Football Season Guide

RKC Waalwijk had a mostly impressive and strong season in which they were one of the best teams in the division in the spring and went into the play-offs with a fair bit of momentum and expectation. But they could not quite get the better of Willem II in the second round of the play-offs, lacking a bit of quality and options in attack to carry them over the tie. Still, there is enough ground for optimism around the Brabant side ahead of the new season and they can rightly feel like they are not too far away from contending for the top places and a return to the Eredivisie at the end of the season. They bagged a fair few experience players in the camp in Finn Stokkers up front and Jordan de Wijs in defence that should bring up the quality of the overall group. Along with that, a few young and exciting players like Keyan Varela and Thijs van Leeuwen provide promise and excitement for the fans. In terms of departures, Jesper Uneken and Tim van de Leij up front are the most significant ones, with their combined 28 goals. Stokkers, Varela and Utrecht youngster Jesse Van de Haar will be the ones tasked with filling the gap and stepping up. In terms of midfield, Jochem Nap is an interesting addition as well while the team is also covered well at full-back with Nazijfr Held, Faisal Al Mazyani and Juan Castillo. Sander Duits has shown to be pretty flexible with his tactical set-up last season, often moving to three at the back while also using 4-3-3, and that could be a pretty important feature for the season ahead. Generally, this looks like one of the more complete squads in the division and they could be primed for a major push for promotion if they start well.