Vitesse (Netherlands)

Vitesse

Ground: GelreDome

Capacity: 21,248

Club Founded: 1892

League: Eerste Divisie (Tier 2) (current level)

SBV Vitesse, from the Dutch city of Arnhem, which enjoyed most of its success in the 1990's, became a feeder club to Chelsea around the time they won the national cup, before the FA deducted points over ownership issues that ended in relegation.

Club History

Early Years

Vitesse was originally formed as a cricket club in May 1892, like several other sporting organisations in the country at the time. They decided on the French ‘Vitesse’, which, after translation, meant ‘Speed’. Before too long, it was decided to add football to the club’s portfolio. 

Home games at Arnhemsche Rink offered all year round opportunities for usage, with skating filling in when the area was frozen. Willem Hesselink became the first Vitesse player to be capped by the Netherlands. Vitesse joined the Dutch FA (KNVB) in 1894 to play in the Gelderland Championship. 

New Grounds and Regional Success

A new home ground was found at Paaschwei, with the team going on to win the Gelderland title twice. They were crowned champions twice more, going on to reach the Dutch championship decider, but were denied by RAP Amsterdam on both occasions.

In 1896, the club moved to a new ground. Matches were played at the velodrome at Klarenbeek. At the turn of the century, Vitesse jettisoned their blue and white club colours and opted for yellow and black instead. After the turn of the century, Vitesse once again ended as Dutch runners-up, this time to HVV. 

More Gelderland titles followed, but the national title was proving a step too far. Twice, Sparta, along with HVV, proved too strong in the final. The team also reached the KNVB Cup (the Dutch FA Cup) Final for the first time in 1912, losing 2-0 to Haarlem. During the period, goalkeeper Just Göbel would prove to be one of Vitesse’s greatest servants.

The club left Klarenbeek for a new home at Oud Monnikenhuize in 1915. Vitesse reached another KNVB Cup final a dozen years later, in which they were defeated 2-0 by VUC Den Haag in Arnhem. During this period, Vitesse had relied on English trainers, as coaches or managers are known in the Netherlands. 

John Sutcliffe, John MacPherson, Charles Griffith, and Robert Jefferson all had spells in charge of the team. German Heinrich Schwarz then took charge. The team went down a level before regaining its status before World War II broke out.

The War Years

During the years of conflict, Vitesse lifted a league crown and celebrated its fiftieth anniversary with a match against Ajax, while collecting another championship. During the terrible Battle of Arnhem in 1944, the clubhouse was destroyed, as well as sustaining other great damage to the pitches at Oud Monnikenhuize. 

Promotion was followed by a relegation, before trainer Jan Zonnenberg led the team to another title. 1950 also saw the club move across Monnikensteeg to a new stadium named Stadion Nieuw Monnikenhuize.

Three years later, the club lifted its first Eerste klasse championship for thirty-five years, before football turned professional in Holland. Many players departed to play for De Graafschap, while new trainer Pepi Gruber added many young players to the squad.

The Professional Era

Vitesse embraced the semi-professional era, playing in the second-tier Erste Divisie. A merger of ADO and Holland Sport freed up a spare place in the top-flight Eredivisie for the 1971-72 season, which Vitesse filled. Cor Brom’s side found the step up too steep.

Henk Wullems took the side back to Eredivisie in 1976-77, where they lasted for three seasons. Bert Jacobs was in charge of the team that went back up after an absence of eight years. They went on to reach the 1989-90 KNVB Cup Final, losing 1-0 to PSV at De Kuip in Rotterdam.

The goals of John van den Brom propelled the side forward, with many quality players appearing for Vitesse over the next few years. They included Hans Gillhaus, Roy Makaay, Nikos Machlas, Sander Westerveld, Philip Cocu, and Pierre van Hooijdonk.

GelreDome is Opened

Nieuw Monnikenhuize saw its last action on the 21st of December 1997, as Vitesse defeated FC Twente 2-1. The land was used for new housing while the club moved to the newly built revolutionary GelreDome, the brainchild of club President Karel Aalbers, with its sliding roof and removable pitch. 

