EXCELSIOR ROTTERDAM - AWAY SHIRT 2025/2026
Excelsior Rotterdam are the second-oldest of the three professional clubs in Rotterdam, formed way back on 23 July 1902. Based in the leafy Kralingen district in the east of the city, they are known affectionately as de Kralingers and, after their famous red-and-black kit, de Roodzwarten (the Red-Blacks). Home is the cosy Van Donge & De Roo Stadion, still known to everyone simply as Woudestein, and at roughly 4,500 seats it is comfortably the smallest ground in the Eredivisie, which only adds to the charm of a proper community club. There is even an affectionate old nickname, de oud-papierclub (the recycling club), a nod to the paper-recycling business behind the club's long-serving owners. Forever living in the shadow of mighty neighbours Feyenoord, Excelsior have built a reputation as plucky underdogs who punch above their weight.
The 2025/2026 season marked Excelsior's return to the Eredivisie, their 25th campaign in the top flight and their first back among the elite after promotion. They had earned it the hard way, finishing second in the 2024/2025 Eerste Divisie behind champions FC Volendam to go straight back up. Under manager Ruben den Uil, the brief was simple: survive. And survive they did, finishing 13th in the Eredivisie on 38 points from a record of 10 wins, 8 draws and 16 defeats, keeping their place in the division for another year. It was a season of fine margins for a small-budget side, and this understated away shirt is the change strip they turned to on their travels, worn while grinding out the hard-earned points that ultimately kept the Roodzwarten up.
There was little in the way of cup glory. Excelsior's KNVB Cup run was a brief one, ending in the first round with a frustrating 1-0 extra-time defeat away at lower-league neighbours Excelsior Maassluis, a local tie they would dearly have loved to win. The league campaign had its share of drama at both ends. The opening day brought a chastening 5-0 hammering away at NEC Nijmegen, about as tough a welcome back to the top flight as you could imagine. But there was real joy too, most memorably a thumping 5-0 win over FC Utrecht at Woudestein, the kind of afternoon that sends a small club home dreaming.
The man who lit up Excelsior's season was Noah Naujoks, the attacking midfielder top-scoring with 10 goals in the Eredivisie, invaluable for a side that had to scrap for everything. Sanches Fernandes chipped in with six league goals, while Georgian midfielder Irakli Yegoian weighed in with five after arriving in the summer. It was very much a collective effort, a squad rebuilt heavily over the close season and asked to find its feet quickly against the best in the country. That they did so, keeping Excelsior in the Eredivisie as one of the division's smallest and most charming clubs, counts as a genuine achievement.
