The Reds, as they are nicknamed, come from Bunschoten – Spakenburg, in the Dutch province of Utrecht, on the shores of the former IJsselmeer lake.

Promotion proved more difficult than expected, but after a play-off with VRC and VV Rijsoord, IJsselmeervogels secured a place in the Erste Klasse.

IJsselmeervogels gained national fame in the 1974/75 season for their excellent run in KNVB Cup, starting with wins over SV Limburgia and SC Amersfoort (the former professional club from the nearby large town).

Subsequently, IJsselmeervogels won their match against FC Groningen, then leaders of the Eerste Divisie, 2–1, and reached the quarter-finals.

AZ fielded celebrated players like Kees Kist and Hugo Hovenkamp, but Jan Vedder and Jaan de Graaf gave the amateurs a 0–2 lead.

AZ came back to equalise, but neither side could find the net during extra time, so the match had to be decided on penalty kicks.

With Philip den Haan joining as manager, results improved further, culminating in winning the Saturday league championship.

Under the guidance of coach Willem Leushuis they won the amateur title again, finishing far ahead of competitors ASWH, VV SHO and GVVV.

Dogan Corneille, their leader in midfield and a former professional player, used his experience to guide the team and raise overall standards.

First team players from Spakenburg were left-back Henri de Graaf and right-back Jan Pieter Hartog.

Kwong-Wah Steinrath, the top scorer, was signed by Haarlem and defender Stanley Tailor left IJsselmeervogels for FC Emmen.

The most notable transfer was that of left winger Gijs van Manen, who had mostly been on the bench only a year earlier at SDV Barneveld.

On 21 April 2007 at home, IJsselmeervogels won the league title for the third time in a row, beating neighbours Spakenburg were with goals from Dennis van der Steen and Jeffrey Winter.

With a great display of power, the first 2 games against Rijnsburgse Boys and HHC Hardenberg were won, which meant a draw in their third match would suffice for IJsselmeervogels to win the title.

Kwong-Wah Steinraht and Gijs van Manen returned after one-year adventures at HFC Haarlem and FC Utrecht and Joost Kuhlmann and Bryan Simons joined from Rijnsburgse Boys.

Also leaving were Dogan Corneille (BVV Barendrecht), Jaap de Feijter (Veensche Boys), Tom Gesgarz (DOVO), Alexander de Jong, Paul Verboom, Sjoerd van der Waal (all ASWH) and Erwin Schouten (VV Nunspeet).

With an almost completely new team, including a number of former professional players, led by Roy Wesseling, IJsselmeervogels dominated the Saturday Hoofdklasse B from the first round.

Under Zoutman's leadership, performances improved drastically, and in the second half of the season IJsselmeervogels dropped points in only one game.

NAS provides atmosphere at IJsselmeervogels matches, and arranges darts evenings, parties and a wide range of other activities.

Three weeks later, IJsselmeervogels were crowned amateur champions of the Netherlands for the seventh time in their history, with two 2-0 wins over FC Oss (who used their right to be promoted straight to the First Division (Jupiler League).

Coach Jan Zoutman received a red card in the opening match against CVV de Jodan Boys (a 2–1 defeat) for knocking over a linesman.

Considering the bad results after the winter holiday, however, the IJsselmeervogels board decided to terminate the manager's contract with five matches to go.

At the end of the 2015/16 season, the club did not qualify for the newly formed Tweede Divisie, the highest amateur level of the Dutch football pyramid.

As of 20 March 2024 Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply.

Their rivalry reached boiling point in 1987, when during the penultimate match of the season, a bomb made by an IJsselmeervogels supporter exploded and injured a linesman.

In 1999, however, relations worsened considerably when Spakenburg offered a large sum of money to sign two star players from the Reds' championship team (Gérard van der Nooij and Pascal de Bruijn).

The media pay considerable attention to the derby, which is covered in sports magazines like Voetbal International and by Dutch national broadcaster NOS.