Dordrecht

Beginnings

Founded on 16 August 1883 as Dordrechtsche Cricket Club (DCC), the club branched out and added association football club to their club which changed its name to DCFC in 1891, before completely abandoning cricket in 1899 and continuing as DFC. It became a professional club in 1954 upon the introduction of professional football to the Netherlands. The next significant events were in 1972, at which time the professional branch of DFC was renamed FC Dordrecht, and in 1974 when the professionals and amateurs severed their ties.

Jimmy Hogan was a inside forward, with Bolton Wanderers. During a pre-season tour Bolton beat Dordrecht 10–0; Hogan vowed to return to Dordrecht in order to "teach those fellows how to play properly". In 1910, Hogan accepted a two-year contract at Dordrecht and set about improving the team in fitness and ball control, as well as implementing the Combination Game. Impressed by his methods, the Royal Dutch Football Association recruited Hogan to manage the Netherlands in a friendly against Germany in October 1910, which Hogan's side won 2–1.

Upon the expiry of his contract with Dordrecht in 1912, Hogan returned for a final season as a player at Bolton before returning to Vienna to coach the Austria national football team.

1979–1990: DS '79

In 1979, under the leadership of chairman and investor Nico de Vries, the organisation was professionalised and an attempt was also made to gain more supporters to the fanbase. This included a new name, DS '79 (Drechtsteden'79), referring to the Drechtsteden region. The club colours were also changed, and red-white colour scheme was replaced by a yellow-blue outfit. New players came to the club, including Huub Smeets who signed from the Los Angeles Aztecs, Wim Berends and Chris Bosse from the Sparta reserve team, and Harry van den Ham and Joop Oostdam from the reserves of FC Utrecht. The team became known as the "local heroes, and popularity grew and increasing interest in the games at Stadion Krommedijk. In January 1981, the most famous player in club history, Johan Cruyff, made three appearances for DS '79. These came at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea (4–2), at home against Ajax (2–1) and in Belgium against Charleroi (1–7).

In 1983, the team won the second-tier Eerste Divisie and as a result, DS '79 won promotion to the Eredivisie. The following season, DS'79 was led by the coaching duo Hans Dorjee and Joop van Daele, and suffered direct relegation to the Eerste Divisie.

At the end of the 1986–87 season, DS '79 won promotion again, this time via play-offs. The yellow-blues were then led by Simon Kistemaker, he neither could prevent the club from Dordrecht from relegating again at the end of the season.

Former player Epi Drost took over the position of head coach at the start of the 1989–90 season, but only managed to lead the team to a 19th and last place in the Eerste Divisie. New investor, Cees den Braven, became chairman in the club and changed the name of the club, its third name: Dordrecht '90. The outfit was also changed to a green jersey with white shorts. These were the colours of De Braven Sealants, the chairman's company. Margo Gerrits signed a contract as commercial manager at Dordrecht '90, making her the first female manager in professional football.

1991–2001: Dordrecht '90

The club just missed promotion to the Eredivisie in 1991. It was finally admitted when Dordrecht '90 surprisingly merged with neighbouring Schiedamse Voetbal Vereniging (SVV) of Schiedam and became SVV/Dordrecht '90. Under the new name, the club immediately returned to the highest level. Under the leadership of Dick Advocaat and Han Berger, the team reached fifteenth place in the league table. That year, the club played its only European matches in the UEFA Intertoto Cup, consisting only of a group stage against Hammarby IF from Sweden, AaB from Denmark and 1. FC Saarbrücken from Germany. The following year, Han Berger and Nico van Zoghel only reached last place in the table, meaning that SVV/Dordrecht '90 suffered another relegation.

After relegation, the club abandoned the 'SVV' and continued as Dordrecht '90. Van Zoghel remained as head coach and led the club to the Eerste Divisie championship at the end of the 1993–94 season with automatic promotion. Again, the Eredivisie was too big of a mouthful for the Dordrecht team, who again relegated directly. Chairman Cees den Braven resigned from the position and handed over the leadership of the club to former referee Frans Derks. Much success was not achieved in the following years, and the club slowly fell to the lower echelons of the Eerste Divisie. A small revival occurred at the end of the 1998–99 season, as Dordrecht '90 qualified for promotion play-offs through a period championship, despite only reaching a 14th place in the table, but did not find success there.

Management changes

Finally in 2002, the club was renamed once again, to the name it bore from 1972 to 1979: FC Dordrecht, which remains the name today. For a number of years, Dordrecht was one of the clubs with the lowest average attendance of all Dutch professional teams.

When at the end of the 2002–03 season, FC Dordrecht ended bottom of the Eerste Divisie, Derks resigned from his position as chairman and Ad Heijsman took over. Heijsman was previously chairman of DFC, the club from which FC Dordrecht originated. Former player Marco Boogers was appointed technical director. After a number of lean years, Dordrecht slowly crept back up from the sporting trough. In 2009 and 2010, head coach Gert Kruys led the team to straight promotion play-off appearances.