Eindhoven

The written history of Eindhoven started in 1232, when Duke Hendrik I of Brabant granted city rights to Eindhoven, then a small town right on the confluence of the Dommel and Gender streams. At the time of granting of its charter, Eindhoven had approximately 170 houses enclosed by a rampart. Just outside the city walls stood a small castle. The city was also granted the right to organize a weekly market and the farmers in nearby villages were obliged to come to Eindhoven to sell their produce. Another factor in its establishment was its location on the trade route from Holland to Liège.

Around 1388, the city's fortifications were strengthened further. And between 1413 and 1420, a new castle was built within the city walls. In 1486, Eindhoven was plundered and burned by troops from Guelders.

The capture of Eindhoven in 1583, by Frans Hogenberg

The reconstruction of Eindhoven was finished in 1502, with a stronger rampart and a new castle. However, in 1543 it fell again, its defense works having been neglected due to poverty.

A big fire in 1554 destroyed 75% of the houses but by 1560 these had been rebuilt with the help of William I of Orange. During the Dutch Revolt, Eindhoven changed hands between the Dutch and the Spanish several times during which it was burned down by renegade Spanish soldiers, until finally in 1583 it was captured once more by Spanish troops and its city walls were demolished.

Eindhoven did not become part of the Netherlands until 1629. During the French occupation, Eindhoven suffered again with many of its houses destroyed by the invading forces. Eindhoven remained a minor city after that until the start of the industrial revolution.

The industrial revolution of the 19th century provided a major growth impulse. Canals, roads and railroads were constructed. Eindhoven was connected to the major Zuid-Willemsvaart canal through the Eindhovens Kanaal branch in 1843 and was connected by rail to Tilburg, 's-Hertogenbosch, Venlo and Belgium between 1866 and 1870. Industrial activities initially centred around tobacco and textiles and boomed with the rise of lighting and electronics giant Philips, which was founded as a light bulb manufacturing company in Eindhoven in 1891.

Industrialisation brought population growth to Eindhoven. On the establishment of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1815, Eindhoven had 2,310 inhabitants.

By 1920, the population was 47,946; by 1925 it was 63,870 and in 1935 that had ballooned to 103,030.[11] The explosive growth of industry in the region and the subsequent housing needs of workers called for radical changes in administration, as the City of Eindhoven was still confined to its medieval moat city limits. In 1920, the five neighbouring municipalities of Woensel (to the north), Tongelre (northeast and east), Stratum (southeast), Gestel en Blaarthem (southwest) and Strijp (west), which already bore the brunt of the housing needs and related problems, were incorporated into the new Groot-Eindhoven ("Greater Eindhoven") municipality. The prefix "Groot-" was later dropped.

The National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands, Eindhoven in April 1941

After the incorporation of 1920, the five former municipalities became districts of the Municipality of Eindhoven, with Eindhoven-Centrum (the City proper) forming the sixth. Since then, an additional seventh district has been formed by dividing the largest district, that of Woensel, into Woensel-Zuid and Woensel-Noord.

The early 20th century saw additions in technical industry with the advent of car and truck manufacturing company Van Doorne's Aanhangwagen Fabriek (DAF) and the subsequent shift towards electronics and engineering, with the traditional tobacco and textile industries waning and finally disappearing in the 1970s.

People of Eindhoven (during World War II) watching Allied forces entering the city following its liberation from Axis forces on 19 September 1944.

Eindhoven, view to a street: 18 Septemberplein-Vestdijk-Stationsplein

A first air raid in World War II was flown by the RAF on 6 December 1942 targeting the Philips factory downtown. 148 civilians died, even though the attack was carried out on a Sunday by low-flying Mosquito bombers.[12][13] Large-scale air raids, including the bombing by the Luftwaffe on 18 September, 1944 during Operation Market Garden, destroyed large parts of the city. The reconstruction that followed left very little historical remains and the postwar reconstruction period saw drastic renovation plans in highrise style, some of which were implemented. At the time, there was little regard for historical heritage. During the 1960s, a new city hall was built and its neogothic predecessor (1867) demolished to make way for a planned arterial road that never materialised.

