The upcoming Eerste Divisie season will have four new teams competing in the league, Markus Wenzel provides a few facts to introduce you to the new boys.
Achilles´29
R.K.S.V. (Rooms-Katholieke SportVerenigung) Achilles´29 are from Groesbeek, a town in the eastern Netherlands, and has a population from 18,929 and is a near the border to Germany. The nearby city is Nijmegen.
Achilles´29 are one of the most successful amateur clubs of the Netherlands, since they were founded on 1st June 1929. There recent success has been remarkable, just last season, the Whiteblacks won the Topklasse Zondag for the second time in a row. Besides that they have won the KNVB Amateur Beker in 2011 and the Supercup for Amateurs twice in 2011 and 2012. They have also won some titles in the lower leagues and in the Districts. With last season’s title win in the Topklasse Zondag, Achilles was asked to join the Eerste Divisie by the KNVB and the team accepted the invitation.
Their stadium, the Sportpark De Heikant has been used since their inception and has a capacity of 4,500 seats.
Last season, the club won 22 games, lost 6 and drew twice with the best goal difference in the league (+47) only conceding 23 goals. The highest win was a 6-0 thrashing of SWZ from Sneek.
After the promotion, their successful coach Jan van Deinen announced that he would not lead them into professional football and quit. So Achilles has hired François Gesthuizen, from hoofklasser (4th Division) Blaauw Geel´38 from Veghel, to guide them this upcoming campaign.
Their only well known player is Thijs Hendriks, who played 4 games in the Eredivisie for NEC. No other player in their squad, as time of writing, has ever played higher than in the Topklasse.
Achilles´29 have had several great players in the past on their books like Arno Arts, midfielder who played top flight football for FC Twente, FC Utrecht and NEC or Barry Ditewig former goalkeeper for the now defunct SC Veendam and ADO Den Haag.
Apart from the first team Achilles´29 has 11 other senior teams, 1 womens team and 13 youth teams. Their archrivals are De Treffers, also a team from Groesbeek.
Jong Ajax
Jong Ajax, the reserve side of Eredivisie champions Ajax Amsterdam, are also on the way to their first season in professional football. The eight-time winner of the Beloften Eredivisie (1994, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2009) finished 4th last season in the league and was invited to take part as one of the four new teams in the newest implementation of the Eerste Divisie.
The team, likes the first team, plays 4-3-3, like every other team from the Ajax set-up. Just like a reserve side, they will consist of players who graduate from the Ajax youth academy or are unable to play in the first team due to injuries or players who cannot gain selection for the first team. Alfons Groenendijk, who played 22 times for Ajax himself, is in charge of the squad.
They will play their home games at Ajax’s sporting complex near to the Amsterdam Arena. De Toekomst, opened at the 14th August 1996, and will have a capacity to house 2,250 supporters. Only the home game against Jong PSV, will be played at the Amsterdam Arena due to the interest in that game.
Jong PSV
The Beloftenteam from PSV, Jong PSV, are four-time champions of the Beloften Eredivisie (1997, 2000, 2010, 2011) and they ended last season in 9th position.
Jong PSV will be the squad to introduce the talents from the youth to the senior football and give the talents from the first team some game practice. The team will be managed by former RKC Waalwijk player Darije Kalezic, whgo was last seen coaching De Graafschap.
The home games will be played at De Herdgang, the training complex of PSV. In an announcement before the new season, PSV announced that no fans from Willem II, FC Den Bosch, Jong Ajax, Jong FC Twente, MVV Maastricht, Fortuna Sittard, FC Dordrecht, FC Oss or De Graafschap will be welcome at De Herdgang for risks of crowd trouble.
Jong FC Twente
The two-time winners of the Beloften Eredivisie (2008, 2012) from Enschede were the last invited team to the Eerste Divisie for the upcoming season. Jong Twente, finished in the 8th last year in the competition for the Beloftenteams, and will try to help players to promote into the first team of FC Twente. Jan Zoutman has the task of leading the team, he managed Haarlem years ago in the Eerste Divisie.
Jong Twente will play their home games in the same stadium like the first team, De Grolsch Veste.
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