Koninklijke HFC
Encyclopedia
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
club in Haarlem
Haarlem
Haarlem is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland, the northern half of Holland, which at one time was the most powerful of the seven provinces of the Dutch Republic...
, the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
. It is the oldest club in Dutch history, founded by Pim Mulier
Pim Mulier
Willem Johan Herman Mulier was one of the leading figures in sporting history of the Netherlands.-Biography:...
in 1879. During the first years the only team played rugby
Rugby football
Rugby football is a style of football named after Rugby School in the United Kingdom. It is seen most prominently in two current sports, rugby league and rugby union.-History:...
but due to financial problems they switched to association football. The first official football match in the Netherlands was played in 1886 between HFC and Amsterdam Sport.
Overview
Koninklijke HFC was the first Dutch Rugby club, established on September 15, 1879 by the 14 year old Pim MulierPim Mulier
Willem Johan Herman Mulier was one of the leading figures in sporting history of the Netherlands.-Biography:...
, who first encountered the sport in 1870. However HFC switched to association football in 1883. (The Delftsche Studenten Rugby Club was the first official rugby club on September 24, 1918.)
In 1899 they moved from their home ground "De Koekamp" to the "Spanjaardslaan" where until today they still play their matches. In that period the Spanjaardslaan (Spaniard's lane), the east-west road at the southern edge of the oldest public park of the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
was part of Heemstede
Heemstede
Heemstede is a municipality and a town in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland.-History :Heemstede formed around the Castle Heemstede that was built on the Spaarne River around 1286. Before 1296, Floris V, Count of Holland, granted Heemstede as a fiefdom to Reinier of Holy...
, but switched back to Haarlem
Haarlem
Haarlem is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland, the northern half of Holland, which at one time was the most powerful of the seven provinces of the Dutch Republic...
in 1927.
The Netherlands national football team
Netherlands national football team
The Netherlands National Football Team represents the Netherlands in association football and is controlled by the Royal Dutch Football Association , the governing body for football in the Netherlands...
played two of their international matches at the Spanjaardslaan. Both matches were versus Belgium, resulting in a 1-2 loss and a 7-0 win. In the past HFC contributed several players to the Netherlands national football team
Netherlands national football team
The Netherlands National Football Team represents the Netherlands in association football and is controlled by the Royal Dutch Football Association , the governing body for football in the Netherlands...
. Of those players goalkeeper Gejus van der Meulen
Gejus van der Meulen
Ageaus Yme "Gejus" van der Meulen was a Dutch football goalkeeper.He obtained 54 caps for the Netherlands national football team, which was the Dutch caps record for goalkeepers from March 3, 1928 until June 21, 1990...
obtained the most caps, 54. At present his grandson still plays for HFC.
Before the Dutch championship
Eredivisie
The Eredivisie is the highest football league in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956 two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is currently ranked the ninth best league in Europe by UEFA....
was officially established HFC won three unofficial national titles:
- 1889-1890The Netherlands Football League Championship 1889-1890 (unofficial)The Netherlands Football League Championship 1889/1890 was contested by seven teams from the cities Amsterdam, The Hague, Haarlem and Rotterdam. The teams participated in the competition that would later be called Eerste Klasse West...
- 1892-1893
- 1894-1895
Three times in the club's history they won the KNVB Cup
KNVB Cup
The KNVB Cup is a competition in the Netherlands organized by the Royal Dutch Football Association since 1899. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. Outside of the Netherlands, it is often referred to as the Dutch Cup...
(1904, 1913 and 1915). In the cup competition of 1903-1904 HFC beat VVV from Amsterdam with 25-0, still a record in Dutch cup competition.
The club was named Koninklijk
Koninklijk
Koninklijk or Koninklijke is an honorary title given to certain companies and non-profit organizations in Belgium and the Netherlands, by the King or Queen in the respective country. It was first introduced by Louis Bonaparte in 1807, the King of the Netherlands at that time, who awarded the title...
(Royal) in 1959, 80 years after the club was founded. Since 1923 the first team of HFC plays the opening match of a new year versus a selection of former Dutch international players on January 1. With more than 1600 members HFC is one of the largest football clubs in the Netherlands.