The arena could stage concerts and other events, seeing crowds increase hugely. Major club sponsor Nuon threatened to withdraw its support in 2000 if Aalbers didn’t resign because they were a public utility company owned by the local authorities. 

 Financial Issues and New Ownership

Within a couple of years, the club began to show a financial deficit. By 2008, Vitesse was threatened with bankruptcy, such was the downturn. Help was at hand when Georgian businessman Merab Jordania bought the club in 2010.

Jordania was a close friend of Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich, which led to a partnership between the two clubs. Ronald Koeman was appointed as coach, and he had the benefit of loaning Nemanja Matić from Chelsea.

Future trainers Fred Rutten and then Peter Bosz had the benefit of further Chelsea loan signings, Gaël Kakuta, Patrick van Aanholt, and Bertrand Traoré, while Wilfried Bony scored the goals between 2011 and 2013 before moving on to Swansea City.

Rob Maas took over as trainer in January 2016, before the arrival of Henk Fraser a few months later. The new man would lead Vitesse to glory in the KNVB Cup as two late goals from Ricky van Wolfswinkel were enough to defeat AZ.

Chelsea loanee Mason Mount was another player to thrill the GelreDome crowds, before

Leonid Slutsky arrived as trainer in July 2018, who had Martin Ødegaard to provide the team with midfield guile. 

Thomas Letsch took Vitesse to fourth position in the Eredivisie table, before Loïs Openda supplied the goals a year later. Former playing star Cocu was put in charge of the team before Edward Sturing returned for a second spell as trainer.

Licensing Issues and Relegation

2023-24 was a disastrous season for the club, who were deducted eighteen points for breaking the license requirements, leading to relegation. John van den Brom led the team that finished bottom of the Erste Divisie in 2024-25. after being deducted twenty-seven points for failing to file accounts and comply with the information obligation.

While being spared from relegation, the team began the 2025-26 season on minus thirteen points, as Rüdiger Rehm was given the role of trainer to try and salvage something from the sorry mess.

My visit

Vitesse 1 PEC Zwolle 1

Eredivisie - Wednesday 27th January 2016

👨‍👨‍👧‍👧 14,876 🎟️ €18

A Hungover Ride to Arnhem

A few days away from work offered me a marvellous opportunity to attend some Dutch football, with matches being played on each midweek night. My mate Dave Kenwery ensured that Australia Day in Amsterdam, the Ajax v Heracles Almelo game, and a late night were perfect ingredients for a hangover.

I arrived in the historic city of Arnhem around 2pm, feeling tired and needing some rest, after some groundhopping around the Dutch capital. Fortunately for me, the Hotel Arnhem Central was just that, being only a couple of hundred yards from the railway station.

Following a decent siesta, it was time to have a look around. The night was drawing in rapidly, so seeing too much wasn’t really an option. I’d hear many good things about the welcome offered to Britons because of events in the War. I would have liked to pay proper respect to the past, but time was simply against me.

Pre Match

A pleasant walk took me through the narrow streets of the old centre, passing the Pegasus pub that my mate Guy Watson had recommended to me. It was empty at the time, and I wasn’t quite ready for beer until I’d had some food. I’m afraid that chicken at Burger King was as adventurous as it got before I searched out the Koren Markt area for some refreshment.

I tentatively got back on the horse in Café de Schoof, which had a strange all-male crowd where I felt like I was being stared at. The piped music was loud and poor, so I opted for a change after a couple, and I’m glad I did. Café t’Huys proved to be a far better choice. The fine Jan Hertog beer was only €2.50 a go, and it hit the spot, as did some AC/DC on the speakers. 

TVs were showing the early kick-off between Vitesse’s local rivals, NEC, for football fans in the bar. It was soon time to walk over to the railway station, where the bus terminus was attached. I followed the crowd of football fans round to the far side and purchased a €4.50 return ticket on the special match buses as the GelreDome was quite some way out of town. 

GelreDome

The bus only took around ten minutes before it dropped us off outside the Main Stand. My €18 ticket was for the far corner, which normally would mean a little walk. However, because of the design of the arena, it was twice as long. The area behind the South Stand was where the pitch is rolled out when not in use and was fenced off. 

