The municipality of Arnhem and several social partners have once again pleaded for the preservation of Vitesse on Friday. In an extensive letter to the KNVB’s licensing committee, they appeal to allow the 133-year-old club to continue to exist.
“Withdrawing the license would not only be a sporting intervention, but an amputation of something essential. It would inflict an irreparable wound in the heart of Arnhem, leaving a hangover in our being as a city,” writes, among others, Mayor Ahmed Marcouch.
A year ago, when the struggling Vitesse almost lost its professional license, Marcouch made a similar appeal on behalf of the municipality. He pointed to the solidarity of thousands of Arnhem residents who took action to preserve the club.
The KNVB wants to withdraw Vitesse’s license because of the “structural and long-term” undermining of the rules. The club filed an appeal on Thursday.
The advocates recall the “invaluable value” of Vitesse to the city. “Vitesse is so much more than football. For many people, Vitesse is a way of life. Every match, about sixteen thousand people come together to support yellow and black.”
The letter expresses support for the plan of a group of regional entrepreneurs to take over Vitesse. “If Vitesse could not continue now, something would disappear that would never return. A tradition of more than a century, a cultural carrier of our city, a source of hope and cohesion. We must not let that happen together.”
Time is running out for Vitesse, as the new Keuken Kampioen Divisie season starts on August 8. There must be clarity before then. Meanwhile, the selection under the leadership of the new coach Rüdiger Rehm has started the preparation.
Vitesse will start the season with -12 points anyway. The club has lost a previous appeal against the KNVB’s licensing committee. Vitesse received that points penalty in April because not all information about the foreign takeover was shared with the KNVB.
The German interim director Timo Braasch disagreed and filed an appeal. That decision cost Vitesse dearly, because by rejecting the appeal, the points penalty did not apply to the past season, but in a possible new season.