Roda JC Kerkrade

Sportvereniging Roda Juliana Combinatie Kerkrade (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈspɔrtfəˌreːnəɣɪŋ ˈroːdaː ˌjyliˈjaːnaː ˌkɔmbiˈnaː(t)si ˈkɛr(ə)kˌraːdə]; Kerkrade dialect: Sjport Verainiejoeng Roda Juliana Combinaatsiejoeën Kirchroa), also known as Roda JC Kerkrade ([ˈroːdaː jeːˈseː ˈkɛr(ə)kˌraːdə]), is a Dutch professional football club located in Kerkrade, Netherlands. Roda JC Kerkrade plays in the Eerste Divisie. The club was founded by a merger between Rapid JC and Roda Sport in 1962. They were placed in the Eerste Divisie, and after a relegation they were promoted back to the top division in 1973, where they would stay for 41 years until being relegated in 2014. In 2009–10, they added Kerkrade to the name to create brand awareness and get financial support.

Roda JC Kerkrade
Full nameSportvereniging Roda
Juliana Combinatie Kerkrade
Nickname(s)De Koempels (Miners)
Trots van het Zuiden (Pride of the South)
De Limburgers
Founded27 June 1962 (1962-06-27)
GroundParkstad Limburg Stadion
Kerkrade
Capacity19,979
OwnerBert Peels
Stijn Koster
Roger Hodenius
Mercurius
ChairmanKarel Bouckaert
Jeffrey van As
ManagerJurgen Streppel
LeagueEerste Divisie
2019-20Eerste Divisie, 17th
WebsiteClub website

Roda JC is known as the "coal-miner's club"; fans of archrival club MVV, from the provincial capital of Maastricht, say those words condescendingly. However, in Kerkrade and the surrounding area, they are said with pride and respect. The last Dutch coal mines were closed in the 1970s, but the southeastern part of the Netherlands' most southern province, Limburg, is still referred to as the Mijnstreek ("mine district") today. The coal mines are still recalled in folk songs in the regional dialect and in the stories of old miners, reminiscing about an era that will never return. Southern Limburg will always be their home. Their team, in most cases, is Roda JC.

Roda JC's club honours include seven European campaigns and six KNVB Cup finals, of which they won two. One of its predecessors in club's "family tree" of mergers, Rapid JC, were champions of the Netherlands in 1956. Ten out of eleven players on that Rapid JC team were coal miners.

History
The history of the forming of Roda JC

Merge (1955–1962)

Roda JC Kerkrade came into being as the result of a merger of several football clubs from Kerkrade. In 1954, SV Kerkrade (established 1926) and SV Bleijerheide (1914) merged to form Roda Sport. That same year, Rapid '54 (1954) and amateur club Juliana (1910) merged to form Rapid JC. Rapid JC was one of the most successful clubs of that time, winning the Championship play-off in 1956. In later years they would only finish in the top 10 once, when they finished second in the 1958–59 season. Roda Sport, however, were relegated to the Tweede Divisie and stayed there until the latest merger with Rapid JC, to form Roda JC.

Struggling and staying at the top division (1963–94)

After the merger they began in the Eerste Divisie in the 1962–63 season, but were relegated the same season after finishing 16th. The following season they almost achieved promotion again, but they lost in the play-off and remained in the Tweede Divisie for eight years. After their return to the Eerste Divisie, it only took a further two seasons before they were promoted to the Eredivisie, when they finished first.

The club are finally in the premier division, but did not manage to qualify for a European competition even though they finished near the top several times. They only qualified for Europe once when they lost in the finals of the KNVB Cup in 1975, but they lost in the first round, 5–3 on aggregate, to Anderlecht. In the 1986–87 season they finally finished high enough for the European Cup play-offs in the Netherlands, but lost their place to Utrecht. One year later they finished 15th and struggled to avoid relegation to the Eerste Divisie. They did, however, reach the finals of the KNVB Cup. Since PSV already had a place in Europe by winning the Eredivisie, Roda JC also earned a place in the European Cup. With the financial backing of entrepreneur Nol Hendriks, this was the club's most memorable European campaign, when Roda made it through the winter in the European Cup Winners' Cup before succumbing to the superb strikers of Bulgarian Sredets Sofia, Hristo Stoichkov, Lyuboslav Penev and Emil Kostadinov, who became superstars in Europe's major football leagues. Two years later, they finished fifth twice, but only once gained a place in a European competition. They did well in the KNVB Cup in 1990–91, reaching the semi-finals, and a year later reached the finals.

Dutch and European success (1994–2000)

Since 1994, the club has managed to achieve several successes both in Europe and the Netherlands during the Nol Hendriks era. Most notable was their second-place finish in the Eredivisie in 1994–95. They also won the KNVB Cup twice, in 1996–97 and 1999–2000. As a result of these successes, they qualified for several European competitions. In the 1997–98 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, Roda was eliminated in the quarter-finals by Vicenza 1–9 on aggregate. Roda's most memorable European match was played on 28 February 2002. After a 0–1 defeat at the hands of Milan in Kerkrade, Roda caused panic at San Siro by winning the return leg by the same score. Roda even took the lead in the penalty shoot-out, but ended up losing the series, only being one penalty away from eliminating Milan.