The 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s saw large-scale housing developments in the districts of Woensel-Zuid and Woensel-Noord, making Eindhoven the fifth-largest city in the Netherlands. At the start of the 21st century, a whole new housing development called Meerhoven was constructed at the site of the old airport of Welschap, west of Eindhoven. The airport itself, now called Eindhoven Airport, had moved earlier to a new location, paving the way for much needed new houses. Meerhoven is part of the Strijp district and partially lies on lands annexed from the municipality of Veldhoven.

Eindhoven has an oceanic climate with slightly warmer summers and colder winters than the coastal parts of the Netherlands. Its all-time record is 40.3 °C (104.5 °F) set on 25 July 2019 and −21.7 °C (−7.1 °F) set on 13 January 1968, while winter lows have dipped below −15 °C (5 °F) during extreme cold snaps. Although frosts are frequent in winter, there is no lasting snow cover in a normal winter due to the mild daytime temperatures.

As of 2019, the population of Eindhoven consisted of 355,889 persons (according to Worldpopulationreview).[15] Of these, 29.5% or some 63,873 people are of foreign descent.[16] People are classified as being of foreign descent when they were born outside of the Netherlands, or when at least one of their parents was born outside of the Netherlands.

Large minority groups include:[17]

• Non-Western, at least in part: 38,303 (17.5%)

1. Turks (10,337) (4.7%)
2. Moroccans (5,907) (2.6%)
3. Surinamese (3,771) (1.7%)
4. Antilleans/Arubans (2,704) (1.2%)
5. Indian (2,088) (0.7%)
6. Chinese (3,452)
7. Others (14,420) (6.6%)

• Western, at least in part: 28,578 (11.1%)

1. Indos (6,248) (2.9%)
2. Germans (5,115) (2.4%)
3. Belgians (2,651) (1.2%)
4. British (1,410) (0.6%)
5. Spaniards (1,226) (0.5%)

• Eastern European origin, at least in part: 4,341 (2%)

1. Polish (2,956) (1.2%)
2. Former Yugoslavia (1,386)
3. Former Soviet Union (1,534)

The municipal agglomeration of Eindhoven (an administrative construct which includes only some of the surrounding towns and villages) has 327,245 inhabitants as of 1 January 2010.

The spoken language is a combination of Kempenlands (a Dutch dialect spoken in a large area east and south east of the city, including Arendonk and Lommel in Belgium) and North Meierijs (between the south of Den Bosch and into Eindhoven). Both dialects belong to the East Brabantian dialect group), which is very similar to colloquial Dutch).[18]

Of all Eindhoven districts, the historical centre is by far the smallest in size and population, numbering only 5,419 in 2006. Woensel-Noord is the largest, having been the city's main area of expansion for several decades.

Population figures for all districts, as of 1 January 2008, ranked by size:[19]

1. Woensel-Noord (65,429)
2. Woensel-Zuid (35,789)
3. Stratum (31,778)
4. Gestel (26,590)
5. Strijp (25,402)
6. Tongelre (19,680)
7. Centrum (5,757)

Eindhoven is located in the southeast of the province of North Brabant. This area is historically Roman Catholic and the population of Eindhoven was similarly mostly Catholic for a very long time until the late 1970s. However, the internationalizing influence of the university, Philips and other companies have created a more mixed population over the last few decades.

The spiritual needs of the Eindhoven population are tended to by a steadily shrinking number of churches,[21] two mosques and one synagogue.

In research by the Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad based on the police's statistical data on crime rates, Eindhoven was found to have the highest crime rate in the Netherlands for 2006, 2007, 2009, and 2010. In 2011, Eindhoven has slipped down the list to number six.[22]

In 2009, in the Eindhoven agglomeration, the following numbers of crimes were recorded:[23]

• Standard Dutch[24]
• Eindhoven does not have its own, uniform dialect. Varieties of the Brabantian dialect used to be spoken in the former villages of Gestel, Woensel and Stratum, but are now almost extinct. The closest city to Eindhoven in which Brabantian is spoken is Helmond.[24]

Due to its high-tech environment, Eindhoven is part of several initiatives to develop, foster and increase a knowledge economy. Chief among these are:

• Brainport Top Technology Region:[28] A cooperative initiave of local government, industry and the Eindhoven University of Technology to develop the local knowledge economy of the Eindhoven region.
• Brainport Development:[29] An extension of the Top Technology Region, Brainport Development serves as the Eindhoven's regional innovation agency to maintain its position as top innovation hub in the world.[30]
• SRE:[31] The Samenwerkingsverband Regio Eindhoven is a cooperative agreement among the municipalities in the Eindhoven metropolitan area. Although SRE is far more than just an economic agreement, it includes economic cooperation.
• The Eindhoven-Leuven-Aachen triangle:[32] An extensive cooperation agreement between the universities and surrounding regions of Eindhoven, Leuven (Belgium) and Aachen (Germany).
• Within the Eindhoven region (particularly around Helmond), several parties are working together to set up an automotive testing facility of European scale, for testing and European certification of vehicles. This cooperation involves the Eindhoven University of Technology, TNO Automotive and the different automotive companies in and around Helmond.

