page_title: FC Groningen
section_title: GVAV becomes Groningen's prime football team
hierarchical_section_title: FC Groningen / History / GVAV becomes Groningen's prime football team
caption_attribution_description: Nederlands: DWS tegen GVAV 1-1. Tonny van Leeuwen pakt de bal, voor hem Martin Koeman en Piet Kruiver (DWS) 19 november 1967
context_page_description: Football Club Groningen is a Dutch professional association football club based in the city of Groningen, Groningen province. The club competes in the Eredivisie, the highest football league of the Netherlands.
  The club was founded on 16 June 1971. Its first home stadium was the Stadion Oosterpark. Since 2005, the club has played at the Euroborg.
  Groningen's best result in the Eredivisie was third place in 1991 and 2006, and their worst result was relegation to the Eerste Divisie in 1974 and 1998. The team won the KNVB Cup in the 2014–15 season.
context_section_description: The regional leagues ceased to exist in 1950. A new professional nationwide league structure, consisting of three tiers (Eredivisie, Eerste Divisie, and Tweede Divisie) was planned to commence in 1956. Results in the intervening seasons determined the make-up of these new divisions. In 1951, four Groningen clubs were active at First Division level (where GVAV, Be Quick, and Velocitas were joined by VV Oosterparkers). Five years later, GVAV was in the Eredivisie among the 18 best teams in the country, while Be Quick, Velocitas, and Oosterparkers were ranked two tiers below in the 1956-57 Tweede Divisie.
  At the introduction of professional football in the Dutch football leagues in 1954, Be Quick had suffered from internal division. Be Quick's long history and respected stature led to the club containing numerous outspoken and conservative factions. In addition, resistance against professionalism in general tended to be bigger at elitists clubs. Many Be Quick members opposed the plans of their club joining the professional leagues, among which most notably several players from the title winning squad of 1920. Be Quick did become professional, but because of internal strife it was not able to develop its full potential as a professional football club. No such obstacles existed at GVAV, were chairman Jan Hekman faced no internal resistance in his ambition to make GVAV the city's number one professional football team. Labour class teams Velocitas and Oosterparkers, at their turn, had insufficient financial backing to compete with GVAV in the professional leagues.
  Oosterparkers remained professional for three seasons, after which they voluntarily left the professional leagues and went back to amateurism. Velocitas held on for one more season after which they also relegated from the professional leagues. Be Quick initially was more successful. They stayed professional until 1964, after which they voluntarily stepped back to the amateur league and left GVAV as the only professional football team in the city of Groningen.
caption: Goalkeeper Tonny van Leeuwen and Martin Koeman (white sleeves) playing for GVAV against DWS in 1967
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