Sportclub Cambuur, most often styled SC Cambuur () and sometimes Cambuur Leeuwarden, is a Dutch professional football club in Leeuwarden, the capital of Friesland. Founded on 19â¯Juneâ¯1964, the team compete in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of the Dutch football league system, but will play in the Eredivisie from the 2026âÂÂ27 season following promotion. Since August 2024, they have played their home games at the 15,000âÂÂseat Kooi Stadion, a purposeâÂÂbuilt stadium that replaced Cambuur Stadion.
Cambuur play in yellow shirts and blue shorts, colours drawn from the coat of arms of the Cammingha family, whose heraldic lions also feature on the club crest. Organised as a memberâÂÂowned association, the club enjoys strong regional backing and contests the "Friese Derby" against neighbouring sc Heerenveen.
The club have won the second-tier Eerste Divisie three times (1991âÂÂ92, 2012âÂÂ13 and 2020âÂÂ21) and spent a total of seven seasons in the top-tier Eredivisie. Away from the pitch Cambuur operate an accredited youth academy and the Cambuur Foundation, which runs grassroots sport and socialâÂÂinclusion programmes throughout Friesland.
Founded in 1964, SC Cambuur has spent a total of nine seasons in the Dutch top flight, the Eredivisie. During the 1980s and 1990s, the club was a consistent contender in the Eerste Divisie promotion play-offs. Cambuur won the Eerste Divisie title in 1992 and earned promotion to the Eredivisie, but were relegated two seasons later following the 1993âÂÂ94 season. In 1998, the club returned to the Eredivisie, though they were again relegated after just two seasons, in the 1999âÂÂ2000 season.
The early 2000s proved turbulent, and in 2005 the club narrowly avoided bankruptcy. A period of restructuring began in 2006, and by 2010 Cambuur had achieved relative financial stability.
In 2009, Cambuur came close to promotion, narrowly losing a play-off to Roda JC on penalties. The following year, they finished second in the league and again missed promotion by a slim margin. The club attracted over 40,000 spectators during that year's play-offs, with an estimated 7,000 supporters gathering in Leeuwarden's city centre to watch the decisive match against Roda on a large screen. The final match drew a record 1.4 million television viewers in the Netherlands, and the entire play-off seriesâÂÂfeaturing Cambuur, PEC Zwolle, and Roda JCâÂÂwas watched by more than 4.5 million people.
Cambuur won the Eerste Divisie title in the 2012âÂÂ13 season, earning promotion to the Eredivisie for the 2013âÂÂ14 season. On 1 May 2016, they were relegated back to the Eerste Divisie after a 6âÂÂ2 away defeat to PSV.
In 2020, Cambuur were leading the Eerste Divisie when the season was voided due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the club was controversially denied promotion to the Eredivisie.
The club returned to the top flight after winning the 2020âÂÂ21 Eerste Divisie title. In the 2021âÂÂ22 season, Cambuur achieved a ninth-place finishâÂÂthe highest league position in the club's history. However, the following campaign proved difficult, and on 6 May 2023, Cambuur were relegated back to the Eerste Divisie following a 3âÂÂ0 away defeat to FC Utrecht.
Cambuur has a group of ultras, known as the M.I.-Side, who stand on the north stand at the Kooi Stadion, but used to stand at both the north and south stands at the Cambuur Stadion. The name derives from the street names in which the stands of the Cambuur stadion were built: M stands for Marathonstraat and I for Insulindestraat. They are among the most notorious in the Netherlands. In the 2009âÂÂ10 season, the average attendance was 8,600 fans per game, and more than 6,500 season tickets were sold. That was a new record for Cambuur, as these numbers were achieved while the club was in the second division but even higher than when it played in the Eredivisie. In the 2009âÂÂ10 season, the club sold out six regular season matches with 10,000 fans per game, another milestone for the Leeuwarden-based club. Never before in the second division it had sold out that many regular season matches.
Below is a table with Cambuur's domestic results since the introduction of professional football in 1956.
Source:
The players below had senior international cap(s) for their respective countries. Players whose name is listed represented their countries while playing for SC Cambuur.