but did not manage to qualify for a European competition even though they finished near the top several times. They only qualified for Europe once when they lost in the finals of the KNVB Cup in 1975, but they lost in the first round, 5–3 on aggregate, to Anderlecht. In the 1986–87 season they finally finished high enough for the European Cup play-offs in the Netherlands, but lost their place to Utrecht. One year later they finished 15th and struggled to avoid relegation to the Eerste Divisie. They did, however, reach the finals of the KNVB Cup. Since PSV already had a place in Europe by winning the Eredivisie, Roda JC also earned a place in the European Cup. With the financial backing of entrepreneur Nol Hendriks, this was the club's most memorable European campaign, when Roda made it through the winter in the European Cup Winners' Cup before succumbing to the superb strikers of Bulgarian Sredets Sofia, Hristo Stoichkov, Lyuboslav Penev and Emil Kostadinov, who became superstars in Europe's major football leagues. Two years later, they finished fifth twice, but only once gained a place in a European competition. They did well in the KNVB Cup in 1990–91, reaching the semi-finals, and a year later reached the finals. Dutch and European success (1994–2002) Since 1994, the club has managed to achieve several successes both in Europe and the Netherlands during the Nol Hendriks era. Most notable was their second-place finish in the Eredivisie in 1994–95. They also won the KNVB Cup twice, in 1996–97 and 1999–2000. As a result of these successes, they qualified for several European competitions. In the 1997–98 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, Roda was eliminated in the quarter-finals by Vicenza 1–9 on aggregate. Roda's most memorable European match was played on 28 February 2002. After a 0–1 defeat at the hands of Milan in Kerkrade, Roda caused panic at San Siro by winning the return leg by the same score (0-1). The only goal scored during this match was made by Mark Luijpers. Roda even took the lead in the penalty shoot-out, but ended up losing the series, only being one penalty away from eliminating Milan. Since then, Roda have only qualified twice for the UEFA Intertoto Cup, in 2003–04 and 2004–05. In later years, they did manage to qualify for the play-offs but never won it. Roda's position in Dutch football is best illustrated by