VV Capelle (Holland)

Voetbalvereniging Capelle, or VV Capelle is a Dutch amateur football club who were formed on the 20th February 1930, who are located in the town of Capelle aan den Ijssel, which is on the Hollandse Ijssel river, on the eastern outskirts of Rotterdam.

In 1963 the club moved into Sportpark ‘t Slot with its three pitches. Capelle began to collect some titles in the late 80’s as it looked to encourage young players to come through the ranks. After four runners up places in the Zaterdag (Saturday) Hoofdklasse, the team were promoted via the play-offs in 2009-10 to the Topklasse.

That same season Capelle reached the third round of the KNVB Beker following victories over VV UNA and then RKVV Westlandia. Their reward was a tie away to FC Twente at De Grolsch Veste, which the home side won 4-0.

The team achieved three mid table finishes, before becoming a bit too close for comfort from the relegation berths in 2013-14, before stabilising again the following campaign. Theo de Boon’s side finished the 2014-15 season in eighth place, as well as defeating EHC Hoensbroek in the KNVB Beker before going down to  FC Volendam at t’ Slot in round two.

Capelle managed to arrange several attractive friendly games against professional neighbours Sparta, Excelsior and Feyenoord. International sides Rangers, Galatasaray also sent teams to t’Slot as well as a Newcastle United team with their manager Sir Bobby Robson, with monies being raised going to the Breath Foundation charity.

Topklasse became Derde Divisie in 2016-17, the fourth tier of Dutch football. Capelle continued with safe finishes before drifting towards the wrong end of the table which would end in relegation in 2017-18.

The team finished low down in 2018-19 but had recovered to tenth place of Hoodklasse A when the 2019-20 season was prematurely terminated.

VV Capelle will play in the Zaterdag Hoofdklasse A in the 2020-21 season.

My visit

Thursday 28th January 2016

My morning in Rotterdam had gone very well, having got access into all three previous venues. I had taken the B Metro line from Nieuw Verlaat after calling in at XerxesDZB back to Capelseburg where I changed to the C line for two stops down to Slotlaan.

It was just over ten minutes’ walk down Slotlaan and then onto Da Costasingel for a few hundred yards before arriving at Sportpark ‘t Slot on the right hand side. 

The initial signs were not good as the main driveway behind one goal down to the clubhouse was locked up. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find access any other way either. The small dikes surrounding the ground also stopped me getting too close for photos. I did the best that I could.

‘t Slot looked a smart enough place. There was a neat cantilevered stand on the far side with bench seating, and more club buildings towards the entrance end. A small TV gantry was opposite, with the rest of the ground made up of hard standing with a tall hedge enclosing the arena. 

Some open terracing was on the side of the seated stand. As was the case at many Dutch amateur grounds, raised advertising boards also surrounded the ground.

Once I’d done the best that I could, I walked back to Slotlaan station as it was time for an interesting discussion over left luggage lockers and hotel check ins, which can be found here on the Feyenoord page.