HHC

Hardenberg sits in the east of Overijssel. Two clubs shared it — the Hardenbergse Voetbal Club and SV Heemse. On 1 June 1954 they merged. The name kept both: Hardenberg Heemse Combinatie.

For half a century that produced the ordinary career of a provincial amateur side — a Vierde Klasse title in 1965, promotion out of the Derde Klasse eleven years later, relegation in 1991 that took twelve seasons to undo. The Hoofdklasse titles of 2007 and 2008, back to back, changed the scale of the thing. HHC went into the Topklasse when it was created and into the Tweede Divisie in 2016, and has stayed in the top reaches of the amateur pyramid since.

The afternoon most people outside Overijssel remember came in the third round of the KNVB Cup in the 2008–09 season, against Feyenoord. Sportpark De Boshoek holds 4,500, so the tie moved to Emmen, to the Univé Stadium, where 8,500 filled it. HHC lost 1–5. It remains the deepest the club has gone in the competition.

The old derby with SV Rijssen has largely gone; Rijssen dropped down the divisions and the fixture stopped coming round. What replaced it is a warmer thing, the meetings with IJsselmeervogels, which are a rivalry without much edge to them.

The orange shirts that give the club its nickname have never been worn in professional football. HHC has won its division twice and lost a cup tie to Feyenoord in front of a full house, and that is where the ceiling has stayed: a place among the strongest amateur sides in the Netherlands, and no route yet found out of it.