SC Cambuur

Cambuur were one of the top teams in the league last season and overcame a very poor opening two months of the campaign to emerge as a solid top-four contender that at times even closed the gap to the top two. Henk de Jong developed a young side to become quite an effective attacking force while being solid enough defensively and they look in a good place come the play-offs. Yet, they fumbled their lines against a pretty mediocre Den Bosch side and went out 2:1 on aggregate, thus seeing their dream of playing in the top flight disappear for another year. Now the Yellow and Blues start the season as probably the most realistic candidate to challenge for promotion from the sides remaining in the division from last season. They did lose some strong performers from last season, chiefly Bryan Nieling and Tyrique Mercera, but have also made significant additions to their squad and from interesting places too, getting Austrian striker Nicolas Binder and winger Oscar Sjöstrand, alongside experienced players like Jamal Amofa and Rik Mulders. The squad as a whole now looks quite rounded and with good competition for places and the runaway is clear for players like Mathias Nartey, Thomas Galvez, Tony Rolke and Remco Balk to continue improving and becoming more important for the first team. The one worry is maybe in the centre forward spot as Binder should hit the ground running right away as there are not many options apart from him up front at the moment. Overall, the aim for de Jong will be to avoid the sort of mishaps from the early stages of last season happening again in order keep pace at the top of the standings in the face of stiff competition as they have a genuine chance at automatic promotion this season.