NEC (Holland)

Nijmegense Eendracht Combinatie, or NEC as the club are more commonly known are a professional football club from the city of Nijmegen, which is located near to the German border in the east of The Netherlands.

Eendracht were formed on the 15^th November 1900, going on to merge with Nijmegen in 1910 to form NEC. The club were the domain of the working class, whereas the game at the time was quite elitist, with neighbours Quick 1888 amongst others created by industrialists and the middle class.

Eendracht (meaning unity) had been successful despite having little money. The small subscriptions went towards buying a new football from time to time. The Nijmegen club had been formed by those feeling out of place at Quick.

Gradually the club found its feet and purchased some land on Hazenkampseweg to build their own base. Membership grew but the team was denied promotion to the top level of football in the east of the country. To reach the first division, clubs had to win play off matches against other regional winners. NEC missed out in 1927-28, 1928-29, 1930-31, and 1933-34.

Finally in 1935-36 NEC reached the top level, going on to win the East title in 1938-39. NEC ended third in the title deciders behind Ajax and DWS. On the resumption of football after World War Two, NEC won consecutive East titles, becoming one of the foremost clubs in the country.

Professional football arrived in Holland in 1954, but NEC was not in the best of states at the time. They only just avoided being left behind in the amateurs at the last minute as the club moved into the Goffertstadion or De Goffert as the locals call it. In the early 60’s the club began to grow as the local authority recognised the importance of the club to the city.

A promotion was won in 1962-63 as long serving coach Jan Remmers began to make his mark, before NEC reached Eredivisie for the first time in 1966-67. Hans Venneker put away the goals for the promoted side prior to Jürgen Jendrossek leading the line.

Wiel Coerver took over as coach in the summer of 1970 as Theo de Jong scored regularly for a side that saw the development of youngsters Jan Peters and Frans Thijssen who pulled in full houses regularly at Stadion de Goffert.

The team reached the 1972-73 KNVB Beker Final as strong favourites, but NAC Breda pulled off a shock by winning 2-0 at De Kuip. The star players were sold on and crowds began to drop which led to NEC being relegated in 1973-74.

However, the goals of Jan Hoogendoorn for Piet de Visser’s team went a long way to the Eerste Divisie title win and promotion at the first time of asking. The team coached by Hans Croon and then Leen Looijen maintained their top flight status, albeit towards the wrong end of the table.

Pim van de Meent was at the helm when the team went down in 1982-83 despite reaching a second KNVB Beker final. Ajax won both games 3-1 to take the beaker 6-2 on aggregate. Yet a loophole in the competition meant that NEC played in the European Cup the following season where FC Barcelona ended their run.

NEC recovered to win the play-off group in 1984-85 to return to the Eredivisie where they lasted just twelve months. Sandor Popovics was the coach when the team missed out on promotion in the play-offs in 1986-87.

The side made no mistake through the same route in 1988-89 under returning coach Looijen. NEC survived the relegation play-off on their return before going down in 1990-91. Once again, the play-offs offered a route for promotion that was taken in 1993-94.

The same season saw the team in another KNVB Beker final. On this occasion they went down 2-1 to Feyenoord at De Kuip. NEC survived a couple of relegation play-off seasons before consolidating as the goals of Jack de Gier helping Jimmy Calderwood’s side in 1998-99.

Ron de Groot had taken over as interim boss when NEC made it four KNVB Beker final defeats out of four in their centenary season of 1999-00. This time Roda JC did the damage at De Kuip in Rotterdam breaking the hearts of the 20,000 expectant fans from Nijmegen. At the same time the rebuild of De Goffert was completed.

The 2002-03 season saw unparalleled joy come to NEC as the team finished fifth in the Eredivisie thanks to a late Jardr Simr goal at Waalwijk meaning that the club qualified for the UEFA for the following season with Dutch legend Johan Neeskens as head coach.

The team steadied and settled into a stable mid table outfit under coaches Cees Lok and then Mario Been, whose team went on a remarkably thirty one game unbeaten run to reach the play offs for European football in 2007-08.

After qualifying for the Europa League, Dinamo Bucureşti were defeated before NEC qualified to the knock out stages from a group including Tottenham Hotspur, Udinese, Spartak Moskow and Dinamo Zagreb. The run ended in the knock out stages against Hamburger SV.

Following Been’s reign, a succession of coaches, including Wiljan Vloet and Alex Pastoor came and went at De Goffert as the team maintained their status with Björn Vleminckx finishing as Eredivisie top scorer in 2010-11.

