FC Utrecht

Lore & Background

The club was formed in 1970 as a merger between local clubs VV DOS, USV Elinkwijk and Velox. Since then, the club has won three national cup tournaments: in 1985, 2003 and 2004, also winning the Johan Cruyff Shield in 2004 as the first club outside the traditional Dutch Big Three. Utrecht is also the only club outside the Big Three which has never suffered relegation from the top-flight Eredivisie. Utrecht have competed in 15 European campaigns, reaching the group stages of the 2004–05 UEFA Cup and the 2010–11 UEFA Europa League, their best European results.

Reader's Guide

The club was formed on 1 July 1970. Its first manager was Bert Jacobs, with Fritz Korbach as assistant. The first official match was against Feyenoord, losing 4–1. In the early 1980s, the club faced financial troubles and a debt moratorium, but was saved by local support and municipality intervention. In 1985, an article in Utrechts Nieuwsblad mentioned a proposed takeover involving Robert Maxwell, Philips, KLM and Johan Cruyff, but the takeover failed due to supporter opposition. The club underwent a stadium renovation starting in 1998.

Did You Know?

• The club's first goal was scored by Jan Groenendijk.
• In 1982, fourteen of the eighteen first-team players in the cup final were academy products.
• Goalkeeper Hans van Breukelen led a campaign with a single titled 'We geven het niet op' to save the club from bankruptcy.