Debt-ridden football club Vitesse Arnhem appear to have struck an 11th-hour deal to save themselves from liquidation after businessman Guus Franke said he had agreed terms with American investor Coley Parry.

Parry’s demands to recoup the €14 million he lent the club in the last 18 months was the major obstacle standing in the way of a takeover by Franke, owner of the Swiss-based Axiom Partners and a self-declared lifelong Vitesse fan.

Reports earlier on Monday evening suggested that the deal had fallen through, meaning Vitesse would almost certainly have folded. The club was denied a professional licence by the Dutch football association KNVB for next season because it was unable to deliver a balanced budget.

After the club appealed, the KNVB set a deadline of 11.59pm on Monday for the club to meet its terms or lose any chance of playing in next season’s Keuken Kampioen Divisie.

Hundreds of fans who had gathered at the club’s training complex at Papendal as the deadline approached erupted in joy as news of the takeover was announced.

⚠️Update: “Definitief akkoord tussen Parry en Franke.” #Vitesse pic.twitter.com/XLeRo3RfHU

— SV Vitesse (@SVVitesse) July 1, 2024

Edwin Reijntjes, brought in by Vitesse as crisis manager, said he expected the club to win its appeal now it had met the KNVB’s terms. However, Vitesse will still have to satisfy the football association that it has dealt with all the other financial issues, such as the missing acccounts and lack of a bank account.

“It’s amazing how some processes work, especially as a deadline approaches. With this agreement we can arrange for all the required documents.

“We’ve submitted our professional licence application, including the budget and the request for a change of control. In short, we’ve made the deadline. We now have to wait for the case to be called.”

Injury time