Football Season Guide

De Graafschap's wait for a return to the Eridivisie goes on as they fell short in the play-offs at the end of last season, suffering a dramatic 3:2 home loss to Roda. It proved the end for Mike Snoei after two years in charge. There is fresh hope for the Blue and Whites from Doetinchem at the start of the new season as they aim to make the step up and progress as a club under the guidance of a bright coach in Reinier Robbemond. He has been an assistant in recent years but did well at Oss as a first-team manager back in 2014/15 and is a former De Graafschap player who understands the club well. He presides over one of the more impressive squads in the league that seems ready to challenge as long as they have some consistency. The midfield of Jonathan Opoku, Elmo Lieftink and Rick Dekker is up there with the most complete in the league and players like Danny Verbeek and Jesse Schuurman provide great cover in reserve. The Blue and Whites waved goodbye to veterans Ralf Seuntjens and Toine van Huizen but bought well in the summer too as Giovanni Korte will bring pace and directness down the wing and Hide Jurjus is a good keeper who should make the team more secure. Thus, this De Graafschap side is ready for a big leap and given that the level of the teams coming down from the upper division is not that impressive, there is a good opportunity to go for it and chase automatic promotion this season.