Football Season Guide

Even though they started the season very slowly, picking up just 2 points out of the initial 5 games, SC Heerenveen were a case of success in the last campaign, as they obtained an 8th place finish, consistent with their past decade, only 5 points away from Ajax. In fact, they earned themselves the right to play the European playoffs but they did not go far in the competition, losing their semifinal to FC Utrecht. Overall, their campaign was characterized by a decent attack, they scored 57 goals, while they were slightly too vulnerable defensively, as they conceded 53 times. Moreover, they did very well in home soil, losing only 3 times and representing a great hurdle for any opponents and top teams like AZ Alkmaar or NEC Nijmegen. They were much less consistent when playing away, though. Coach Robin Veldman, at his first season fully in charge after taking the reins of the team in the middle of the previous year, proved to be a great asset for the club and will be expected to repeat his magics also in the new campaign. Surprisingly enough, SC Heerenveen were almost inactive during the summer, they signed just 1 player in left-back Bladi, a back-up at the most, while they lost a couple of key players in Nordas and van Overeem. The former, who left a mark at the club despite limited playing time, was called back by his parent club, Luton Town, thus leaving Vente as the sole striker at disposal of the coach. With 10 assists overall, midfielder Van Overeem was their last-pass leader but, at 32, he was let go to Utrecht for a little sum of money. He has not been properly replaced yet, thus leaving Heerenveen short-manned also in the middle of the park. With many players close to the end of their contracts and some of their best players lured by bigger clubs’ money, this is the case of their top scorer, winger Trenskow, and midfielder Linday, Heerenveen are still a work in progress.