Sportpark De Koerbelt

The ground belongs to two clubs, but the layout tells the story of **SV Excelsior '31**. The main stand sits on the southern edge, a simple concrete structure with blue and yellow seats. The building behind it is brick, low and functional, with a red staircase leading up the side. You can see the **solar panels** on the roof of the main stand, dark rectangles catching the light.

What makes the place different is the green wall of trees that presses right up against the perimeter. It is not a city centre; it is a park, and the **trees** close in on the pitch. Floodlight masts stand tall in the corners, but the real feature is the **natural grass** pitch, striped cleanly under the sun. A second pitch sits just behind the main one, surrounded by more foliage.

The capacity sits somewhere between the thousands, a number that shifts depending on who you ask. That ambiguity does not matter. What matters is the **KNVB Cup** history that has played out here. The local side has **ground out wins** against bigger names before, and they have **lost** to them too. The crowd of **2,550** for the visit from **ADO Den Haag** is the high point, a day when the village came out. The swimming pool nearby is a municipal addition, renovated recently, but it does not belong on the football pitch.

The stand is covered, offering shelter from the Dutch weather, but the view from the top is just trees. There is no grand architecture here, just the **concrete** and the **brick** and the **grass**. The pitch is the only thing that counts when the whistle blows. The rest is just the setting.