It's 1896 - Tilburg has a population of 38,000 and Holland 5,000,000-  as Gerard Ruiter, gaining experience at the workshops of Dutch Railways (NS) as part of his study for a technical diploma in Amsterdam, decides he'd like to play some football and starts to look around for like minded people. At the time football was not particularly well known  in the province of North Brabant but, on August 12th 1896, he managed to interest 12 others in attending a meeting in Café Marinus. A team is put together, a name is decided on, "Tilburgia", and by January 12th 1898 the club is already known as Willem II (named after the Dutch prince of the time, later King Willem II 1840-1849). He had his headquarters during the Belgian uprising in Tilburg and, until his death in 1849, he remained loyal to the club and the town. The team played on various 'pitches', there being no 'fixed address'. At first it was more like a social club, and the team only played in the Brabantse Voetbal Bond, until they joined the Nederlandse Voetbal Bond in 1904 and, in 1905, played their first matches at Koningshoeven.  

The 'road' leading to Koningshoeven, the Voetbalweg,  was an unsurfaced 'lane' which, after rain, became a muddy track. The ground belonged to the Van den Bergh manufacturing family who gave the club their first red-white and blue shirts (actually left over after the demise of another team East-Holland's Wilhelmina). Until 1916 football is dominated by teams such as HVV, UVV and Sparta playing in the west of the country. That same year saw a change when Willem II became the first team from outside the Randstad (the major cities of Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Den Haag and Utrecht) to win the League Champions, beating Go Ahead 1- 0 in Deventer. Walter van den Bergh, Harrie van Gerwen, Louis Marsé, Pim Versluys, Harrie Mommers, Louis Schollaert , Harrie van Asten, Jos van Son, Toon Van Son, Tinus van Beurden and Jef Briaire being the famous eleven welcomed by thousands when they got off the train. The construction of the Wilhelmina canal meant the club had to leave Koningshoeven for pastures new and in 1924 they signed a 10 year contract with the Roomsch Katholiek Tilburgsch Sportpark on the Goierleseweg, where the club are still based today. The old stand and goal posts went with them and soon 6,000 fans were watching the "Tricolores" play and win their first match 6 - 2 against EVV Eindhoven. During the 20's and 30's the club built on their reputation and status by playing against many foreign clubs.

The German occupation during World War 2 began with the sport being reorganised within 10 weeks! The league went on as "normal", Willem II won the Eerste Klasse Zuid in 1943 and in 1944 they won the NVB Cup. Football was more popular than ever during those hard times, although attending a match was a risk in itself. The Germans saw these large gatherings as potential trouble and, indeed, the team strip (red, white and blue) gave opposing supporters the chance to show their patriotic feelings by cheering the Tricolores! Unfortunately, the shortage of fuel for heating meant that much of the wooden stands were stripped and ended up on the fires of nearby families.

 After the chaos of liberation the Dutch League got going again in the summer of 1945 but there was no money to rebuild the ground and stands. The local municipal council decided to buy the Sportspark in 1946 and construction started on new accomodation. In 1948 the new ground was officiallyd with a game between a team from Tilburg and a Surinam team but the building work wasn't completed until 1957 when the main stand and reception area were completed. While the work went on Willem II had to play their matches on a ground belonging to colleagues NOAD. These were golden days for the club who profitted from the expertise of Czech trainer Dr. Frantisek Fadrhonc ) It wasn't easy getting used to his new methods but the hard work payed off in 1951 when the club became divisional champions and the following year national champions - on June 16th 1952 they beat Ajax 2 - 1 in the Olympic Stadium. They were not only unbeaten that season but lost not one single point - a unique record in Dutch football. The team was: Cees Botermans, Jef Mertens, Piet van Beers, Janus Wagener, Frans van Loon, Rinus Formannoy, Jo Mommers, Piet de Jong, Sjel de Bruijckere, Jan van Roessel, Toon Becx and Gerrit Verreyt as reserve.

At the end of the 1954/55 season four teams in Brabant formed a quartet of footballing talent - PSV, EVV Eindhoven, NAC and Willem II fought it out for the title League Champions and the Tilburgers came out top! The successful team was: Chris Feijt, Jan Smolders, Jo Mommers (replaced due to a broken leg by Piet van Bladel), Rinus Formannoy, Frans van Loon, Piet van Beers, Piet de Jong, Sjel de Bruijckere, Jan van Roessel, Jan Brooijmans and Toon Becx. Willem II allowed PSV to take their place in the European Cup 1. In November 1954 the KNVB introduced semi-professional football and all three Tilburg clubs took on the challenge (Longa, NOAD and Willem II). It was not easy to make the switch to professional status and the club went through some tough times including demotion to the first division. The German Kurt Zaro became the club's first foreign player and he proved a golden boy, attracting extra crowds. The first public discussions took place in 1958 over the possible merger of all three clubs in the town, and they were to go on until the end of the 1970's with various attempts being made (including a role for the municipal council) without result. 