As a result of these efforts, the Intelligent Community Forum named the Eindhoven metro region one of the top-21 intelligent communities in 2008 and one of the top-7 intelligent communities in 2009 and 2010.[33][34] Finally, in 2011, the ICF named Eindhoven the Intelligent Community of the Year.[35]

Eindhoven is one of the co-location centres of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT).[36] It hosts two Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs): Innoenergy (Sustainable Energy) and EIT ICT Labs (Information and Communication Technology). The co-locations are on the High Tech Campus Eindhoven.

Primary education is provided to the children aged 4 to 12 in Eindhoven through a large number of primary schools:

• Special needs primary education:
  • SALTO school Jan Nieuwenhuizen
  • SKPO school De Reis van Brandaan
  • SKPO school Petraschool
  • SALTO school De Vijfkamp

Secondary education is provided to the children aged 12 to 18 in Eindhoven through several highschools:

Special needs secondary education:

• Sondervickcollege, Locatie de Stolberg
• De Korenaer
• Mgr. Bekkers
• De Beemden
• Mytylschool
• Antoon Schellens College
• Praktijkschool Eindhoven
• VSO Ekkersbeek
• Instituut 'St. Marie'

Eindhoven hosts four different public institutions for higher and adult education, as well as a number of private institutions offering courses and trainings. The public institutions hosted in Eindhoven are:

• The Design Academy.
• The Eindhoven University of Technology.
• The Fontys University of Applied Sciences (Eindhoven branch).
• Sint Lucas Eindhoven
• Summa College

The Open University also has a study center in Eindhoven.

Among the private institutions is the Centrum voor Kunsten Eindhoven, which offers art-related courses to adults (including a DJ-education).

The municipal council is the legislative council at the municipal level in Eindhoven; its existence is mandated by the Constitution of the Netherlands. The Eindhoven city council consists of 45 elected representatives from the Eindhoven municipality. These are elected during municipal elections from candidates running in Eindhoven. Eindhoven politics consists of local branches of the national political parties and purely local parties with strictly local interests. The city council reflects this mix in its makeup.

The last three municipal elections were held on 7 March 2006, 3 March 2010 and 19 March 2014. The division of the 45 seats in the Eindhoven city council after these elections is shown below:[37]

Party	Percentage in 2006	Seats in 2006	Percentage in 2010	Seats in 2010	Percentage in 2014	Seats in 2014
PvdA	26.99%	14	20.56%	10	15.9%	8
CDA	14.60%	7	11.50%	6	8.0%	4
SP	12.87%	6	8.70%	4	14.6%	7
VVD	11.78%	6	15.65%	8	13.5%	6
GreenLeft	7.07%	3	8.88%	4	7.6%	4
Livable Eindhoven	8.88%	4	3.22%	1	4.0%	2
Senior Appeal Eindhoven	4.88%	2	6.23%	3	9.7%	5
D66	3.33%	1	12.19%	6	14.7%	7
City Party	2.44%	1	1.40%	0	-	-
Pim Fortuyn List	2.27%	1	4.57%	2	3.7%	1
ChristianUnion	2.22%	1	1.81%	0	2.0%	1
Students List Eindhoven	1.69%	0	-	-	-	-
Future Party (PvdT)	1.05%	0	0.8%	0	0.6%	0
New Right	0.98%	0	-	-	-	-
Liberal Eindhoven	0.90%	0	-	-	-	-
Trots op Nederland/Lijst Rita Verdonk	-	-	2.84%	1	-	-
Eindhoven Now	-	-	1.16%	0	-	-
J.C.W.M. Vlemmix List	-	-	0.80%	0	-	-
Human and Spirit Party	-	-	0.49%	0	-	-
Blanco lijst, 1e kand. M. Leenders	-	-	-	-	1.5%	0
Together Eindhoven	-	-	-	-	1.1%	0
The Greens	-	-	-	-	0.1%	0
Unity Party	-	-	-	-	0.7%	0
Disappointed Citizens	-	-	-	-	1.5%	0
OPA Eindhoven	-	-	-	-	0.7%	0
Election results (percentages) 2010 Election results (percentages) 2010

