Approximately 5 million of the 17 million people in the Netherlands are registered to one of the 35,000 sports clubs in the country. About two thirds of the population older than 15 years participates in sports weekly.
Haarlem is a city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland. Haarlem is situated at the northern edge of the Randstad, one of the more populated metropolitan areas in Europe; it is also part of the Amsterdam metropolitan area. Haarlem had a population of 162,543 in 2021.
Sparta Rotterdam is a Dutch professional football club based in Rotterdam. Established on 1 April 1888, Sparta Rotterdam is the oldest professional football team in the Netherlands.
The Royal Dutch Football Association is the governing body of football in the Netherlands. It organises the main Dutch football leagues, the amateur leagues, the KNVB Cup, and the Dutch men's and women's national teams.
HFC Haarlem was a Dutch football club from the city of Haarlem, established in 1889 and dissolved in 2010. The club won the Eredivisie in 1946 and reached five Cup finals, winning in 1902 and 1912. Haarlem reached the second round of the 1982–83 UEFA Cup, losing to Spartak Moscow of the Soviet Union.
The history of association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, stretches back at least to medieval times. Some predecessors of football may date back to ancient Greece and Rome, and similar games were played in ancient China and Japan. The history of football in Britain dates at least to the eighth century CE.
Jan Jongbloed was a Dutch professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He played for the Netherlands national team, having represented the country at the 1974 and 1978 FIFA World Cups, where the Oranje finished as runners-up in both cases.
Orlando Trustfull is a Dutch football coach and former professional player.
Theo van Duivenbode is a Dutch former footballer who played for Ajax and Feyenoord and was part of their European and Intercontinental Cup victory in 1970.
Willem Johan Herman Mulier, known as Pim Mulier was one of the leading figures in the sporting history of the Netherlands.
Sport Vereniging Voorwaarts is an association football club from Paramaribo, Suriname.
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. But since the western football district of the Netherlands was the only one to have a competition at the time, it could be regarded as a national championship. Koninklijke HFC from Haarlem won the championship, however this championship was not official, since the teams had not played an equal number of matches.
Football is the most popular sport in the Netherlands. Football was introduced to the Netherlands by Pim Mulier in the 19th century when in 1879, at the age of 14, he founded Haarlemsche Football Club. Over the next 30 years, football gained popularity in the Netherlands and the late 1890s and early 1900s saw the foundation of many new clubs, notably Sparta Rotterdam in 1888, which is the oldest professional football club in the country, AFC Ajax in 1900, Feyenoord Rotterdam in 1908, and PSV Eindhoven in 1913.
Rugby union in the Netherlands is a popular sport. The sport is governed by the Rugby Nederland, which organizes the Netherlands national rugby union team.
The Netherlands Football League Championship 1892–1893 was contested by five teams from the cities Amsterdam, The Hague, Haarlem and Rotterdam. The teams participated in the competition that would later be called Eerste Klasse West. But since the western football district of the Netherlands was the only one to have a competition at the time, it could be regarded as a national championship. Koninklijke HFC won the championship, however this championship was not official, since the teams had not played an equal number of matches.
Arend Harm "Arie" de Winter (1915–1983) was a Dutch football forward who was a member of the Netherlands' squad at the 1938 FIFA World Cup. However, he never made an appearance for the national team. He played 261 matches as an amateur footballer for HFC Haarlem and was captain of the only Haarlem team to win the Dutch championship, in 1946. He married Agatha Klootwijk in 1944 and in 1946 was employed as a civic servant. Little is written about him, and in the past Arie de Winter has also been identified as Adrianus Johannes de Winter ; however, in the Haarlemse Courant of July 1944, "A.H. de Winter" of the Haarlem football club is reported to have won the annual heptathlon for football players with a record score; the better known J.C. Smit of the same club was in second place.
Johannes Bernardus "Joop" Odenthal was a Dutch footballer, baseball player and football manager. He competed in the men's tournament at the 1952 Summer Olympics, representing the Netherlands.
Johannes Jacobus "Jan" van den Berg was a Dutch footballer who spent his entire career at HFC Haarlem. He was one of Haarlem's greatest club icons, being the big name at the club in the first 50 years, Haarlem's first (unofficial) international and (honorary) chairman of the club. He was also a member of the Dutch football squad that competed in the 1908 Summer Olympics, but he did not play in any matches.
