Football Season Guide

Helmond Sport had a troubled last season, proving disastrous from November onward, as they managed to win only 3 out of the last 27 games played. Surprisingly, the campaign had started off in the best of fashion as they even made the top of the league come the end of October. Then, an unstoppable fall started, though. By early February, as they were sitting on the 12th place of the table, coach Kevin Hofland was eventually sacked, after only 7 months in charge. Then, quirky Robert Maaskant was handed the reins of the team but proved incapable of setting an end to their dive. Helmond Sport thus closed the season on the 13th place, having failed to make the top 10 for more than a decade, and decided for a major overhaul. Firstly, Maaskant was logically let go and Jurgen Seegers, at his first experience at this level as a head coach, took over. Then, the squad was literally dismantled with no less than 16 players gone, among them 8 starters, while just 8 new players were signed so far. The goalie department was completely renewed with starting Van der Steen and back-up Hendriks both gone while Bergsen, coming from a forgettable experience at Maribor, and Wetges, arriving from ADO Den Haag, will be battling for a start. At the back, they basically lost all the starters since Dekkers and Halhal returned to their parent clubs, Scholz was sold and Pachonik was released. Van den Eynden could thus step up as a starter in the heart of the defence, with newly-arrived Koglin and Poll also protagonists. There is a doubt at right-back where Ogenia might not be suited enough as a starter. In the midfield, 21-year-old starting Doudah and Golliard left, while no relevant signing was made yet, apart from inexperienced Makanza. The attack saw the departure of both their strikers, Smits and Van den Hurk (21 goals and 6 assists altogether) but also saw the arrival of 30-year-old Lukowicz, who scored plenty of goals in the lower German leagues.