Almere City will make their debut in the Eredivisie as they welcome FC Twente on Sunday. The Eerste Divisie’s arduous playoffs were overcome by the top-flight newcomers to secure their first-ever spot in the Eredivisie in their 22-year history.
Preview (Almere City vs FC Twente)
Almere went the long way to achieve promotion last season after placing third in the regular season. They fell one spot shy of the automatic promotion spots. Their subsequent opponents, VVV-Venlo, required a penalty shootout to defeat them. Their opponents missed all four of their attempts, with goalie Nordin Bakker saving three of them.
Almere will play in the top division for the first time since its founding in 2001; they previously spent 18 seasons in the second division. They had a successful preseason as well, going unbeaten in all four of their friendlies while scoring eight goals. Twente is up first, followed by Feyenoord and PSV Eindhoven in the first five games for Alex Pastoor’s team—all teams that made it to Europe. Although this will be the teams’ first top-flight encounter, they did meet in the 2018–19 campaign following Twente’s shocking relegation. Twente completed the double, won the championship that year, and hasn’t looked back since.
Enschede has undergone a significant shift as there are no longer any relegation concerns following the club’s second consecutive qualification for the Europa Conference League. Twente required the playoff route to secure their position in Europe this season after finishing fourth in 2021–22. They must overcome three separate sets of qualifying rounds. They have made a respectable start under new manager Joseph Oosting, who took over for Ron Jans in the summer.
Twente overcame a slight scare against Hammarby to win 2-1. They defeated Riga FC 2-0 on Thursday to take a commanding advantage into the second leg next week. After narrowly missing out on the competition last season in the playoff round, reaching the main competition would be the goal. But should both teams advance? They will likely meet Turkish powerhouses Fenerbahce, who have made significant summer purchases.
Team News
The starting lineup for Almere will mainly be the same as the one that earned them promotion last season. They have only added Sherel Floranus and Peer Koopmeiners, the younger brother of Teun Koopmeiners from Atlanta, so far. Ilias Alhaft, who decided to join FC Noah in Armenia, is the only senior player to have left. In terms of injuries, Kornelius Hansen and Faiz Mattoir are both out due to ongoing problems.
For Twente’s midweek European match, Oosting was virtually at full strength, but the goals came from two players who were given a rare chance to play in the lineup. Daan Rots and Alfons Sampsted didn’t play together often last year, but they were paired on the right wing on Thursday, and both scored in the victory over Riga. After a summer of notable departures, Naci Unuvar and Younes Taha have arrived to reinforce in numerous areas.
Vaclav Cerny left for Wolfsburg after scoring 14 goals and assisting 13 more in the Eredivisie previous season, while fellow winger Virgil Misidjan transferred to Saudi Arabia. Another important player, midfielder Ramiz Zerrouki, left for Feyenoord, and Julio Pleguezuelo unexpectedly joined Plymouth Argyle. Almere’s debut game at this level will be a tremendous task, so they’re hoping Twente will be a little tired from their midweek misadventures in Europe. Twente should have enough to win on opening day despite having a new manager and losing many of their top players during the summer.
Almere City 1 – 3 Twente
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