Heracles Almelo () is a Dutch professional football club based in Almelo, founded in 1903. The club has won the Dutch national title twice, in 1927 and 1941. Heracles won the Eerste Divisie title in 2004âÂÂ05, gaining promotion to the Eredivisie for the first time in 28 years. The club remained in the top flight for 17 seasons before suffering relegation at the end of the 2021âÂÂ22 season.
In 2012, they reached the KNVB Cup final for the first time, losing to PSV in the final. The club's main rival is Twente.
The club was founded on 3 May 1903 as Heracles, after the demigod son of Zeus. They changed their name on 1 July 1974 to SC Heracles '74 and finally settled on the current name in 1998.
Heracles finished sixth in the Eredivisie during the 2015âÂÂ16 season, qualifying for the end of season European play-offs. The club first defeated Groningen and then Utrecht and thus qualified for the first time in club history for European football, starting in the third qualifying round of the 2016âÂÂ17 UEFA Europa League.
A run of three consecutive losses saw Heracles end the 2021âÂÂ22 season in sixteenth place, condemning them to the promotion/relegation play-offs. The club were relegated to the Eerste Divisie after losing 6âÂÂ1 to Excelsior on aggregate in the semifinals. Less than a year later, the Heraclieden sealed an immediate return to the top flight, with a 3âÂÂ0 home win over Jong PSV securing them a top two finish in the 2022âÂÂ23 Eerste Divisie and only a week after PEC Zwolle had done so. On 19 May 2023, Heracles won their third Eerste Divisie title after defeating Jong Ajax in the last round of play.
Heracles Almelo currently play at the Asito Stadion in Almelo. The Asito Stadion was built in 1999 with a capacity 6,900, this was expanded in 2005 to hold 8,500. After renovation of the stadium at the beginning of 2015âÂÂ16 season, it currently holds 13,500 spectators.
Below is a table with Heracles Almelo's domestic results since the introduction of the Eredivisie in 1956.
The following players were called up to represent their national teams in international football and received caps during their tenure with Heracles Almelo:
Member associations are listed in order of most to least amount of current and former Heracles Almelo players represented Internationally
The following is a list of Heracles Almelo players who have competed in international tournaments, including the FIFA World Cup, AFC Asian Cup and the CONCACAF Gold Cup. To this date no Heracles players have participated in the UEFA European Championship, Africa Cup of Nations, Copa América. or the OFC Nations Cup while playing for Heracles Almelo.