Since then, Roda have only qualified twice for the UEFA Intertoto Cup, in 2003–04 and 2004–05. In later years, they did manage to qualify for the play-offs but never won it.

Roda's position in Dutch football is best illustrated by their history in the KNVB Cup. Roda were good enough to make it to six finals, but the first three times and the last time the opponent in the final was one of the "Big Three" – and Roda went home with the silver medal: PSV won in 1976 and 1988 and Feyenoord in 1992 and 2008. However, in two of the club's cup finals, a non-Big Three side was the opponent. Both times, the cup went to Kerkrade: Heerenveen were defeated in 1997 and NEC in 2000.

Decline (2000–2013)

Since 1992, Roda have been in discussions with neighbours Fortuna Sittard, as well as MVV and VVV, with a view to merging to form a new club, named FC Limburg.[1] A statement of intent was published by Roda and Fortuna in November 2008 and in early 2009 financial backing was found for the scheme.[1] All these attempts, however, floundered.

In 2008, the club gained its final notable success by reaching the KNVB Cup final. In the final, opponent and home side Feyenoord proved to be too strong, winning 2–0. One year later, the two teams met again in De Kuip for the final round of the 2008–09 Eredivisie season. Roda JC needed a win to avoid direct relegation, and against all odds, Roda JC defeated Feyenoord to qualify for the promotion/relegation play-offs. Roda eventually won the play-offs, defeating Cambuur in a penalty shoot-out.

In 2010, the club added "Kerkrade" to its name, so the new full name of the sports club is now Roda JC Kerkrade. This was one of the conditions set by the municipality of Kerkrade, in return for their sponsorship.

Roda JC finished in 16th position in the 2012–13 Eredivisie season and were therefore again forced to participate in the play-offs. The Coal Miners came out victorious again after a late free-kick winner by Mark-Jan Fledderus against Sparta Rotterdam, extending the club's stay at the highest level for another season.

Relegations and Eerste Divisie (2014–2018)

Roda JC finished 18th in the 2013–14 Eredivisie and were relegated in May 2014, ending a 41-year period of football at the highest national level. However, they bounced back from the Eerste Divisie on their first attempt after defeating NAC after extra time in a promotion/relegation play-off final.[2]

In January 2017, Dubai-based Swiss-Russian businessman Aleksei Korotaev[3] took a minority interest in the club[4] and brought former French international Nicolas Anelka with him in an advisory role.[5] After Korotaev was jailed for alleged fraud in Dubai later that year, Anelka became not involved with the club anymore.[6]

The club was relegated for a second time in their history in May 2018, after finishing the season in 16th place and subsequently losing 1–2 on aggregate to Eerste Divisie side Almere City in the promotion/relegation play-offs.[7]

Stadium

After the establishment of the club, Roda JC Kerkrade played in Sportpark Kaalheide with a capacity of 21,500 spectators. Its current stadium is the Parkstad Limburg Stadion, an all-seater stadium with a capacity of 19,979. It was opened on 15 August 2000 with a match against Spanish side Real Zaragoza, which ended in a 2–2 draw.

Honours

Before their merger, Rapid JC had won the top league title once, in the 1955–56 season.

League Number Years
National
Netherlands Football League Championship/Eredivisie 1× 1956
KNVB Cup 2× 1997, 2000
Eerste Divisie 1× 1973

Runners-up
League Number Years
National
Netherlands Football League Championship/Eredivisie 2× 1959, 1995
KNVB Cup 4× 1976, 1988, 1992, 2008
Johan Cruijff Schaal 2× 1997, 2000

Domestic results

Below is a table with Roda JC's domestic results since the introduction of the Eredivisie in 1956.

Players

Current squad (2020–21)
As of 25 June 2020
No. Player Date of birth With Roda since Contract until Previous club
Goalkeepers
16 Radomir Novaković 01-24-2000 2018 2021 Youth academy
Defenders
2 Stefano Marzo 03-22-1991 2020 2022 Sporting Lokeren
13 Pepijn Schlösser 02–14-1998 2018 2021 Youth academy
21 Juan-Gerardo Alonso 05-16-1998 2019 2021 FC Stumbras
27 Mitchel Keulen 09–15-1998 2018 2021 Youth academy
Midfielders
6 Robert Klaasen 09–06-1993 2019 2021 De Graafschap
7 Roland Alberg 08-06-1990 2019 2021 Panionios
8 Antonio Cotán 09-19-1995 2019 2021 Gimnàstic de Tarragona
24 Nicky Souren 12-18-1999 2017 2022 Youth academy
Forwards
11 Jordy Croux 01-15-1994 2019 2021 MVV Maastricht
18 Mart Remans 06-21-1998 2018 2022 Youth academy
Thijmen Goppel 02-16-1997 2020 2022 MVV Maastricht

