Victoria: the broken team that suddenly believed in the title

A lot of doubts, a turning point at HIC and a wintery statement from a player who initially could count on raised eyebrows. The Victoria women's title in the Promotional Class did not feel like a straight line upwards, but like a season in which a team had to reinvent itself. After the 2-4 win on Saturday at Push, 'Vic' returns to the Premier League, after four seasons in the Promotion Class.

'After the first few matches in the Promotion Class, I didn't immediately think: we will become champions,' says Sjoerd Woelders, who is in his first season as a trainer at the Kralingers. 'But if you look at the statistics, I think it is more than deserved in the end.'

That fragility was visible in the first weeks. Victoria started the season slowly, losing three times and drawing once. In the fifth round there was the away match at HIC, at the beginning of October. Not a panacea on paper, but in practice the tipping point. The score was 1-2 for 'Vic'. “We didn't even rightly win,” Woelders laughs. “It was women and children first. Fighting to stay upright.' That was precisely the value of that afternoon, Victoria turned out to have the Rotterdam mentality. 'When things weren't going well, we quickly became tense. Then it was her fault, then it was someone else's fault. From that match on, everyone started to look at themselves. So we could still fight.”