Houston Dutch Lions

Dutch Lions FC
Full name Dutch Lions Football Club
Nickname(s) The Lions
Founded 2011 (as Texas Dutch Lions FC)
Stadium HDL FC Soccer Facility
Conroe, Texas
Ground Capacity 1,500
Owner Martin Kroeze
Vice-President Robbert Kroeze
Head Coach Marco Pruis
League National Premier Soccer League
2016 1st, South Central Division
Playoffs: QUA
Website Club home page

The Dutch Lions FC is an American soccer club based in The Woodlands, Texas.[1] Founded in 2011, the team plays in the National Premier Soccer League, the fourth tier of the American soccer pyramid, playing home games at the team owned Houston Dutch Lions FC Soccer Facility located in Conroe, Texas. The Houston Dutch Lions FC is a soccer club that operates all months of the year, the club partners with the Conroe Youth Soccer League (member of STYSA) and plays a fall season, spring season and summer season (Super Summer League). The club also hosts soccer camps such as a Thanksgiving break camp, Spring break camp and camps during the summer months. Since September, 2015 there is pick up soccer for Men and Women on Tuesday and Thursday evening making the club open to all ages and becoming a big factor in The Woodlands / Conroe community.

The club is owned by Martin Kroeze.

History

Texas Dutch Lions FC was founded on 17 November 2011, and played their inaugural season in the USL Premier Development League in 2012,[2] finishing 4th in the Mid South Division of the Southern Conference but missing the playoffs.

The Youth Academy of the club began training in 2011 with only one location in Conroe, Texas. In 2012, the Youth Academy expanded to its second training location to service players in The Woodlands.[1]

On 1 April 2013, Texas Dutch Lions FC changed their official name to Houston Dutch Lions FC. The club has been using the new title for several months, but it was not official until 1 April.[3]

On 12 February 2013, the club announced the signing of new head coach, former Dutch player Hans van Arum, for the 2013 season.[4]

On February 18, 2014 the Houston Dutch Lions FC announced the signing of Marco Pruis as their new Head Coach for the 2014 USL PDL season.[5]

Colors and badge

The old Texas Dutch Lions FC logo.

The Houston Dutch Lions FC crest is a modified version of Dayton's logo, featuring the white and blue field, with an orange lion centered on the crest. The script above the vector lion reads the club's name. The home shirt consists of an orange shirt, orange shorts & orange socks. Away the team plays in a white shirt.

Home ground

Training ground

Club culture

International partnerships

The Houston Dutch Lions FC share in the partnership of their ownership group and sister club, Dayton Dutch Lions, with Dutch Eredivisie champions, FC Twente. On 17 January 2011, the Dutch Lions Group signed a five-year contract to foster development of players, academy teams, training practices, and possibly facilitate loans or transfers of players between teams.[7] In the 2014 season, the Cincinnati Dutch Lions FC were added (joined the PDL). As of the summer of 2015, the Florida Gulf Coast Dutch Lions FC (Cape Coral, FL) joined the Dutch Lions FC group.

On Thursday, May 5th, 2016 the Dutch Lions FC announced the signing of Heineken for their Dutch Lions FC NPSL squad.


Players and staff

Current roster

NPSL roster for the 2016 season:

As of July 12th, 2016.[8]


Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player
1 Mexico GK Matthew Gutierrez
2 Netherlands DF Lars Willemse
3 United States DF Marshal Tucker
4 United States DF Devon Grant
5 United States DF Nick Boegemann
6 United States MF Shane Dockery
7 Mexico FW Pablo Covarrubias
8 United States DF Darren Burns
9 Mexico FW Carlos Acevedo
10 Mexico MF Mitchell Cardenas
11 Egypt FW Ahmed Zaky
12 Brazil MF Dener Dos Santos
13 Netherlands FW Leroy Ten Pas
14 Spain MF Aitor Inigues de Heredia
15 Netherlands DF Stuart van Doten
17 Mexico FW Anuar Kanan
18 Republic of Ireland MF Orrin Farrell
19 Brazil MF Henrique Pires
25 Netherlands DF Berry Sonnenschein

Staff

Executive staff
Position Staff
President Martin Kroeze
Vice President Robbert Kroeze
CEO Dennis Kroeze
Technical Director Marco Pruis

Source:

Coaching staff NPSL 2016 season
Position Staff
Head Coach Marco Pruis
Assistant Coach Michiel van de Heijning
Assistant Coach Jan Woering
Team Manager Maarten van der Wal
Team Manager Dan Hoskins

Source:

Head coaches

Year-by-year

Year Division League Regular Season Playoffs Open Cup Record
2012 4 USL PDL 4th, Mid South Did not qualify Did not qualify 6-8-4
2013 4 USL PDL 5th, Mid South Did not qualify Did not qualify 4-7-3
2014 4 USL PDL 5th, Mid South Did not qualify Did not qualify 1-10-3
2015 4 USL PDL 4th, Mid South Did not qualify Did not qualify 4-6-2
2016 4 NPSL 2nd, South Central South Regional semi-final Qualified 11-2-2

NPSL 2016 play offs: On Saturday, July 9th, 2016, the Dutch Lions FC beat FC Wichita in the South Conference semi-final with an impressive score of 5-0 (the division final four was played in Tulsa, OK). The Liverpool Warriors fell that same day to the Tulsa Athletics (1-3). The South Central Conference Title went to the Dutch Lions FC after the team beat the Tulsa Athletics with 2-1 on Sunday, July 10th. What followed was the South Regional semi-final vs Chattanooga FC (Tennessee), were the Dutch Lions FC lost with 4-0.


Average attendance

Attendance stats are calculated by averaging each team's self-reported home attendances from the historical match archive at http://www.uslsoccer.com/history/index_E.html

References

  1. 1 2 "Dutch Lions: History". Dutch Lions. Retrieved 10 January 2014.
  2. ↑ "Dutch Lions FC Join USL PDL". USL PDL. 17 November 2011. Retrieved 17 February 2013.
  3. ↑ "Houston Dutch Lions Announce Official Name Change". Houston Dutch Lions. 8 April 2013. Retrieved 10 January 2014.
  4. ↑ "Dutch Lions Announce New Coach". USL PDL. 12 February 2013. Retrieved 12 February 2013.
  5. ↑ "Houston Dutch Lions FC announces new Head Coach PDL team". Houston Dutch Lions. 18 February 2014. Retrieved 10 August 2014.
  6. ↑ "HDLFC Soccer Complex". Houston Dutch Lions. Retrieved 10 January 2014.
  7. ↑ "Dutch Lions Ink 5-Year Partnership". USL PDL. 17 January 2011. Retrieved 17 February 2013.
  8. ↑ "NPSL Team". Houston Dutch Lions. Retrieved 15 August 2014.

[1]

  1. ↑ Dutch Lions FC win 2016 South Central Conference Title
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/22/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.