Finally - we were able to go back to The Netherlands. Belgium and Germany are groundhopping heaven, but The Netherlands does have a lot of beauty as well.
We went to visit Rotterdam and it struck us that one of the better teams in Holland also has one beautiful/magnificent stadium. It contains everything a stadium must have. Well almost everything... We deeply regret there is no standing part in De Kuip anymore.
In 1908 Rotterdam welcomed the "team of the people", "the pride of the south". Feyenoord Rotterdam was born as Wilhelmina. Only a year later the team name changed into Hillesluise Football Club, but they had to change it again once they joined the Rotterdam league. HFC was already existing in Haarlem. The new team name became RVV Celeritas. In 1912 Celeritas promoted to the national FA, but in that league Celeritas was already existing as well (HSV Celeritas). So that year the team finally took its current name; Feyenoord Rotterdam. (first as RVV Feyenoord, later on as RV & AV Feyenoord and Sportclub Feyenoord before it became Feyenoord Rotterdam).
In 1921 they first reached first division and only three years later they won that championship. Ever since Feyenoord is considered to be one of the absolute top teams in The Netherlands. And they lived up to their fame. After their first title they won several division championships and national championships and since the 30s the first cup prizes came in as well. The only decade where Feyenoord didn't win anything was in the 50s. They did manage to reach the UEFA Intertoto Cup twice, but that was it. Afterwards they won something in each decade, even European titles.
Thanks to all of the successes in the 20s and 30s there came a stop to all the wandering around from pitch to pitch and a final big stadium to be proud of was built. In 1937 De Kuip was first opened with a game against Beerschot. De Kuip was a modern stadium and unique of its kind at the time. We do advise everyone to go to Rotterdam to witness this pure beauty as Feyenoord will be moving into a new stadium sooner or later. Feyenoord City will be the new venue, although the timing isn't known as of yet. De Kuip won't be torn down though, but will be used for other venues.
Anecdote: It wasn't until 1970 Feyenoord was written as Feyenoord. Before 1970 it was Feijenoord. The same year the team actually split into two teams; the Feyenoord we know as the professional team and SC Feyenoord - the amateur team.
