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Fortuna Sittard
Fortuna Sittard logo.svg
Full name Fortuna Sittard
Nickname(s) Fortuna, Fortunezen
Founded 1 July 1968; 55 years ago (1968-07-01)
Ground Fortuna Sittard Stadion
Ground Capacity 12,500
Owner Netherlands Principion Holding 65%
Turkey Özgür Işıtan Gün 20%
Netherlands Fortuna Sittard 10%
Netherlands STAK 5%
Chairman Özgür Işıtan Gün
Head coach Danny Buijs
League Eredivisie
2022–23 Eredivisie, 13th of 18

Fortuna Sittard (Dutch pronunciation: [fɔrˈtynaː ˈsɪtɑrt]; Limburgish: Fortuna Zitterd [fɔʀˈtyːnaː ˈzɪtəʀt]) is a professional football club in Sittard, Netherlands. The club currently plays its football in the 12,500 capacity Fortuna Sittard Stadion and features in the Eredivisie. The club was established through a merger of former clubs Fortuna 54 and Sittardia, which merged as the Fortuna Sittardia Combinatie on 1 July 1968.

History

Fortuna Sittard League Performance
Historical chart of league performance

The club experienced mixed fortunes throughout its history although they were a regular fixture in the Eredivisie in the 1990s, with players such as Kevin Hofland, Mark van Bommel and Fernando Ricksen emerging from its youth system. These players later joined PSV Eindhoven and Rangers, and featured for the Netherlands national team. The team also signed Wilfred Bouma and Patrick Paauwe from the youth setup of PSV. Both players developed under manager Bert van Marwijk, before breaking into the Dutch national side and moving towards bigger clubs.

Fortuna 54 won the KNVB Cup in the 1956–57 season, and finished the Eredivisie season in second place behind champions Ajax. Sittardia were less successful and battled against relegation for many seasons. Fortuna 54 won the KNVB Cup again in 1964 before the merging of the two clubs in 1968 due to financial difficulties.

At the end of the 1999–2000 season, manager Bert van Marwijk left to join Feyenoord and the team was relegated to the First Division in the 2001–02 season.

Financial difficulties (2002–16)

Financial irregularities were discovered and the team faced bankruptcy over several seasons. In the winter of 2003, two of the club's fans won the Dutch lottery and donated all of the prize money to the club. The club cleared most of their debts by selling off their new stadium, the Wagner & Partners stadium.

On 19 May 2009, the KNVB announced it would withdraw the club's license to play for the 2010–11 season. After going to civil court, this decision was revoked. Despite ongoing financial difficulties, the club gradually began to recover financially in the following years, leading to sporting success. In the 2011–12 season, Fortuna Sittard narrowly missed out on qualifying for the playoffs for promotion to Eredivisie, conceding an equaliser in the final seconds of the season at their home match against the Go Ahead Eagles, resulting in the Eagles taking the final playoff spot instead. Although they qualified for the playoffs in the 2012–13 and 2013–14 seasons, offering them their first chance to return to Eredivisie since their relegation in 2002, they were unsuccessful in both first-round matches against De Graafschap.

Takeover and Eredivisie (2016–present)

The club again faced financial troubles in 2016, leading to its takeover by a Turkish investor named Işıtan Gün, who had previously served as the chief operating officer of Galatasaray. The 2016–17 season was a tough start for the club, but they managed to avoid relegation after changing coaches and recruiting new players, including some from Galatasaray.

In December 2016, Sunday Oliseh was appointed as the new coach of Fortuna Sittard. During his time as coach, he set two new records for the club, with eight consecutive home victories and the biggest away victory in the club's history against Telstar with a score of 6–0. In January 2018, the team won a periodetitel after a 2–1 victory over Jong Ajax. However, on 14 February 2018, Oliseh was suspended due to "repeated and culpable actions towards multiple individuals within the organisation over an extended period." A statement on the club's website announced his release.