Anton Janssen's side were relegated at the end of the 2013-14 season after losing 4-1 on aggregate to Sparta Rotterdam in the play offs, to find themselves in the second tier for the first time in twenty years.

Ruud Brood was employed as the new manager and he took the team straight back up as champions. Brood was replaced for the 2015-16 campaign by PSV assistant boss Ernest Faber with top scorer Christian Santos helping his side to tenth place.

Defeat in the play-offs to NAC Breda saw the team that had been under coach Peter Hyballa until his dismissal the following season relegated to the Eerste Divisie. Adrie Bogers was appointed for the 2017-18 campaign until he was replaced by Pepijn Lijnders.

Anass Achahbar led the scoring helped by the creativity of Arnaut Groeneveld as NEC reached the play-offs which ended in defeat to FC Emmen. 2018-19 saw former playing favourite Jack de Gier coach the side until his dismissal in April 2019.

The side’s hopes of going up were ended in the play-offs by RKC Waalwijk before NEC ended the aborted 2019-20 season in eighth place with three coaches; François Gesthuizen, Rogier Meijer and a returning Bogers all having spells in charge of the team.

NEC will play in the Eerste Divisie in the 2020-21 season.

My visit

NEC 3 ADO Den Haag 1 (Sunday 19^th January 2014) Eredivisie (att: 10,550)

My fourth match of the long weekend saw me in the beautiful old city of Nijmegen. After catching the train from Zwolle, dropping off my bag and then visiting the homes of SCH, SV Blauw Wit and Quick 1888 I was tiring. It was somewhat of a relief when I saw the growing crowds heading towards the large Goffertpark.

I had arranged my ticket in advance, through a very helpful member of the club staff via email communication. However, I did still have to collect it from the information point by the main entrance. As I couldn’t even see the stadium through the park and I had no idea of its lay out I was still a trifle apprehensive.

There was no need to worry. My luck was in as the paths led straight to where I needed to be. A few minutes later I had my ticket for a reasonable $23. I couldn’t see anyone selling programmes, but that could wait until later. Kick off was fast approaching and I wanted to get inside.

Once more fortune was on my side. The decent programme was free inside and left by the bins. I wasn’t sure where my seat was so I walked down the steps to the moat where the staircases led upstairs. However, I saw an opportunity to get a real feel for the occasion beforehand as I could walk right up to where the players crossed the moat before going up to the pitch.

To see the video of that, and some action, click here:

A steward put me right when he saw my confused look and soon I was in my seat high up in a corner of the stadium, with the notorious Den Haag fans further along behind the goal. I really liked De Goffert. 

It was relatively small but neat, with a single tier of raised covered seats separated from the pitch by the moat. The only obtrusive fencing was the netting keeping in the away fans and stopping any silly throwing of missiles in either direction. A nice touch was the heaters blowing down hot air from the roof.

The game was a real basement battle with both teams in the bottom three before play with the hosts occupying bottom spot. NEC lined up with Michael Higdon as centre forward. 

In a remarkable coincidence I’d seen him score a hat trick for Motherwell against St Johnstone on the corresponding weekend the season before. He looked like he’d enjoyed a good Christmas, although he also used his strength to good effect throughout the match.

On eighteen minutes NEC were awarded a penalty. The offence from visiting skipper Danny Holla looked to have been just outside the box. The visiting Robert Zwinkels keeper saved the kick. With just over half an hour on the clock Kevin Conboy put NEC ahead with a fine curling free kick. Two minutes later the scores were level as Den Haag were awarded a penalty of their own. 

Holla scored to send the away fans wild with delight. Right back Marnick Vermijl had given the spot kick away but he soon made up for it by restoring Nijmegen's lead by scoring off the far post a couple of minutes later. It had been a tremendous first half.

By now I was gradually feeling normal after my heavy night, so I got stuck into the snacks and coffee on offer by using the token system. I felt seriously rough when the bloke next to me had bought a beer in the first half. My sausages and coffee went well on its way to restoring me.

The second half wasn't as action packed, but NEC were full value for their lead. With twenty five minutes left Rene van Eijden made the game safe with an excellent looping header. The majority of the away fans made their way out to sit on the buses in the compound, to much mocking from the NEC fans as their side saw out the game.

I had really enjoyed the game and atmosphere in such a tight stadium, but still wanted more. I had an amateur game in my sights in nearby Wijchen, but first had to find the bus stop, while hoping the players of VV Alverna and LONGA ‘31 would save some entertainment until my arrival!