Amsterdamsche Football Club (Holland)

Amsterdamsche Football Club, or AFC as they are more commonly known, is an amateur football club from Amsterdam. The club was formed on the 18th January 1895, boasting a rich history.

The club was formed as Amsterdam FC following an inaugural meeting in the basement of a house on Koninginneweg. It was decided to adopt the Amsterdam city colours of red and black, with home games being played between the ponds at Vondelpark and Oranje Nassaulaan.

In 1897 the club became members of the Amsterdamsche Voetbal Bond (AVB), with the team playing in the second tier of Dutch football by 1900. In 1906 AFC moved into a new home; Watergraafsmeer.

The team won their league in 1908-09 but failed to win promotion after a play off game against Ajax Leiden. Eventually promotion was achieved in 1916-17 following wins in the play-off round against 't Gooi, Feijenoord and SVV.

In both 1917-18 and 1918-19, AFC won their division but finished in third and then fourth place in the final round in their search to become national champions. In December 1920 the club moved to Amsterdam-Zuid, at a time which would prove to be difficult for the team.

Relegation to the second tier Overgangsklasse came in 1921. Worse was to come as AFC went down again the following season to the Tweede Klasse. It was a long wait before fans of the club had anything to celebrate, but it came in the 1945-46 season.

The deciding championship game against KFC was played at Olympisch Stadion in front of a huge crowd of 43,000, which AFC won 4-2. However, promotion was not achieved as the team missed out in the final rounds. The club membership had grown to 727 by this time.

In 1954-55 the club suffered a further relegation to Derde Klasse, but the leagues were re-organised at this point as professional football began in the Netherlands. The club was placed in the national third tier Tweede Klasse for amateur clubs. The title was secured in 1961, with AFC moving into their new home, Goed Genoeg a year later.

Three Erste Klasse titles arrived at the club in 1963, 1967 and 1969. The middle title was the closest AFC came to being crowned national amateur champions, but they lost out to Middelburg over two legs in the final. Membership in the club had doubled from the 1946 figure.

Further re-organising of the leagues took place over the years, with AFC going down to Erste Klasse in 1997-98, before returning to Hoofdklasse in 2000-01. The team finished as Zondag Hoofdklasse runners-up in the 2006-07 season.

In 2010 AFC won their Hoodklasse division but could only draw games against De Treffers and Gemert in their bid to be crowned Zondag Hoofdklasse champions. However, promotion was sealed to the Zondag Topklasse, the third tier of Dutch football, which has two divisions; one for clubs playing on a Saturday, and one for Sunday’s.

The lower reaches of Dutch league football were reorganised for the 2016-17 season as AFC were placed in the third tier Tweede Divisie after a sixth place in the final campaign of Topklasse under coach Bart Logchies before he was replaced by Ton du Chatinier.

Amsterdamsche finished just above the drop zone in 2017-18 after experienced coach André Wetzel helped prevent relegation after a steady debut season prior to becoming league champions in 2018-19.

However, no promotion was awarded to reward the work of coach Uli Landvreugd and top scorer Raily Ignacio. The team were in tenth spot when the 2019-20 season was voided after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Amsterdamsche Football Club will play in the Tweede Divisie in the 2020-21 season.

My visit

Wednesday 27^th January 2016

My morning was getting better after a good walk and plenty of fresh air. From my last stop off at the Olympisch Stadium, I’d taken a tram and then the train to Amsterdam Zuid. A quick walk past the headquarters of ABN AMRO took me to Beethovenstraat. I was most delighted to see the entrance to Sportpark Goed Genoeg over the car park.

I’d grabbed a quick glimpse the previous afternoon as my host Dave Kenwery collected me from Schipol Airport and drove me to his apartment along the raised A10 motorway, which bordered the northern side of the ground.

I found it to be a very neat ground. The far side had a modern looking cantilevered stand straddling the middle third of the pitch. The near side had three rows of steep terrace with wooden bench seating, before giving way to a large clubhouse and facility block taking up the far half of the touchline. Either end had a mixture of hard standing and shallow grass banking.

All open areas had raised advertising to give the ground a real enclosed feel. At the rear of the main pitch there were several artificial pitches, with them main one having dug outs and a single rail fence around it.

As ever on such a day, I was keeping a close eye on the clock. If I got a move on it meant that I could catch a direct train to Arnhem, where I was heading for that evening’s match between Vitesse and PEC Zwolle.

My path back along the side of the railway and underneath the railway got me back with enough time to top up my OV Travelcard, which served all of the Netherlands and to grab some snacks for the train. I left Amsterdam with a far better opinion of it than when I had arrived.