Center (left to right): Soufiane Ben Addi, Sil van de Roer, Shairell Wouden, Jort Roovers, Tijmen Holla, Maik Biemans, Roberto Valdez Reyes, Yigit Ercan, Marwan Boundati
Bottom (left to right): Isaque Sousa Monte, Sebastiaan Soetekouw, René Hessel (team manager), Jeffrey Verweij (assistant coach), Rogier Veenstra (head coach), Patrick Seeters (goalkeeper coach), Ian Paauwe, Nacho Ignacio Corral Senar
Excelsior Rotterdam was founded on July 23, 1902 as Rotterdam Football and Athletics Association Excelsior. Football was an elite sport at the beginning of the 20th century and Excelsior became one of the first working-class clubs in the Netherlands.
The team with which Excelsior participates in this tournament started this season in the 3rd division and managed to promote to the 2nd division before the winter break. The first match was lost to PEC Zwolle and the second was won against Heerenveen. Halfway through, the team is in the left row and the goal of maintaining in the 2nd division seems realistic. The team is made up of players from last season’s U17 team, supplemented with some scouted players. Goalkeeper Jort Roovers has been included in the KNVB future team.
After two previous participations in 2005 and 2006, with Royston Drenthe and Luigi Bruins, among others, Excelsior is participating in this tournament for the third time this year.