Managers
Roda JC Manager From To
Piet Thomas 1962 1963
Michel Pfeiffer 1963 1965
Wiel Coerver 1965 1966
Adam Fischer 1966 1968
Breur Weyzen 1969 1971
Jacques Koole 1971 November 1972
Hennie Hollink November 1972 February 1974
Fritz Pliska February 1974 1974
Bert Jacobs 1974 1980
Piet de Visser 1980 1983
Hans Eijkenbroek 1984 November 1984
Eugene Gerards November 1984 December 1984
Frans Körver December 1984 1986
Rob Baan 1986 October 1987
Rob Jacobs October 1987 1988
Jan Reker 1988 1991
Adrie Koster 1991 March 1993
Huub Stevens March 1993 9 October 1996
Eddy Achterberg 9 October 1996 1 November 1996
Martin Jol 1 November 1996 7 March 1998
Theo Vonk 28 February 1998 30 June 1998
Sef Vergoossen 1 July 1998 1 July 2001
Jan van Dijk 1 July 2001 19 September 2001
Georges Leekens 19 September 2001 30 June 2002
Wiljan Vloet 1 July 2002 30 June 2005
Huub Stevens 1 July 2005 2 February 2007
Raymond Atteveld 2 February 2007 7 October 2008
Martin Koopman (interim) 7 October 2008 19 November 2008
Harm van Veldhoven 20 November 2008 30 June 2012
Ruud Brood 1 July 2012 15 December 2013
Regillio Vrede & Rick Plum (interim) 15 December 2013 26 December 2013
Jon Dahl Tomasson 26 December 2013 26 May 2014
René Trost 1 June 2014 8 April 2015
Regillio Vrede & Rick Plum (interim) 8 April 2015 11 June 2015
Darije Kalezić 11 June 2015 10 May 2016
Yannis Anastasiou 18 June 2016 23 May 2017
René Trost & Rick Plum (interim) 23 May 2017 21 June 2017
Robert Molenaar 21 June 2017 19 March 2019
Eric van der Luer (interim) 19 March 2019 13 May 2019
Jean-Paul de Jong 11 June 2019 8 February 2020
Jurgen Streppel 10 June 2020 Present

Sponsors
Sponsor 2019–20
Main MASCOT Workwear
Shirt Legea
Back Medisana
Sleeve Stienstra Wonen

Supporters

Although not the most vocal, the supporters of Roda JC are generally considered to be among the most loyal and well behaved in the Netherlands. In the early days of the club, Kaalheide was the club's home ground. Initially, supporters could roam free over the terraces. However, in the 1970s, fences were placed between the various sections, preventing supporters to move from one stand to the other. The fanatical supporters decided to unite at the covered north side stand, creating an old fashioned, atmospheric stand. Kaalheide became an infamous stadium for visiting teams.

Since moving to the Parkstad Limburg Stadium in the summer of 2000, the more fanatical supporters can be found behind the goal on the West side. The West Stand was renamed 'Koempel Tribune' (Miner Stand) in September 2014 to honour the fans who remained loyal to the club after the relegation four months earlier.

Since 1989, there is a close friendship between the supporters of Alemannia Aachen and Roda JC Kerkrade. Fans of both clubs regularly visit each other's games.

Rivalries

Roda JC has three provincial rivals, namely Fortuna Sittard, MVV and VVV-Venlo. The arch rival is MVV, the team from the provincial capital of Maastricht. The Roda JC-MVV rivalry is considered to be the number one rivalry in the Province of Limburg by both sets of supporters.

During the 1990s, the rivalry between Roda JC and Fortuna Sittard intensified, as both clubs were relatively successful during that period. Fanatical supporters of both clubs clash regularly ever since. The increased rivalry also created animosity between hooligans of Roda JC and the Belgian Limburg club Genk.

Due to the distance between Kerkrade and Venlo, the rivalry with VVV-Venlo is considered to be a minor one by the majority of the Roda JC supporters.

See also
  • Sporting Limburg

References
  1. Schaerlaeckens, Leander (9 February 2009). "Merger mania as Roda JC and Fortuna Sittard prepare to join forces". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 February 2009.
  2. Roda JC promoveert naar eredivisie – Telegraaf (in Dutch)
  3. Rus steekt miljoenen in Roda JC – Financieele Dagbald (in Dutch)
  4. Roda JC deels in handen van Zwitserse investeerder – NRC (in Dutch)
  5. Roda verrast verder met komst Anelka – Voetbal International (in Dutch)
  6. Roda: samenwerking met Anelka op laag pitje – NOS (in Dutch)
  7. Roda JC degradeert voor tweede keer in clubhistorie, Almere City door – AD (in Dutch)
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