As the Sixties began the club was still in the doldrums, with financial difficulties and problems on pitch as well. At the end of the 1962/63 season they went down to the First Division but had more success in the KNVB Cup competition. They got to the final where they beat ADO Den Haag 3 - 0 and qualified for the European Cup Winners Cup competition. They drew the powerful Manchester United but, as their own ground had no floodlighting, the match was played in the Rotterdam Kuip stadium. They did well with the following players (René Dijckmans, Theo van Doremalen, Jan Brooijmans, Jo Walhout, Henk Vriens, Gerrit de Wit, Willy Senders, Gabor Keresztes, Cooy Koopal, Piet Timmermans and Frits Louer)  to hold Manchester to a 1 - 1 draw but didn't have a chance away where they went down 6 - 1. Between 1963 and 1973 they were predominantly to be found playing in the First division except for the seasons 1965/66 and 1966/67 when they were back in the Premier division during a period of the club's history characterised by reorganisation and financial difficulties.

In 1974 Willem II got a lot of attention in the media when theyd Holland's first youth academy. The hoped for revival at the club didn't happen and the hopes and predictions of trainer Jan Brouwer refused to materialise. Instead things got worse, the team ending 18th in 1973/74, the lack of improvement in the following years causing a sharp drop in attendances (hundreds rather than thousands). The absolute low point was the passing away on January 26th 1977 of veteran Chairman Doctor Bert Schuerman. 'The Doctor', as he was known, joined the board of governors on February 27th 1936 and was chairman from July 22nd 1946 until his death. A shame he was unable to see the club gain promotion to the Premier Division  in 1978/79 under new trainer Henk de Jonge. The fans started to return and football fever took over Tilburg once more - things were looking up again! Now only the finances remained a cause for concern.

Despite their promotion the storm clouds were gathering again. The financial problems besetting the club had taken on alarming proportions -  professional football was still being run as an association, which was not capable of dealing with the complicated day to day financial management the club was in need of. It came as a shock when the FIOD tax investigators came to call just before Christmas 1981. They uncovered huge debts which threatened to bankrupt the club if swift action was not taken. On June 28th 1982 the courts gave the club enough breathing space to allow  temporary management, under the leadership of Wim Groels, to take care of paying off outstanding debts and to formulate a rescue plan with the help of subsidies from the municipal council. In October 1982 the team make their first appearance with shirt sponsoring -  a contract for two years was signed with Tempofoon and floodlight facilities were hired from, and financed by, the KNVB. Funds were raised locally to the tune of €90,760 Euros and, together with arrangements made with debtors and tax authorities, enough financial space was created to enable an independent management structure to turn annual  losses of €272, 270 into a profit of €136,130. The pressures of the financial rescue plan had their effects on the team's performance and they were demoted in 1984 but the club have never made a loss since (in itself unique in modern Dutch football). 

From 1985 onwards things only got better as the club reinforced its youth academy, reorganised the amateur wing, and built new accomodation for the social club. Finally, in 1987 the team were promoted back to the Premier Division and the team's attractive, attacking style was rewarded with an-end-of-season 4th place. The fan-friendly attitude under trainer Piet de Visser (a man determined to see Willem II become a major footballing force) led to the club being awarded the title "Club of the Year" in 1987 and 1990. Football had become big business and sponsors were eager to participate in the club's successes. On May 31st 1995 Mayor Brokx officiallyd the completely modernised stadium on the Goirleseweg with capacity for 14,700 fans. Combined with healthy finances and a professional organisation the club was in excellent shape. In August 1996 there was plenty to celebrate during the Centenary celebrations. Top players such as Marc Overmars, Jaap Stam and Jean-Paul van Gastel missed the party, having been sold, and the money received, though welcome, couldn't quite compensate for their departure. However, life goes on...

June 1997 was the month Co Adriaanse, formerly head of Ajax's youth academy, started work as trainer-coach on a 3-year contract. The team got off to a poor start but the new coach's work started to bear fruit and team performances improved dramatically, the fans poured back into the stadium to see the good work and the team ended 5th - something which had seemed impossible at the start of the season. This terrific result gave the club their first European adventure in 35 years -  a coveted place in the UEFA Cup. The first round went fine with two 3-0 wins against Dynamo Tbilisi but they were eliminated in the second round by an away defeat at the hands of Real Betis Sevilla after a 1-1 draw at home. The second season under Adriaanse was even better - after a fantastic series of games in the latter half of the season the team ended the season in 2nd place behind Feyenoord. They became the first Dutch club outside of the Big Three (Feyenoord, Ajax and PSV) to qualify for a place in the Champions League. The eleven of the day were: Jimmy van Fessem, Geoffrey Prommayon, Sami Hyppiä, Raymond Victoria, Delano Hill, Adil Ramzi (Ousmane Sanou), Tomás Galásek, Arno Arts, Jatto Ceesay, Mariano Bombarda (Mark Schenning), Yassine Abdellaoui (Erwin Hermes). The sale of season tickets reached unknown heights -  10,000 and the total attendance for the season was 204,780. On May 24th 1999 the club were awarded the title Club of the Year at the annual WCS professional football gala awards. Everyone waited impatiently to see who the club's Champions League opponents would be.

Play in red, white and blue and their home ground the Willem II Stadium can accomodate 14,700 fans. They were League Champions in 1916, 1952 and 1955 and won the Dutch FA Cup in 1944 and 1963. Coached to second place in 1998/1999 under the present Ajax trainer Co Adriaanse, qualifying  them for the Champions League.