The bonus came when I got the opportunity to have a quick look inside the supporters' clubhouse around that side. It was nice to see reminders of the Allied War effort adorning a wall, as well as being able to pick up a free match programme. My seat was high up towards the corner of the stand. It gave me a great view of what was a really cleverly designed arena. 

Three stands were virtually identical, save for the East, where pillars held up the roof at the rear. The final Business Main Stand had rows of corporate boxes at the rear and a section of seating in front. The corners were blocked off with high white walls. With the permanent roof, it seemed quite strange, but a perfect template for a club of such a size.

The Atmosphere Builds

I discovered that I could walk around to the Business Stand, of which I needed no second invitation. The arena was by no means full, so I had a pick of seats, with stewards seeming uninterested. One fault in the design was that when sitting towards the goal, you had no idea of the atmosphere or crowd immediately to your right or left because of the corner walls.

Before kick off, the Arnhem eagle was let loose to show us its skills as it landed right back with its handler. Vitesse started off the game very positively. Nineteen-year-old forward Izzy Brown, who was on loan from Chelsea, looked like a fine prospect. Visiting keeper Mickey van der Hart pulled off a couple of stops. Brown was finding a willing ally in the Israeli Sheran Yeini.

The Match

Gradually, Zwolle began to get into the game. I’d been tipped off about their centre forward, Lars Veldwijk, who was on loan from Nottingham Forest. He’d called it right, as the big man purveyed some fine hold-up play. Around the half-hour mark, Veldwijk broke through to latch onto a pass. 

As he was about to shoot inside the area, he was unceremoniously hauled down by Vitesse stopper Maikel van der Werff, who formerly played for PEC. Everyone looked for referee Ed Jannsen to point to the penalty spot and produce a red card, but amazingly, he waved away all appeals and let play continue. It’s fair to say that Veldwijk was not impressed! 

A few minutes later, appeals for a penalty for handball at the other end also fell on deaf ears. It was refreshing when watching the highlights package back in the UK to hear that Mr Jannsen admitted to getting both decisions wrong. This was a shame, as apart from that, I thought he was pretty good.

At the break, I swapped seats to move to the other end of the stand, to where Zwolle hoped to be attacking. They were being backed by a couple of hundred fans. Strangely enough, when I went to a game at PEC, their opponents had been Vitesse. I didn’t bother with any refreshments as the munten token system was in operation.

PEC’s defender Dirk Marcellis had an effort punched away by the home custodian Eloy Room soon after the restart. Van der Hart stopped an effort from Vitesse’s Kōsuke Ōta. Although there hadn’t been a goal, the game was entertaining enough and light years ahead of the Ajax v Heracles game the previous evening.

As the volume grew, Vitesse took the lead in slightly fortuitous circumstances when Renato Ibarra fired in a low cross, which was diverted into his own net by the PEC left back Bram van Polen on sixty-five minutes.

It took Zwolle just three minutes to restore parity as Sheraldo Becker set up Dirk Marcellis to stab home into the corner. Both teams continued to try to win the game, but there would be no further scoring. A draw was about fair, and I’d enjoyed the game, not least watching it in nice temperatures.

Post Match

There was method in my seat selection for the second half. I was straight down the steps and across the car park to the first bus back to the station. Within twenty minutes of the game finishing, I was back in the Café t’Huys watching the goals from the evening’s other games.

While drinking, I could see that a customer was becoming quite anxious, looking for a jacket. Mine was hung up on the wall while I sat at the bar. The barman started to look too, and then he came to speak to me. I said that I was English, and it was like a new world opened up. 

The coat was eventually found while I had a good, friendly conversation with the barman. He seemed shocked that I wanted to visit Arnhem for a game. He thought that the GelreDome was too big for a club of Vitesse’s size. We both agreed that it seemed strange that no other medium-sized club around Europe had copied such a model. 

It was also nice to hear that many Britons visited the city in respect of the former battles. After a few more glasses of beer, I went on my way. Arnhem seemed a sleepy type of town on a weeknight, and so it proved when I looked for a snack before bed. 

Nowhere was open. Instead, I had a good night's sleep and got up early for breakfast and then the train to Rotterdam for some more adventures.