FC Volendam

Football Club Volendam is a professional football club based in Volendam, Netherlands. They play in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football from the 2022–23 season following promotion. Nicknamed "de Palingboeren", the club was founded as Victoria in 1920, changed its name to RKSV Volendam in 1923 and emerged as an exclusively professional club, FC Volendam, in 1977, following a split from its parent club. The team plays its home matches in the 6,984-capacity Kras Stadion, where it has been based since 1975. The club has a reputation as the heen-en-weer club ("the back-and-forth club") due to its numerous promotions and relegations between the first and second tiers of Dutch football. They have achieved ten promotions to the Eredivisie; a record. Volendam also reached two KNVB Cup finals – in 1957–58 and 1994–95 – which ended in losses to two Rotterdam-based clubs, Sparta and Feyenoord, respectively. History Beginnings (1920–1955) Football Club Volendam was founded as Victoria on 1 June 1920 by local fishermen. By 1923, the club was renamed to RKSV Volendam, simply known as Volendam and its official orange colours were established after having been red and black the previous years. Being from the piously catholic village of Volendam, the club soon joined the Roomsch-Katholieke Federatie (RKF) ("Catholic Football Association") of the Netherlands. In 1935 and 1938, Volendam won that competition until, in 1940 as part of the Second World War, the RKF was forced by the German occupation to merge into the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB). After the Second World War, Volendam played in the Tweede Klasse for a long time, despite being close to promotion several times. Professionalism was introduced in the Netherlands in 1954 and as a result, Volendam saw many players leave. For example, Alkmaar '54 signed the brothers Klaas, Evert and Thoom Smit from the club.