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FC Twente
Full name	F.C. Twente '65
Nickname(s)	The Tukkers; The Reds
Founded	1 July 1965
Ground	De Grolsch Veste; Enschede; (Capacity: 24,000)
Chairman	Joop Munsterman
Head coach	Steve McClaren
League	Eredivisie
2008–09	Eredivisie, 2nd
Website	Club home page

FC Twente is a Dutch professional football club from the city of Enschede, playing in the Eredivisie. The club was formed in 1965 by the merger of 1926 Eredivisie Champions, Sportclub Enschede and Enschedese Boys. The new club has never won the league, but has finished as runners-up twice, were runners-up in the UEFA Cup 1974–75, and have won the KNVB Cup twice. Twente's home ground since 1998 is De Grolsch Veste and they are currently managed by Steve McClaren.

[edit] History

The club was formed in 1965 as a merger of two professional clubs Sportclub Enschede and the Enschedese Boys. Although the current club has never won the Dutch championship, SC Enschede did, in 1926.

The first successes of the club started just after the merger of 1965, under coach Kees Rijvers. Twente finished 3rd in 1969, 4th in 1970, 5th in 1971, 3rd in 1972 and once again 3rd in 1973. The team's key figures were local heroes, such as Epi Drost, Eddy Achterberg, Kick van der Vall and Theo Pahlplatz. Their finest Eredivisie season was 1973-1974, in which Twente battled for the Dutch championship with Feyenoord. A head-to-head confrontation in the very last game of the season, in Rotterdam, had to bring the decision. Feyenoord were slightly luckier: 3-2. A second slot and a UEFA Cup ticket—that was all for FC Twente.

However, the Tukkers (as people from Twente are generally called) almost made the very most out of that UEFA Cup ticket. After beating Juventus in the semi-finals, FC Twente lost to German side Borussia Mönchengladbach in the finals.

Things went downhill for Twente after that, and the club was relegated to the Eerste Divisie in 1982. Twente returned to the top flight a year later, but the club soon became known for their amazing number of 1-1 and 0-0 draws. Their new reputation 'boring Twente' overshadowed the fact that the club kept qualifying for European football on a fairly regular basis: five times since 1985.

Financial troubles threatened the existence of the club during the late 1980s but thanks to a consortium take over led by Johan Overmars (Father of Marc Overmars) the club prospered reaching new heights.

Re-establishment followed in the 1990s. German coach Hans Meyer led Twente to the third slot in the Eredivisie of 1997 and to the third round of the UEFA Cup the next season. On 24 May 2001, Twente clinched the KNVB Cup, beating PSV in the final after being 3-1 down in the penalty shoot-out. The season thereafter Twente crashed out of the cup against the teenagers of Ajax's second team, results in the league were poor and the hard core Twente fans Ultras Vak-P went on a rampage at the club's brand-new stadium out of frustration. The club's mother corporation (FC Twente '65) was declared bankrupt in the 2002-03 season, almost leading to the end of the club's existence. The club survived and made it to another KNVB Cup final in 2004 and struck back with a fantastic Eredivisie season in 2006-07. In the season 2007-08, FC Twente placed fourth and won the play-offs for a ticket to the Champions League Qualifiers by defeating Ajax in the play-off finals.

On 1 August 2008, unseeded Twente entered the draw for the Champions League 3rd round qualifying stage, being drawn against seeded Arsenal. The two legs were played at home on 13 August and away on 27 August 2008. Twente lost 6-0 on aggregate, resulting in their elimination from the Champions League and subsequent entry of the UEFA Cup first round.

In the season 2008-09, FC Twente placed second (11 points below the league's champion AZ Alkmaar) and got the ticket to the Europa League (after failling to secure their position in the Champions League resulted from a 1-1 draw against Sporting Lisbon, which sent the Portuguese side through on away goals)^[1]

[edit] Stadium

The gate at the stadium symbolizes the history

De Grolsch Veste, formerly named Arke Stadion, is the official stadium of FC Twente. It is located at the Business & Science Park, near the University of Twente. It has a spectator capacity of 24,000 with a standard pitch heating system and has a promenade instead of fences around the stands.

De Grolsch Veste architecture from outside

De Grolsch Veste replaced the old Diekman Stadion as Twente's home ground on 22 March 1998. Plans have been afoot to expand and to renovate the old and now demolished Diekman stadium, however, with a growing fan capacity and with arguments that the location of the Diekman stadium was not strategic enough, the idea was conceived to build a new arena for the Twente fans. The Diekman ground had also faced problems with its seating plans as a result of the FIFA regulations which imposes a necessity to construct a seating tribune behind each goal post. Fans of the club seldom use the official name but refer to the stadium as 'Epi Drost Stadium' after all-time club hero Epi Drost^{[citation needed]}.

