Early history Excelsior was officially formed on 23 July 1902 as
Rotterdamse Voetbal en Atletiek Vereniging Excelsior (). The initial founders of the club, a group of close friends located in the
Kralingen district of
Rotterdam, started playing football matches on the fields of the eighteenth century
buitenplaats Woudesteyn. After the actual establishment of the club, the
municipality officially gave permission to use the land. As football was still an elite sport at the beginning of the 20th century, Excelsior became one of the first working class clubs in the Netherlands.
First successes In the season 1945–46, Excelsior gained their first success by promoting to the Eerste Klasse, the highest tier of Dutch football before professional football was introduced in 1954. The deciding match against
VUC was played in
De Kuip and attracted 52.000 spectators. Excelsior relegated in the next season, but managed to promote for the second time in the season 1951–52. After the introduction of professional football, Excelsior won the
Eerste Divisie championship three times (1974, 1979 and 2006) and promoted to the
Eredivisie various times, usually to relegate not long afterwards. Excelsior once reached the
KNVB Cup final in the season 1929–30, but lost the match to fellow Rotterdam club
Feyenoord (0–1). Excelsior's biggest pre-war achievement was the win of the Zilveren Bal trophy. Excelsior beat Feyenoord (5–0) in the finals of the highly rated pre-season tournament.
Promotion–relegation cycle and consolidation (2010–2019) Excelsior returned to the
Eredivisie in
2010 after defeating city rivals
Sparta Rotterdam in the promotion–relegation play-offs. The decisive goal was scored by
Guyon Fernandez deep into stoppage time, only minutes after Sparta had taken the lead. Coached by
Alex Pastoor, the squad was largely composed of loanees from
Feyenoord. The club made a strong start to the
2010–11 season, collecting ten points from its first five matches, including a 3–2 home victory over Feyenoord in the
Rotterdam derby. Later in the season, Excelsior recorded several notable results at home, defeating
AZ and drawing against both
Groningen and eventual champions
Ajax. A 4–1 away victory over
Vitesse on the final matchday left the club one goal short of automatic safety. Finishing 16th, Excelsior retained its top-flight status via the relegation play-offs. The following season proved more difficult, and Excelsior finished bottom of the table in the
2011–12 Eredivisie with only four league wins, resulting in relegation to the
Eerste Divisie. A disappointing
2012–13 campaign followed, culminating in a 15th-place finish under
Leon Vlemmings. Ahead of the
2013–14 season,
Jon Dahl Tomasson was appointed head coach, but he departed in December 2013 to join
Roda JC. He was replaced by
Marinus Dijkhuizen, under whom Excelsior enjoyed a strong second half of the season, highlighted by an 8–0 away victory over
Telstar. The club finished third and secured promotion to the Eredivisie through the play-offs, marking its eighth promotion to the top flight. In January 2014, chairman Albert de Jong revealed that Excelsior had narrowly avoided bankruptcy, citing a financial deficit of approximately €3 million, largely attributed to poor sporting results during the 2012–13 season. Excelsior remained in the Eredivisie for five consecutive seasons from 2014 to 2019. The club secured survival in both the
2014–15 and
2015–16 seasons with 15th-place finishes, the latter under
Alfons Groenendijk. Following Groenendijk's departure,
Mitchell van der Gaag was appointed head coach. After several seasons spent battling relegation, Excelsior were relegated at the end of the
2018–19 season.
Recent promotions and renewed top-flight presence (2020–present) Marinus Dijkhuizen returned as head coach in 2020. In May 2022, Excelsior achieved promotion to the
Eredivisie after a dramatic play-off final against
ADO Den Haag. After drawing 1–1 at home and falling behind in the return leg, Excelsior scored three goals in the final 13 minutes to force extra time. Despite conceding again, the team equalised through captain
Redouan El Yaakoubi before winning the penalty shoot-out, with goalkeeper
Stijn van Gassel saving the decisive penalty. Excelsior spent two seasons in the Eredivisie before being relegated at the end of the
2023–24 season. The club returned immediately, securing promotion on 2 May 2025 following a 5–0 victory over
Jong PSV, marking another swift return to the top tier of Dutch football. ==Stadium==