SBV Vitesse
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 06/2017
Full name
Stichting Betaald Voetbal Vitesse
Nickname
Vitas
Founded
14 May 1892
Ground
GelreDome
Arnhem, Netherlands
Capacity
25,000
Owner
Alexander Chigirinsky
Chairman
Bert Roetert
Manager
Henk Fraser
League
Eredivisie
2016-17
Eredivisie, 5th
Stichting Betaald Voetbal Vitesse, commonly known as SBV Vitesse, Vitesse or Vitesse Arnhem, is a Dutch football club based in Arnhem, which was founded on 14 May 1892.
The club has enjoyed some success in the Eredivisie, has featured in the UEFA Cup competition and became the first Dutch football club to be owned by a foreigner when it was taken over by Russian businessman Alexander Chigirinsky in 2010.
Since 1998, the club has played its home games at the GelreDome.
History
Vitesse Est 1892
The idea of conceiving a football team stemmed from the club's early roots as a cricket club.
Vitesse once attracted big name signings into its ranks including Roy Makaay, Nikos Machlas, Sander Westerveld, Danko Lazović, Pierre van Hooijdonk, Mahamadou Diarra, Philip Cocu, Wilfried Bony and Nemanja Matić.
In 1990, the club reached its most recent KNVB Cup final when it was defeated by PSV on a penalty kick in the 75th minute from Stan Valckx at De Kuip on 25 April 1990.
Karel Aalbers was the president of the club from 1984 until February 2000.
Aalbers' goal was to bring Vitesse from the bottom of the Second League (Eerste divisie, now Jupiler League), where the club was when he started, to the top 40 soccer clubs of Europe.
He developed the basic idea for the Gelredome, a stadium with a sliding pitch that can be moved out of the building.
Later, the same system was applied in Gelsenkirchen (Schalke 04) and in Japan.
Events such as pop concerts can be held without damaging the grass. Gelredome opened in 1998.
It has a roof that can be opened and closed.
It is fully climate controlled as well. In the first season after the opening, Gelredome's attendance rose to 20,000, (from less than 8,000 in the old stadium.)
Vitesse ranked top four positions, made profit and showed a solid balance sheet in the final years of his presidency.
Aalbers resigned on 15 February 2000, after the main sponsor, Nuon, threatened to pull the plug if he did not.
Nuon, as a public utility company, owned by local authorities, had trouble explaining why it invested heavily in Aalbers' ambitious plans.
His successor was Jan Koning (former chief of Sara Lee/DE who resigned after four months).
In a short period of time, Vitesse began to show negative financial results, due to poor deals on the transfer market.
The club survived numerous financial crises, such as the last one in 2008, when debts were bought of, under the threat of bankruptcy.
In 2010, the club was bought by Georgian businessman Merab Jordania, a friend with Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich.
Shortly thereafter, the two clubs agreed to a partnership and in the years following, many young Chelsea players have moved to Vitesse on loan, including Nemanja Matić, Gaël Kakuta, Patrick van Aanholt and Bertrand Traoré twice.
In April 2017, the club won its' first major trophy in its' 125 year existence, defeating AZ by a score of 2:0 in the final of the KNVB Cup, with two goals from Ricky van Wolfswinkel.