FC Twente

FC Twente 1965 is a Dutch football club based in the city of Enschede. They currently feature in the Dutch Eredivisie and finished fourth in the division in the 2007-2008 season.

FC Twente were established in 1965 after the two professional clubs Sportclub Enschede and Enschedese Boys merged with each other. SC Enschede had won the Dutch championships way back in 1926.

In 1969 FC Twente finished third in the Dutch first division. They continued achieving considerable success in the subsequent years, finishing fourth, fifth, third, third and second in 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973 and 1974 respectively.

FC Twente reached the final of the UEFA Cup in 1975 after defeating Italian powerhouse Juventus in the semi-finals but lost to German side Borussia Monchengladbach in the final.

But after that FC Twente went on the slide down the hill and were even relegated from the Dutch Eredivisie in1982. They immediately bounced back and qualified for Europe for five successive years since 1985.

FC Twente then gradually re-established themselves in the 1990s and finished third in the Dutch Eredivisie in 1997 and reached the third round of the UEFA Cup in 1998. Twente won the KNVB Cup in May 2001.

In the 2002-2003 season however disaster struck as the club’s mother corporation, FC Twente ’65, was declared bankrupt and the club barely managed to rescue itself from going out of existence.

Twente soon recovered and made it to the final of the KNVB Cup in 2004. In the 2007-2008 season Twente finished fourth in the Eredivisie and having won the play-offs agains Ajax Amsterdam, played in the UEFA Champions League third round qualifiers but lost to Arsenal and shall feature in the UEFA Cup for the 2008-2009 season.

FC Twente play their home matches at the Grolsch Veste that has a capacity of 24,244. They bear the nicknames The Tukkers and The Reds.

FC Twente are currently being coached by the former Middlesbrough and England national team manager Steve McClaren.

Some of the club’s major achievements include: -1 Eredivisie title(as SC Enschede) -2 KNVB Cups