In 2018, after 16 years in the Eerste Divisie, Fortuna won promotion to the Eredivisie again after beating Jong PSV 1–0 to stay clear from NEC and finishing runner-up to champions Jong Ajax, who are not allowed to promote.

Fortuna Sittard finished in 16th place during the 2019–20 season. However, due to the season being declared void in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, they remained in the Eredivisie for the 2020–21 season.

Honours

  • KNVB Cup
    • Winners: 1956–57, 1963–64
    • Runners-up: 1983–84, 1998–99
  • Eerste Divisie
    • Winners: 1958–59, 1963–64, 1965–66, 1994–95
    • Promoted: 1981–82, 2017–18

International

Totals

Competition Participations Games Won Draw Lost Goals scored Goals conceded
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup 1 6 2 1 3 6 7
UEFA Intertoto Cup 1 4 2 1 1 8 6
Total 2 10 4 2 4 14 13

Results

Eredivisie Eerste Divisie Eredivisie Eerste Divisie Eredivisie

Below is a table with Fortuna Sittard's domestic results since the introduction of professional football in 1956.

Players

Current squad

No. Position Player
1 Netherlands GK Luuk Koopmans
2 Belgium DF Siemen Voet (on loan from Slovan Bratislava)
3 Germany DF Sadik Fofana (on loan from Bayer Leverkusen)
6 Cape Verde MF Deroy Duarte
7 Spain FW Iñigo Córdoba
8 Sweden FW Kristoffer Peterson
9 Netherlands FW Kaj Sierhuis
10 Croatia MF Alen Halilović
11 Serbia FW Marko Lazetić (on loan from AC Milan)
12 Portugal DF Ivo Pinto (captain)
14 Brazil DF Rodrigo Guth
15 Turkey MF Oğuzhan Özyakup
17 Netherlands FW Iman Griffith (on loan from AZ)
No. Position Player
19 Kosovo MF Arianit Ferati
20 Algeria FW Mouhamed Belkheir
21 Suriname MF Justin Lonwijk (on loan from Dynamo Kyiv)
22 Netherlands GK Tom Hendriks
23 Cape Verde MF Alessio da Cruz
24 Curaçao DF Nathangelo Markelo
27 Netherlands FW Jayden Braaf (on loan from Hellas Verona)
32 France MF Loreintz Rosier
33 Greece DF Dimitrios Siovas
34 Indonesia FW Ragnar Oratmangoen (on loan from Groningen)
35 Netherlands DF Mitchell Dijks
61 Madagascar DF Rémy Vita
99 Netherlands GK Michael Verrips

Out on loan

No. Position Player
Portugal FW Umaro Embaló (at Rio Ave until 30 June 2024)
Belgium FW Milan Robberechts (at VVV-Venlo until 30 June 2024)
No. Position Player
Turkey FW Tunahan Taşçı (at MVV until 30 June 2024)

Notable former players

Bosnia and Herzegovina
  • Bosnia and Herzegovina Emil Miljković
Cape Verde
  • Cape Verde Lisandro Semedo
Democratic Republic of the Congo
  • Democratic Republic of the Congo Jordan Botaka
  • Democratic Republic of the Congo Samuel Moutoussamy
Curaçao
  • Curaçao Charlison Benschop
England
  • England Todd Cantwell
Finland
  • Finland Rasmus Karjalainen
Greece
Moldova
  • Moldova Vitalie Damașcan
  • Moldova Alexei Koselev
Netherlands
Poland
  • Poland Jarosław Jach
Slovakia
  • Slovakia Branislav Niňaj
Spain
  • Spain José Rodríguez
Sweden
  • Sweden Tesfaldet Tekie

Club staff

Position Staff
Head Coach Netherlands Danny Buijs
Assistant Head Coach Netherlands Adrie Poldervaart
Netherlands Stijn Kuijpers
Netherlands Roy de Decker
Striker's Coach Netherlands Toon Oijstra
Physiotherapist Netherlands Jeroen Dieteren
Netherlands Martijn Smeets
Team Manager Netherlands Danny van der Weerden
Club doctor Netherlands Robert van Gool
Materialman Netherlands Ronald Ronken
Video Analyst Netherlands Tjerk van Eggelen

