Football Season Review

Champions: VVV-Venlo

VVV-Venlo's 2016-2017 campaign has turned out into a huge success as the club managed to seal promotion back to the Eredivisie. The Venlo outfit showed the title ambitions from day one on and they eventually sealed the championship with ease. Maurice Steijn's men managed to claim the first spot in the Jupiler League after sixteen matches and the Venlo outfit was able to defend that top spot later on. This was actually quite surprising as VVV-Venlo had to perform better than big clubs like SC Cambuur, NAC Breda and De Graafschap. These clubs all entered a crisis at some point, though, which provided VVV-Venlo with the chance to seal promotion back to the Eredivisie. VVV-Venlo's squad contained the perfect mix of experienced players and promising youngsters. Ralf Seuntjens, who scored 28 goals in the 2016-2016 season, decided to stay in Venlo, which gave the club an enormous boost as well. The experienced striker didn't produce that many goals this year (16), but other players definitely made a name for themselves. Vito van Crooij for instance, a homegrown attacking midfielder, produced fourteen goals as well, which helped the club tremendously. VVV-Venlo's main quality this season was the consistency. Steijn's men recorded thirteen wins at home and twelve victories on the road, which shows that they played their own game and mainly managed to seal the results. The defence showed the best potential as well as VVV-Venlo conceded 35 goals in 38 matches. It was a great year all in all and this club will now search for a way to prevent the relegation back to the Jupiler League next season.


Player of the Season: Vito van Crooij