The executive council in Dutch municipalities is called the College of the Mayor and Aldermen (Dutch: College van Burgemeester en Wethouders or College van B&W for short). The mayor is appointed by the monarch, but the council of aldermen is composed as a result of the formation of a local coalition government. This coalition is formed in such a way as to be able to rely on a majority of the votes in the city council.

In May 2014, a coalition was formed between PvdA, D66, SP and GroenLinks. Together they have 26 seats in the city council. The council of aldermen consists of the following people:[38]

• Mary-Ann Schreurs (D66): innovation and design, sustainability and culture
• Lenie Scholten (GreenLeft): healthcare and WIJeindhoven
• Staf Depla (PvdA): economy, work and income and vocational education
• Bianca van Kaathoven (SP): Active city, diversity and permits
• Marco van Dorst (D66): Spatial planning and treasury
• Yasin Torunoglu (PvdA): Living, boroughs, space and citizen participation
• Jannie Visscher (SP): Youth, education, traffic and transport

The mayors of the Netherlands are not elected but appointed by the crown. Nevertheless, there has been a movement over the last few years to give the municipalities more say in who will be their mayor, which has resulted in consultative referenda being held in the larger cities to "suggest" a candidate for the post. This was also tried in Eindhoven and as a result the previous mayor was Rob van Gijzel (PvdA).

On 23 January 2008, a referendum to elect a mayor was held in Eindhoven. This referendum, the second of its kind in the Netherlands, was attended by 24.6% of the inhabitants. This was less than the required 30% needed to make a referendum binding. Nevertheless, the city council would choose the winner of the referendum as the preferred candidate. The main reason for the low attendance was that the candidates, Leen Verbeek and Rob van Gijzel, were from the same party. Rob van Gijzel won the referendum with 61.8% of the votes and was appointed the city's new mayor.

The mayor is the chairman of the Council of B&W. He also has responsibility for a number of specific posts (like the aldermen). In the previous council, mayor Van Gijzel held responsibility for the following posts:[38]

• Communication

If unavailable, the mayor is temporarily replaced by one of the aldermen.

There are several cultural institutions in and around the city.

• There are two museums dedicated to the major topics of the city's industrial heritage: the DAF Museum has a collection of DAF cars and the Philips Gloeilampenfabriekje anno 1891 (across the street from the Kempenland) documents the early lightbulb industry.
• The former district court house now houses the Designhuis, a public podium and interaction area for modern design and innovation.
• The Eindhoven Museum is an archaeological open-air museum which focuses on the region's Iron Age and Middle Ages. It merged in 2011 with Museum Kempenland which was a regional museum, which documents the history of the Kempenland region in objects, documents, paint and educational activities. Museum Kempenland's old location, the Steentjeskerk, is closed.
• The Inkijkmuseum (the Look-In museum; housed in an old linen factory in the Dommelstraat) is a small but special museum: it offers ever-changing exhibits, which are to be viewed through the building's windows.
• The Van Abbemuseum has a collection of modern and contemporary art, including works by Picasso, Kandinsky, Mondriaan and Chagall.
• De Ontdekfabriek (Discovery Factory) children's museum at Strijp-S

Eindhoven was home to the Evoluon science museum, sponsored by Philips. The Evoluon building has evolved into a conference centre.

The Eindhoven public space contains many forms of artistic expression (a book published by the Eindhoven tourist board records 550 as of 2001 and more have been added since), with high "concentrations" of them in the parks. The Stadswandelpark for instance, contains over 30 works of modern art. There are also several other works of art on permanent display throughout the city, such as Flying Pins (by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, who considered the location on the southern stretch of the John F. Kennedylaan to be like a bowling alley) and Swing (a construct on the Karel de Grotelaan, which morphs into different geometric shapes as you move around it). There are also a number of statues of famous city inhabitants, such as Jan van Hooff (by Auke Hettema, 1992) and Frits Philips (by Kees Verkade) on the Market Square. There is a statue of Anton Philips in front of the central railway station.

