text: "

" from:01/01/2013 till:01/01/2017 color:bl1 shift:(0,13) text: "

" from:01/01/2017 till:01/01/2021 color:bl2 shift:(0,13) text: "

Players

Current squad

Retired numbers

28 — Beau Vilters, defender (2014–15) — ''posthumous honour''

Former players

National team players

''The following players were called up to represent their national teams in international football and received

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

during their tenure with VVV-Venlo:'' *;Aruba **

Joshua John Joshua John (born 1 October 1988) is a footballer who plays as a forward for AFC '34. Born in the Netherlands, John represents Aruba internationally. Club career Sparta Rotterdam Joshua John came through the youth departments of SV Koedijk, Ajax ...

(2020–2021) *;Finland ** Niki Mäenpää (2012–2015) *;Greece **

Giorgos Giakoumakis Georgios Giakoumakis (; born 9 December 1994) is a Greek professional footballer who plays as a striker for Liga MX club Cruz Azul and the Greece national team. Club career Early career Giakoumakis was born and grew up in Heraklion, Crete, wh ...

(2020–2021) *;Japan **

(2008–2009) **

Yūki Ōtsu is a Japanese former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder or a winger. Club career Borussia Mönchengladbach On 21 July 2011, Ōtsu was signed by Bundesliga side Borussia Mönchengladbach on a three-year contract. H ...

(2012–2015) **

(2010–2012) *;Latvia ** Vitālijs Maksimenko (2014–2015) *;Netherlands ** Jan Klaassens (1948–1959; 1964–1967) ** Coy Koopal (1954–1956) **

Faas Wilkes Servaas "Faas" Wilkes (; 13 October 1923 – 15 August 2006) was a Dutch Forward (association football), football forward, who earned a total of 38 Cap (sport), caps for the Netherlands national football team, Netherlands national team, in which ...

(1956–1958) *;Nigeria **

(2010–2012) ** Uche Nwofor (2011–2014) *;Slovenia ** Aleksandar Radosavljević (2012–2013) *;Togo **

Peniel Mlapa Peniel Kokou Mlapa (born 20 February 1991) is a Togolese professional footballer who plays as a striker for Thai League 2 club Khon Kaen United. He also holds German citizenship. Club career Early life and career Born in Lomé, Togo, Mlapa e ...

(2018–2019) * ''Players in bold actively play for VVV-Venlo and for their respective national teams. Years in brackets indicate careerspan with VVV-Venlo.''

National team players by Confederation

Member associations are listed in order of most to least amount of current and former VVV-Venlo players represented Internationally

Players in international tournaments

The following is a list of VVV-Venlo players who have competed in international tournaments, including the

AFC Asian Cup The AFC Asian Cup is the primary association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), determining the continental champion of Asia. It is the second-oldest c ...

. To this date no VVV-Venlo players have participated in the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

UEFA European Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro or Euros, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition ...

Africa Cup of Nations The Africa Cup of Nations, commonly abbreviated as AFCON and officially known as the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, is the main biennial international men's association football competition in Africa. It is s ...

Copa América The CONMEBOL Copa América (; known until 1975 as the South American Football Championship), often simply called the Copa America, is the top men's quadrennial association football, football tournament contested among list of men's national ass ...

CONCACAF Gold Cup The CONCACAF Gold Cup () is an association football competition organized by CONCACAF as its top continental tournament for men's senior national teams from North America, Central America and the Caribbean. The tournament is held every two ...

or the

OFC Nations Cup The OFC Men's Nations Cup, known as the OFC Nations Cup before the 2024 OFC Men's Nations Cup, 2024 edition, is the primary association football competition contested by the senior list of men's national association football teams, men's natio ...

while playing for VVV-Venlo.

Domestic results

Below is a table with VVV-Venlo's domestic results since the introduction of the

in 1956.

Club staff

Coaching history

References

External links

Fanclub – Fanclub D'n Twellefde ManFanclub – GoodOld VVVFanclub – East Side Venlo (ESV)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Venlo Football clubs in the Netherlands Association football clubs established in 1903 1903 establishments in the Netherlands Football clubs in Limburg (Netherlands) Sport in Venlo