The history of NAC Breda and their road to success
NAC Breda is a professional Dutch football club from Breda, Netherlands. The Rat Verlegh Stadium, which is named aver NAC’s most important player, Antoon ‘Rat’ Verlegh, is the place where NAC Breda plays. In the Netherlands, they played in the second-highest tier (also known as Eerste Divisie) of football.
The foundation of NAC Breda
On 20 September 1912, two clubs NOAD and ADVENDO, merged to form a single club called NAC. The full form of NOAD is Nooit opgeven, Altijd Doorzetten in Dutch, and its English translation is never give up, always preserve. The full form of ADVENDO is Aangenaam Door Vermaak En Nuttig Door Ontspanning in Dutch, and it’s English translation is Pleasant for its entertainment and useful for its relaxation. The name NAC was proposed by Frans Konert when both clubs were arguing for the name of their choice. NOAD wants the name of the new club to be NOAD, which is derived by using the first two letters of both teams (NOad + ADvendo). The ADVENDOs don’t accept this name, so eventually, Frans Konert suggests the name NAC (NOAD ADVENDO Combinatie), which means NOAD ADVENDO Combination in English.
The golden age of NAC
On 28 October 1912, the NAC was allowed by NVB to play in the 2nd Southern Division, before that NVB refused to let NAC play association football. The first years of NAC were not that good until they moved to a new stadium named ‘t Ploegske. The results were improved dramatically, and as a result, they became one of the top teams in the highest Southern Division. The NAC became the champions of the highest Southern Division in 1919 and qualified to play in the Dutch Champions’ Competition. The Dutch Champions’ Competition was the competition for regional division champions to win the Dutch title. However, NAC finished in the last place in Dutch title, but still, NAC was one of the first clubs to play international matches. After one year of their defeat, NAC was finally able to win the Dutch football championship and was awarded golden watches. One of those watches is placed in the NAC museum, to know more click here
