Football Season Guide

Heerenveen are coming off a disappointing season, finishing in 11th place and thus failing to achieve the minimum goal of qualifying for the playoffs. The main problem was being able to count only on Pelle van Amersfoort as a central forward, given that Ion Nicolaescu was injured for a long time, however, the sector that suffered the most was the defense, 70 goals conceded, the fifth worst in the Eredivisie. During the summer transfer market the team has changed face starting from the bench where in place of Kees van Wonderen will sit former Dutch international forward Robin van Persie. In defense, Sven van Beek and Syb van Ottele were replaced by the reliable Sam Kersten and the promising youngster Mateja Milovanovic from the Ajax youth system. In midfield, two stalwarts like Anas Tahiri and Thom Haye left and in their place came the little-known Amara Condé and Levi Smans. In attack, the team's top scorer from last season Van Amersfoort was sold and in Friesland, Danilo Al-Saed and Ilias Sebaoui, a promising youngster on loan from Feyenoord, arrived. The Frisians' season will depend a lot on the inclusion of the new signings, given that the changes have mainly occurred in the team's key sector, namely the midfield. Furthermore, another unknown is represented by the new coach, a former great player, but totally inexperienced as a coach, having so far only coached in the youth sectors of Feyenoord.