Piazza Centre as seen from Demer

Eindhoven is also, to some degree, open to forms of impromptu and alternative art. For example, the Berenkuil is a freezone for graffiti artists in the city.

Strijp-S is a place for experimentiation with LED lighting, which keeps the historic connection with Philips' past.[39] Some light art includes the project Fakkel by Har Hollands. In the underground passage to NatLab artist Daan Roosegaarde installed his project Crystal.

Strijp-S is a regular location for the light festival GLOW.[40][41]

The Effenaar music venue.

The Effenaar is a popular music venue and cultural center in Eindhoven, and is located at the Dommelstraat.[42]

In 1992, the Muziekcentrum Frits Philips was opened as a stage for classical and popular music in Eindhoven, reviewed by critics as a concert hall with acoustics that rival the best halls in Europe. Before that, Philips sponsored the POC.

Parktheater Eindhoven is Eindhoven's stage for opera, cabaret, ballet etc. Opened in 1964, it has received over 250,000 visitors every year. With its 1,000 m2 it has one of the largest stages in the Netherlands. With a major renovation ending in 2007, the new Parktheater will receive an estimated 300,000 visitors a year.

Eindhoven's Plaza Futura is now a cinema featuring cultural movies, lectures and special cultural events.

Especially for students, Studium Generale Eindhoven organizes "socially, culturally and intellectually formative events".[43] From within the student body, two Tunas provide entertainment from time to time at university and city events: Tuna Ciudad de Luz (Tuna of the City of Light) and the ladies tuna La Tuniña.[44][45]

The general music and theatre scene in Eindhoven (in the broadest sense) is supported by a foundation called PopEi.[46] The purpose of this foundation is to support artistic groups with facilities, especially rehearsal stages and areas (housed in the old Philips location of Strijp-S) but also storage facilities. PopEi also provides a working environment for groups (through cafeteria facilities in Strijp-S, so groups can have real working days) and provides some logistical support for organizing events.

Eindhoven has a lively recreational scene. For going out, there are numerous bars on the Market square, Stratumseind (Stratum's End) which is the largest pub-street in the Netherlands, Dommelstraat, Wilhelmina square and throughout the rest of the city. In addition to the more culturally oriented Plaza Futura, there are three cinemas in the centre of town ("Servicebioscoop Zien", "Vue" and Pathé Eindhoven, which offers THX sound, IMAX screens and 3D movie viewing).

Eindhoven also hosts a large number of cultural and entertainment-oriented festivals. The biggest festivals in Eindhoven are:

• ABlive, popfestival (September)[47]
• Carnaval, (February)
• Koningsdag, national day (27 April)
• Muziek op de Dommel, classical music festival (June)[48]
• EDIT, festival (June)
• Fiesta del Sol, street- and music acts (June)
• UCI ProTour – Eindhoven Team Time Trial, international cycling tour (June)
• Virus Festival, alternative music festival (last edition in 2007, inactive at the moment)[49]
• Dynamo Metal Fest (July)
• Park Hilaria, fun fair (August)
• Folkwoods, folk festival (August)
• Reggae Sundance, reggae festival (August)
• Lichtjesroute, 15-mile-tour of light ornaments, commemorating the liberation of Eindhoven (from 18 September)
• Eindhoven Marathon, (October)
• Dutch Design Week, international school festival (October)
• GLOW Festival Eindhoven
• TROMP international music competition & Festival, international classical music competition & festival (15–23 November 2008: String Quartet, Nov 2010: Percussion)
• STRP Festival, art & technology festival (23–25 November 2007)[50]

Eindhoven contains several parks and a lot of open, green space. Of the five largest cities in the Netherlands, it has the highest percentage of green area (encompassing about ⅓ of all public space). It is also the greenest of the five largest cities in North Brabant. The green area per house is about 100 square metres (1,100 square feet).[51]

Some of the major parks in Eindhoven are the Stadswandelpark, Genneper Parken, the Philips van Lenneppark, Philips de Jongh Wandelpark and the Henri Dunantpark. There is also a green area surrounding the Karpendonkse Plas (a water area). The combination of park area, water and general atmosphere got the Ooievaarsnest neighborhood elected the "Best large-city neighborhood of the Netherlands" by the NRC Handelsblad in 1997.[52]

Philips Stadion.

