Fortuna Sittard

Fortuna Sittard
Full name Fortuna Sittard
Nickname(s) Fortuna, Fortunezen
Founded 1 July 1968 (1968-07-01)
Ground Offermans Joosten Stadion,
Sittard
Ground Capacity 12,500
Chairman Martin Masset
Manager Ben van Dael
League Eerste Divisie
2014–15 Eerste Divisie, 19th

Fortuna Sittard is a football club in Sittard, The Netherlands. The club currently plays its football in the 12,500 capacity Offermans Joosten Stadion and features in the Dutch Eerste Divisie. The club was a merger of former clubs 'Fortuna 54' and 'Sittardia' who merged as the Fortuna Sittard Combinatie on 1 July 1968. 'Fortuna 54' was a relatively successful club which once won the KNVB Cup in the 1956/1957 season where they finished the Eredivisie season 2nd place behind champions Ajax whereas the 'Sittardia' battled against relegation for many seasons. Another KNVB Cup triumph was also celebrated by 'Fortuna 54' in 1964 before the merging of the two clubs in 1968 due to financial difficulties. On 19 May 2009 the KNVB announced it would withdraw the license to play of Fortuna Sittard for the 2010–2011 season. After going to civil court, this decision was revoked and the club did not lose its license.[1]

History

The club experienced mixed fortunes throughout its history although they were a regular fixture in the Eredivisie in the 1990s, with many talented players such as Kevin Hofland, Mark van Bommel and Fernando Ricksen emerging from its youth system. These players later joined PSV Eindhoven and Rangers thereafter featured for the Dutch team. The team's management also had an eye for talent, as they snapped up Wilfred Bouma and Patrick Paauwe from the youth setup of PSV. Both players developed well under manager Bert van Marwijk, before breaking into the Dutch national side and moving towards bigger clubs.

At the end of the 1999–2000 season, successful manager Bert van Marwijk left to join Feyenoord and the team seemed to collapse. Due to poor management, the team signed a number of over-paid and under-performing "stars". Fortuna relegated to the First Division in the 2001–2002 season, where things were getting from bad to worse very quickly. Financial irregularities had been discovered and the team has been facing bankruptcy for the past 4 seasons. A little highlight came in the winter of 2003, when two of the club's fans won the Dutch lottery and donated all of the prize money to the club.

Things started to look up for Fortuna, when they were able to clear most of their debts by selling of the new stadium, the Wagner & Partners stadium. Unfortunately, the team hasn't been performing on the pitch and finished dead-last in the Dutch First Division for three consecutive seasons.

In the 2005–2006 season, the club managed to set a new record in Dutch professional football, going a staggering 28 league games without a win. The club also set a new record by finishing last for the third time in a row.

Even though financial troubles kept plaguing the club, recent years have seen a slow but steady return to financial health, with sportive successes following suit. In the 2011–2012 season they missed qualification for the playoffs for promotion to the Eredivisie by a hair's breadth, conceding an equalizer in the dying seconds of the season in the home match against the Go Ahead Eagles, seeing them take the final playoff spot instead. In 2012–2013 and 2013–2014 they were successful in qualifying, having a first chance at returning to the Eredivisie since their relegation in 2002, but they lost both first round matches against De Graafschap.

Honours

Eerste Divisie Eredivisie Eerste Divisie Eredivisie

Below is a table with Fortuna Sittard's domestic results since the introduction of professional football in 1956.

Current squad

As of 1 February 2016

For recent transfers, see List of Dutch football transfers winter 2015-2016

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player
1 Belgium GK Ferhat Kaya
2 Netherlands DF Dennis Dengering
3 Netherlands DF Ferry de Regt
4 Netherlands DF Roel Janssen (captain)
5 Netherlands DF Joeri Schroyen
6 Netherlands MF Jens van Son (on loan from Roda JC Kerkrade)
7 Netherlands MF Jordie Briels
8 Netherlands MF Raymond Fafiani
9 Belgium FW Nayib Lagouireh (on loan from Roda JC Kerkrade)
10 Netherlands MF Youri Loen (on loan from Sparta Rotterdam)
11 Netherlands FW Lars Hutten
12 Netherlands DF Demen Roumen
No. Position Player
14 Netherlands MF Dries Saddiki
15 Netherlands MF Ted de Man
16 Netherlands FW Gavin Vlijter
17 Germany FW Gökhan Lekesiz
18 Netherlands MF Bob Vankan
19 Netherlands DF Luc Mares
20 Belgium MF Muhammed Mert
21 Belgium GK Glenn Daniëls
22 Netherlands DF Redžo Kovačević
23 Netherlands MF Souhail Belkassem
24 Netherlands DF Arnoud de Moor
25 Belgium DF Marco Ospitalieri

Managers

As Fortuna '54
As Sittardia
As Fortuna Sittard

See also

References

  1. (Dutch)KNVB gaat licentie Fortuna Sittard intrekken, Voetbal International (19 May 2009)

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Friday, March 11, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.