PSV Eindhoven

PSV ("Philips Sport Vereniging" or Philips Sports Union) is a professional football club from Eindhoven, the Netherlands. It is one of the three 'big' clubs of the Netherlands, the other two being Ajax Amsterdam and Feyenoord Rotterdam. The club won the European Cup, the predecessor of today's Champions League, in 1988 and is a regular competitor in the current European Champions' League. They are often nicknamed Boeren (Dutch for 'Farmer') in reference to their provincial city origins as well as Gloeilampen or 'Light-Bulbs' with reference to the Philips company who specialises in making light bulbs.

History

As its name indicates, the club started out as a company-sponsored sports club for Philips employees on August 31, 1913 to celebrate the centennial independence of the Netherlands from France. PSV has evolved into a fully professional football club. Its home in Eindhoven is the Philips Stadion with a modest capacity of 36,500 spectators which is fully-seated. It was, however, the stadium where many European Cup final matches were played, and more recently was one of the Dutch venues for the {{Ec2|2000}} competition held jointly by the Netherlands and Belgium. It was built at the same time as the inauguration of the club, although its current capacity was only achieved by various modernisation programmes throughout its glorious history.

Related Topics:
Philips - August 31 - 1913 - France - Eindhoven - Philips Stadion - Belgium

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Throughout its history, PSV garnered many honours in the football arena and has been credited as the club where many phenomenally successful players such as Ronaldo, Romário, Ruud Gullit, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Jaap Stam, Arjen Robben, Mateja Ke?man, Luc Nilis, Erik Gerets, Philip Cocu, Arthur Numan, Jan Heintze, and Wim Jonk plied their trade and talents. Its success was built on the foundations laid down by other famous players like Willy van der Kuijlen, Jan van Beveren, Jan Poortvliet, the Van de Kerkhof brothers who also played for the Dutch national team and Huub Stevens in the 1970s where the club won the UEFA Cup in 1978, defeating Bastia 3-0 in the final match.

Related Topics:
Ronaldo - Romário - Ruud Gullit - Ruud van Nistelrooy - Jaap Stam - Arjen Robben - Mateja Ke?man - Luc Nilis - Erik Gerets - Philip Cocu - Arthur Numan - Jan Heintze - Wim Jonk - Willy van der Kuijlen - Jan van Beveren - Jan Poortvliet - Dutch national team - Huub Stevens - UEFA Cup - 1978 - Bastia

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Despite being able to scout South America and most of Europe for budding talents such as those players above, undoubtedly, many of them have indirectly made PSV as a springboard for professional development such as Ronaldo who spent only two seasons at the club as well as Mateja Kezman and Arjen Robben, and most recently, Park Ji-Sung who were restless at the opportunity to move to more illustrious clubs after a mere 2 seasons. The recent transfer of South Korea player Park to English club Manchester United was even quoted by PSV spokesman Pedro Salazar-Hewitt as having admitted that 'we'd love to keep him but the club has already asked for the player' indicates a total lack of control over the future of their own players. http://www.manutd.com/news/fullstory.sps?iNewsId=187094&itype=466&icategoryid=156. Regardless, after the departures of influential players such as Mark van Bommel, Johann Vogel and Park after the 2004/2005 season, PSV has moved to secure the services of players like Mika Väyrynen, Osmar Ferreyra and Club Brugge and Belgium midfielder Timmy Simons. Players like Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink have indicated their desire to see out their careers at the Philips Stadion, penning new contracts and deflecting interest from abroad after PSV performed well to reach the semi-finals of the 2004/2005 Champions League on a tight budget as compared to other major football clubs such as Real Madrid and Manchester United who bowed out at earlier stages of the competition.

Related Topics:
South America - Europe - Arjen Robben - Park Ji-Sung - South Korea - Mark van Bommel - Johann Vogel - 2004 - 2005 - Mika Väyrynen - Club Brugge - Belgium - Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink - Real Madrid - Manchester United

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Famous coaches such as Guus Hiddink (who between stints at PSV coached the Dutch national team to a fourth-place finish in the {{Wc|1998}} and South Korea to a similar fourth place in the {{Wc|2002}}) have managed the team over the years and have brought considerable successes to the club, culminating in the victory of the European Cup in 1988.

Related Topics:
Guus Hiddink - Dutch national team - South Korea - 1988

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