Let’s summarize the results of the Dutch championship
There is a new champion in Holland. PSV Eindhoven won the tournament, as they say in boxing, thanks to a clear advantage. The Brabant team was 7 points ahead of its closest competitor, also the previous champion, Feyenoord.
The second youth of Luc De Jong
PSV won the national championship for the 25th time. However, six years have passed since the previous championship. Therefore, it was not enough for the Brabant team to simply come first. It was necessary to win spectacularly. And Peter Bos, having returned home from France, really wanted to do something like that. After all, Bos was sacked by Lyon a month and a half into the Ligue 1 season, after which he remained unemployed for nine months.
After profitably selling Ibrahim Sangare, Javi Simons and Eric Gutierrez in the off-season for 30.6 and 5.5 million euros respectively, the Eindhoven club allowed themselves to make substantial purchases. The return of winger Hirving Lozano from Napoli cost 15 million. Dutchman Yerdi Schouten returned to his homeland for 13 million, forwards Noah Lang and Ricardo Pepi cost 12.5 and 9 million. And only Serginho Dest was simply rented by Barcelona. As you can see, expenses exceeded revenue.
But PSV he had a powerful season. 29 wins in 34 games. Only four draws and only one defeat. And then only in the 27th round from Nijmegen. The fate of the world title was now predetermined. Almost half of the matches were won with a high score, and the goal difference was simply prohibitive +90 – 111:21. Of the 111 goals, ten were scored by Guus Thiel, who was not used properly at Spartak. 21-year-old Johan Bakayoko, who became the discovery of the season, shocked his opponents twelve times. But particularly good was 33-year-old Luke De Jong, who played a lot both domestically and abroad: in Borussia Mönchengladbach, Newcastle, Sevilla and Barcelona. Luke sent 29 goals into the opponents’ goal and set his personal scoring record, surpassing the result of five years ago by one goal.
The paradoxes of Feyenoord
Only twice has the now former national champion Feyenoord left the pitch defeated. Just like in my golden season. Furthermore, in the championship just concluded, the Rotterdam team scored two points more. But this time “Feye” only pretended to chase the leader, so great was the Brabant advantage. However, the Rotterdam club faced Ajax twice: 4:0 in Amsterdam and 6:0 at De Kuip. Furthermore, Feye won the National Cup, beating Nijmegen 1:0 in the final. Once again, the pair of forwards Santiago Jimenez and Igor Paixao performed very powerfully: 23 and 9 goals, against 19-year-old Minte Yakuba, who scored 10 goals. And, of course, we can’t help but mention Kelvin Stangs, author of 12 assists. After winning the Dutch Cup, coach Arne Slot greeted the team and fans. He will now continue to work at Liverpool. And Feyenoord are actively looking for a new manager.
After a four-year break, Twente will play in the Champions League, having risen to third place. Although the Enschede club lost Manfred Ugalde in the winter, he was profitably sold to Spartak. The Reds made up for this loss by signing Myron Boadu, who once shone in Alkmaar and was not found in Munich. And veteran Ricky van Wolfswinkel was as good as ever, scoring 16 goals. A new coaching star has also emerged in the person of Joseph Osting. He is now seen as the future manager of Feyenoord.
Alkmaar, despite Vasilis Pavlidis’ 29 goals, remained fourth and did not qualify for the Champions League. “Syrovary” will play in the Europa League. Just like the famous Ajax, who had a failed season. Our site dedicated a separate article to the failures of the most successful club in the Netherlands.
From ninth place to Europe
The end of the season was wildly celebrated in Deventer, where the Go Ahead Eagles club, translated from English as “Go Eagles”, is based. Once a glorious club, four times Dutch champions. True, the last time the “eagles” became first was 91 years ago, in the 1932/33 season. It’s been a long time since then. The club has transformed from a giant into a wanderer between the leagues and a place of player promotion. The famous Mark Overmars took his first steps in football as part of the Eagles. In Deventer, Quincy Promes has become a serious player.
The last promotion in class occurred in 2021. Two seasons were dedicated to the battle for survival, both times with positive results. And in the season just concluded, the Go Ahead Eagles finished the main part of the championship in ninth place, with a positive goal difference of 47:46. We could have stopped there. But the Dutch championship includes an additional tournament for the Conference League ticket. Nijmegen, Utrecht and Sparta competed for the only ticket to Europe. The Deventer club was not considered one of the favourites. But the “eagles” broke the bank and received the coveted ticket.
Of course, the Conference League is not God knows what kind of tournament, but the Eagles are infrequent guests in European cups. Entering the European arena will help them maintain the squad. After all, many richer clubs look to goalkeeper Jeffrey De Lange, playmaker Philipp Rommens and a couple of Scandinavian strikers, almost namesakes: Norwegian Oliver Edvardsen and Swede Viktor Edvardson. But the Eagles’ main asset is their coach Rene Hake. The experienced specialist was a candidate for the position of head coach of Ajax. But with the Eagles finishing the season later than most teams, Hake focused on his team and called for staying power. Ajax did not wait and signed an agreement with the Italian Francesco Farioli. Rene Hake wasn’t particularly upset. Either he is happy with his current job, or he feels that Farioli won’t last long.