The cost of the construction was estimated to be around 33 million guilders and took fourteen months to complete, with its foundation stone having been laid on 31 January 1997. Due to the tight budget available, the layout of the stadium was constructed in such that future expansions may be made possible without the necessity to tear down entire tribunes. The stadium is secured by Sony's network monitoring solutions.^[2]

The first match played at the stadium was a historic 3-0 victory by the home team against PSV on 10 May 1998 in an Eredivisie match.

The famous You'll Never Walk Alone recording by musicians Gerry & the Pacemakers is loudly sung along in the whole stadium before every kick-off.

FC Twente is currently considering to expand the stadium to 34,000 seats in March 2010.

[edit] Players

[edit] Current squad

As of 13 September 2009.

No.	Position	Player
1	GK	Sander Boschker
2	DF	David Carney
3	DF	Nicky Kuiper
4	DF	Peter Wisgerhof
5	DF	Slobodan Rajković (on loan from Chelsea)
6	MF	Wout Brama
8	DF	Ronnie Stam
9	FW	Blaise Kufo (captain)
10	FW	Kenneth Perez
11	FW	Nikita Rukavytsya
12	DF	Jeroen Heubach
13	GK	Nikolay Mihaylov (on loan from Liverpool)
14	FW	Bernard Parker

No.	Position	Player
15	MF	Miroslav Stoch (on loan from Chelsea)
16	GK	Cees Paauwe
17	FW	Wellington (on loan from 1899 Hoffenheim)
18	MF	Cheik Tioté
19	DF	Douglas
20	FW	Luuk de Jong
22	FW	Bryan Ruiz
23	MF	Nashat Akram
24	MF	Theo Janssen
25	FW	Andrej Rendla
26	DF	Dwight Tiendalli
27	MF	Dario Vujičević
28	FW	Ransford Osei (on loan from Maccabi Haifa)

[edit] Out on loan

No.	Position	Player
7	FW	Romano Denneboom (on loan to Sparta Rotterdam)
21	FW	Marko Arnautović (on loan to Internazionale F.C.)
30	MF	Tjaron Chery (on loan to RBC Roosendaal)
––	DF	Wout Droste (on loan to Go Ahead Eagles)
––	FW	Jules Reimerink (on loan to Go Ahead Eagles)
––	FW	Patrick Gerritsen (on loan to Go Ahead Eagles)

[edit] Reserve squad

No.	Position	Player
29	MF	Perparim Hetemaj
31	MF	Lesley Narhwold
32	FW	Flamur Kastrati
33	MF	Alexander Bannink
34	MF	Thilo Leugers
35	DF	Sebastian Sumelka
37	FW	Mitch Stockentree
38	FW	Theodor Vogelsang
44	GK	Nick Hengelman
45	GK	Nick Marsman

No.	Position	Player
46	DF	Sander van Aken
47	DF	Thijs Bouma
48	DF	Nils Röseler
––	FW	Ninos Gouriye
––	DF	Bartek Pacuszka
––	MF	Petteri Pennanen
––	DF	Marcel Piesche
––	MF	Tuomas Rannankari
––	MF	Michael Schimpelsberger
––	DF	Stefan Thesker

[edit] Notable players

See also: FC Twente players

[edit] Topscorers

Season	Name	Goals
1965/1966	Hans Roordink	11
1966/1967	Jan Jeuring	10
1967/1968	Dick van Dijk	22
1968/1969	Dick van Dijk	30
1969/1970	Antal Nagy	17
1970/1971	Jan Jeuring	17
1971/1972	René van de Kerkhof	10
1972/1973	Jan Jeuring	13
1973/1974	Johan Zuidema	14
1974/1975	Johan Zuidema	10
1975/1976	Jan Jeuring	20
1976/1977	Arnold Mühren	13
1977/1978	Ab Gritter	15
1978/1979	Ab Gritter	14
1979/1980	Hallvar Thoresen	11
1980/1981	Hallvar Thoresen	15
1981/1982	Manuel Sánchez Torres	15
1982/1983	Martin Koopman	7
1983/1984	Billy Ashcroft	21
1984/1985	Willy Carbo	15
1985/1986	Martin Koopman	8
1986/1987	Ulrich Wilson	8
1987/1988	Piet Keur	17
1988/1989	Piet Keur	16
1989/1990	Claus Nielsen	14
1990/1991	Claus Nielsen	16
1991/1992	Youri Mulder	18
1992/1993	Prince Polley	11
1993/1994	Edwin Vurens	10
1994/1995	Michel Boerebach	12
1995/1996	Arnold Bruggink	11
1996/1997	John Bosman	20
1997/1998	John Bosman Jan van Halst Antti Sumiala	6
1998/1999	Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink	21
1999/2000	Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink	19
2000/2001	Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink	15
2001/2002	Jack de Gier	6
2002/2003	Ellery Cairo	7
2003/2004	Blaise Nkufo	14
2004/2005	Blaise Nkufo	16
2005/2006	Blaise Nkufo	12
2006/2007	Blaise Nkufo	22
2007/2008	Blaise Nkufo	22
2008/2009	Blaise Nkufo	16