Fortuna Sittard
Full name | Fortuna Sittard | ||
---|---|---|---|
Nickname(s) | Fortuna, Fortunezen | ||
Founded | 1 July 1968 (1968-07-01) | ||
Ground | Fortuna Sittard Stadion, Sittard | ||
Capacity | 12,500 | ||
Chairman | Özgür Işıtan Gün | ||
Manager | René Eijer | ||
League | Eredivisie | ||
2017–18 | Eerste Divisie, 2nd (promoted) | ||
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Fortuna Sittard is a football club in Sittard, the Netherlands. The club currently plays its football in the 12,500 capacity Fortuna Sittard Stadion and features in the Dutch Eredivisie. The club was established through a merger of former clubs Fortuna 54 and Sittardia who merged as the Fortuna Sittardia Combinatie on 1 July 1968.
Contents
1 History
2 Honours
3 Results
4 Current squad
4.1 Out on loan
5 Managers
6 See also
7 References
8 External links
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.
'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.
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.[1] 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.
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.[2] 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.
In 2018, after 16 years in the Eerste Divisie, Fortuna won promotion to the Eredivisie again after beating Jong PSV 1-0 to stay clear from NEC and finishing runner-up to champions Jong Ajax, who are not allowed to promote.[3]
Honours
KNVB Cup
Winner: 1957, 1964
Runners-up: 1984, 1999
Eerste Divisie
Winner: 1959, 1964, 1966, 1995
- Promoted to Eredivisie
Promotion: 1982, 2018