The name Merlijn is derived from the wise council of King Arthur from the story “King Arthur and his knights of the round table”. With this name T.S.V.V. Merlijn associates itself with the founders of football; the Englishmen. Councilor Merlin also stands for wisdom, bravery and pride.

T.S.V.V. Merlijn was founded on May 13th, 1968 by, among others, Berry de Beer. More than ten years later, to be precisely August 10th, 1979, T.S.V.V. Merlijn registered with the notary and from that moment on the articles of our association have officially come into force. In addition, T.S.V.V. Merlijn also registered with the Chamber of Commerce on this day. After several years of 3 and even 4 teams having appeared in various competitions of the K.N.V.B., the number of members declined in the late 1980s. In 1996 it was decided to put T.S.V.V. Merlijn on non-active since there was not enough interest anymore among students to defend the colors of the T.S.V.V.

However, more than two years later the idea arose, among a number of football players who already trained at the Sports Center, to set up a football association. After these boys participated in a team at the European Student Football Championships, the idea had been put into practice which was also strengthened by a permanent group of students that wanted to do more together (in an association). For this reason, this group of fanatic soccer players decided to breathe new life into Merlijn around mid-1999. The result was the installation of a six-person board in November 1999 that was committed to the re-establishment of T.S.V.V. Merlijn in the spring of 2000.

After we started in the season ’00 / ’01 with one team on the field on Sunday, T.S.V.V. Merlijn has not stopped growing. There are currently 13 field teams active, of which 2 women’s teams and 4 men’s teams on Sunday and 7 men’s teams on Saturday. In addition, 2 Merlijn futsal teams are playing matches on weekdays in the competitions of the Tilburg Futsal Association (TZVB).

The Clubsong (in Dutch)

The clubsong is made on the rhythm of the song “Milord”

T.S.V.V. Merlijn, en niemand krijgt ons klein,

Wat zullen wij vanavond straal bezopen zijn,

We drinken heel veel bier,

En maken veel plezier,

Het bier is op, dus zet de nieuwe kan maar neer,

Lalalalalala Lalalalalala Lalalalalalalalalalalala.