• The premier sporting club of the city is PSV Eindhoven, the professional football club playing in the Eredivisie. Their home base is the Philips Stadion. PSV won the 1988 European Cup as well as 24 Dutch championships.
• FC Eindhoven is another football club based in Eindhoven, currently playing in the Eerste Divisie.
• HC Oranje-Rood is the biggest field hockey club in Eindhoven and in fact one of the biggest clubs in the Netherlands. It is a combination of former clubs Oranje Zwart and EMHC. Oranje Zwart's men's team was the reigning Dutch champion for the past 3 years (14/15/16).[53] They also won the EHL in 2015.[54]
• Eindhoven Kemphanen is the major ice hockey club in the city. They play in Ijssportcentrum Eindhoven and compete in the North Sea Cup.
• Eindhoven High Techs are the minor league affiliate of the Eindhoven Kemphanen and play in the Eerste Divisie.
• Swimming pool complex De Tongelreep houses various pools for recreation, training and sports research supported by the Eindhoven University of Technology and several top sporting institutions. Its "Pieter van den Hoogenband Swimming Stadium" hosted the 2008 European Championships Swimming, Diving and Synchronised Swimming, the 2010 IPC Swimming World Championships, the 2010 European Short Course Swimming Championships, the 2012 European Championships Waterpolo, Diving and Synchronised Swimming, the 2013 FINA Swimming World Cup, the 2014 IPC European Swimming Championships, the 2017 FINA Swimming World Cup and the 2018 FINA Swimming World Cup.
• Eindhoven houses Europe's largest indoor skateboard park Area 51 (skatepark) and is home of a lively skateboard culture.
• Eindhoven has two boxing clubs, The Golden Gloves and Muscle Fit.
• Eindhoven hosted the 1999 World Table Tennis Championships.
• Eindhoven Shamrocks Gaelic Football Club are an amateur sports team. The club was founded in 2013 and is based at Oude Bosschebaan 32, 5624 AA in Eindhoven.[55]. The club is affiliated to the European County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association. The Shamrocks have won the Benelux Shield Competition in 2017.[56].
• Eindhoven has a baseball club called PSV, which plays at the stadium which co-hosted the 2005 IBAF Baseball World Cup.
• Eindhoven has an Australian Rules Football team, the Eindhoven Eagles, due to play in the inaugural Dutch Australian Football Association competition in 2010.
• Eindhoven has an American Football team, Eindhoven Raptors, which plays at the 1st division in the Dutch American Football League
• Strijp-S is a magnet for urban sports like skateboarding, BMX and bouldering as well as bootcamp classes.
• Eindhoven has two Rugby union Clubs ESRC The Elephants a student rugby club associated with the Eindhoven University of Technology and Rugbyclub Eindhoven formerly known as RCE/PSV

The centre of town features two casinos (one branch of Holland Casino and the independent Casino4Events). At the A67 a Jack's casino is located.

There is a red light district on the Baekelandplein, as well as four brothels throughout the city. There is also a blue movie theater.

The old Philips factory complex has been transformed into a multi-purpose cultural and residential complex called Strijp-S. This includes conference and event space, space for concerts and events, art of lighting, space for sports such as BMX, bouldering, and more, a walking promenade, etc.

• Peter Aerts (born 1970), kickboxer
• Christijan Albers (born 1979), Formula One racing driver
• Imke Bartels (born 1977), equestrian
• Tineke Bartels (born 1951), equestrian
• Arthur Borren (born 1949), field hockey player
• Jan Borren (born 1947), field hockey player and coach
• Phillip Cocu (born 1970), football player
• Paul Haarhuis (born 1966), tennis player
• François van Kruijsdijk (born 1952), medley swimmer
• Patrick Lodewijks (born 1967), football goalkeeper
• Rob Reckers (born 1981), (field) hockey player
• Rik Smits (born 1966), basketball player
• Margje Teeuwen (born 1974), field hockey midfielder
• Rick VandenHurk (born 1985), baseball player
• Tisha Volleman (born 1999), artistic gymnast
• Cor Vriend (born 1949), long-distance runner, currently manager for long-distance runner
• Remmert Wielinga (born 1978), professional road bicycle racer
• Robert de Wit (born 1962), decathlete and bobsledder
• Klaas-Erik Zwering (born 1981), swimmer