Excelsior

Excelsior was officially formed on 23 July 1902 as Rotterdamse Voetbal en Atletiek Vereniging Excelsior (English: Rotterdam Football and Athletics Club Excelsior). The initial founders of the club, a group of close friends located in the Kralingen district of Rotterdam, started playing football matches on the fields of the eighteenth century buitenplaats Woudesteyn. After the actual establishment of the club, the municipality officially gave permission to use the land. As football was still an elite sport at the beginning of the 20th century, Excelsior became one of the first working class clubs in the Netherlands.

In the season 1945–46, Excelsior gained their first success by promoting to the Eerste Klasse, the highest tier of Dutch football before professional football was introduced in 1954. The deciding match against VUC was played in De Kuip and attracted 52.000 spectators. Excelsior relegated in the next season, but managed to promote for the second time in the season 1951–52. After the introduction of professional football, Excelsior won the Eerste Divisie championship three times (1974, 1979 and 2006) and promoted to the Eredivisie various times, usually to relegate not long afterwards.

Excelsior once reached the KNVB Cup final in the season 1929–30, but lost the match to fellow Rotterdam club Feyenoord (0–1). Excelsior's biggest pre-war achievement was the win of the Zilveren Bal trophy. Excelsior beat Feyenoord (5–0) in the finals of the highly rated pre-season tournament.

In the mid-fifties, Excelsior were the leading club behind the introduction of professional football in the Netherlands. When the KNVB continued to refuse payments in football, Excelsior chairman Henk Zon and board member Aad Libregts managed to persuade association president Hans Hopster, in cooperation with the directors of Feyenoord, Sparta and ADO Den Haag. In August 1954 the KNVB accepted the proposal and professional football was introduced in the Netherlands.

Being the smallest professional club in Rotterdam, Excelsior always had to be creative to survive. This creativity made Excelsior play a pioneering role within Dutch football. In 1958 Excelsior became the first Dutch club with covered stands. Later, in 1974, Excelsior also were the first Dutch club with shirt advertising. Against the then existing rules, the club put an 'A' on the shirt. The character was supposed to stand for 'Team A', but in reality it stood for Akai, the company of main investor Rob Albers. The KNVB decided to ban the 'A' from the shirt and it would take until 1982 for shirt advertising to be introduced. Akai would adorn the shirts of Excelsior until the season 1999–00.

In 2002, the year in which the club was officially 100 years old, Excelsior returned to the Eredivisie. They did this after spending more than 20 years in the second tier of Dutch football. They were relegated after one season. In the 2005/2006 season Excelsior became champions of the Eerste Divisie and were promoted back to the Eredivisie once again.

Between 1997 and 2005 Excelsior had a partnership with Rotterdam rivals Feyenoord. Excelsior became Feyenoord's satellite club. As such, Feyenoord gave Excelsior money and players (either on loan or free transfer).

A majority of the Excelsior fans have always been against a partnership with Feyenoord. Michel van der Neut, chairman of Excelsior's supporters club, claimed: "Excelsior sold her soul with the extended partnership. Excelsior simply stops existing this way."

Excelsior returned to the Eredivisie in 2010 after defeating city rivals Sparta Rotterdam in the promotion–relegation play-offs. The decisive goal was scored by Guyon Fernandez deep into stoppage time, only minutes after Sparta had taken the lead. Coached by Alex Pastoor, the squad was largely composed of loanees from Feyenoord.

The club made a strong start to the 2010–11 season, collecting ten points from its first five matches, including a 3–2 home victory over Feyenoord in the Rotterdam derby. Later in the season, Excelsior recorded several notable results at home, defeating AZ and drawing against both Groningen and eventual champions Ajax. A 4–1 away victory over Vitesse on the final matchday left the club one goal short of automatic safety. Finishing 16th, Excelsior retained its top-flight status via the relegation play-offs.

The following season proved more difficult, and Excelsior finished bottom of the table in the 2011–12 Eredivisie with only four league wins, resulting in relegation to the Eerste Divisie. A disappointing 2012–13 campaign followed, culminating in a 15th-place finish under Leon Vlemmings.

Ahead of the 2013–14 season, Jon Dahl Tomasson was appointed head coach, but he departed in December 2013 to join Roda JC. He was replaced by Marinus Dijkhuizen, under whom Excelsior enjoyed a strong second half of the season, highlighted by an 8–0 away victory over Telstar. The club finished third and secured promotion to the Eredivisie through the play-offs, marking its eighth promotion to the top flight.

In January 2014, chairman Albert de Jong revealed that Excelsior had narrowly avoided bankruptcy, citing a financial deficit of approximately €3 million, largely attributed to poor sporting results during the 2012–13 season.

Excelsior remained in the Eredivisie for five consecutive seasons from 2014 to 2019. The club secured survival in both the 2014–15 and 2015–16 seasons with 15th-place finishes, the latter under Alfons Groenendijk. Following Groenendijk's departure, Mitchell van der Gaag was appointed head coach. After several seasons spent battling relegation, Excelsior were relegated at the end of the 2018–19 season.

Marinus Dijkhuizen returned as head coach in 2020. In May 2022, Excelsior achieved promotion to the Eredivisie after a dramatic play-off final against ADO Den Haag. After drawing 1–1 at home and falling behind in the return leg, Excelsior scored three goals in the final 13 minutes to force extra time. Despite conceding again, the team equalised through captain Redouan El Yaakoubi before winning the penalty shoot-out, with goalkeeper Stijn van Gassel saving the decisive penalty.

Excelsior spent two seasons in the Eredivisie before being relegated at the end of the 2023–24 season. The club returned immediately, securing promotion on 2 May 2025 following a 5–0 victory over Jong PSV, marking another swift return to the top tier of Dutch football.