Coaches

As Fortuna '54
  • 1956–57: Austria Friedrich Donenfeld (vice champion, cup winner)
  • 1957–58: Netherlands Bram Appel
  • 1958–59: Netherlands Harry Verhardt
  • 1959–61: Austria Friedrich Donenfeld
  • 1961–63: Netherlands Jung Schlangen
  • 1963–65: Netherlands Wim Latten (cup winner 1964)
  • 1965–66: Germany Max Schirschin
  • 1966–67: Germany Karl-Heinz Marotzke
  • 1967–68: Netherlands Bram Appel
As Sittardia
As Fortuna Sittard
  • Netherlands Frans Debruyn (1968–69)
  • Netherlands Henk Reuvers (1969–70)
  • Netherlands Evert Teunissen (1970–72)
  • Netherlands Cor Brom (1972–76)
  • Netherlands Cor van der Hart (1976–77)
  • Netherlands Joop Castenmiller (1977–80)
  • Netherlands Frans Körver (1980–84)
  • Netherlands Bert Jacobs (1984–87)
  • Netherlands Hans van Doorneveld (1987–89)
  • Netherlands Han Berger (1989–91)
  • Germany Georg Keßler (1991–92)
  • Netherlands Chris Dekker (1992–94)
  • Netherlands Pim Verbeek (1994–97)
  • Netherlands Bert van Marwijk (1997-00)
  • Netherlands Henk Duut (2000–01)
  • Netherlands Frans Thijssen (2000–01)
  • Netherlands Hans Verèl (2001)
  • Netherlands Hans de Koning (2001–04)
  • Netherlands Chris Dekker (2004–06)
  • Netherlands Frans Körver (2006–07)
  • Netherlands Henk Wisman (2007)
  • Netherlands Roger Reijners (2007–10)
  • Netherlands Wim Dusseldorp (2010–11)
  • Netherlands Tini Ruys (2011–12)
  • Netherlands Willy Boessen (2012–14)
  • Netherlands Peter van Vossen (2014–15)
  • Netherlands Ben van Dael (2015–16)
  • Nigeria Sunday Oliseh (2017–18)
  • Portugal Claudio Braga (a.i.) (2018)
  • Netherlands René Eijer (2018–19)
  • Netherlands Sjors Ultee (2019–20)
  • Netherlands Kevin Hofland (2020)
  • Netherlands Sjors Ultee (2020–2022)
  • Spain Julio Velazquez (2022–2023)
  • Netherlands Danny Buijs (2023–Present)


Women's football

On January 25, 2022 Fortuna announced they were beginning a women's football department. The club will start in the Dutch women's Eredivisie in season 2022/23.

Current squad

No. Position Player
1 Belgium GK Diede Lemey
2 Netherlands DF Moïsa van Koot
3 Netherlands DF Myrthe Moorrees
4 Netherlands DF Samantha van Diemen
5 Slovenia DF Kristina Erman
6 Netherlands FW Anna Knol
7 Iceland MF Hildur Antonsdóttir
9 Iceland FW María Grós
10 Afghanistan MF Farkhunda Muhtaj
11 Netherlands MF Alieke Tuin
13 Netherlands FW Hanna Huizenga
14 Netherlands FW Charlotte Hulst
15 Netherlands MF Amber van Heeswijk
No. Position Player
16 Belgium MF Jarne Teulings
19 Canada FW Chandra Davidson
22 Netherlands GK Claire Dinkla
26 Turkey MF Yade Acem
27 Netherlands MF Suus van de Drift
29 Belgium FW Tessa Wullaert
30 Netherlands GK Britt Renzen
32 Morocco MF Kawtar Ait Omar
33 Netherlands FW Anne Heemskerk
44 Belgium MF Féli Delacauw

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Fortuna Sittard para niños

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