Football Season Guide

FC Utrecht finished an extremely good season in 4th position which was especially spectacular because of their poor start to the campaign. To improve on this fantastic result will be difficult but finishing the upcoming season between 4th and 7th in the Eredivisie, which leads to qualification for the Europa League play-offs, would be a satisfying achievement. Having finished the previous season in 4th spot, FC Utrecht immediately qualified for the preliminary rounds of the Europa League but they were only just eliminated in extra time by Zenit in the final qualifying round after a very spirited effort. FC Utrecht will have to deal with the departure of several important players. This is always the biggest disadvantage of a great season, when players catch the attention of other clubs. There have been rumours about a possible transfer of key player Sebastien Haller in every period that the transfer window was open in the previous two years but he has finally made the move to Eintracht Frankfurt now. Richairo Zivkovic played for FC Utrecht on loan from Ajax but has now made a transfer to KV Oostende while Sofyan Amrabat was taken from the Utrecht side by Feyenoord. Wout Brama has made a transfer to Australia, while the contracts of Nacer Barazite and goalkeeper Robbin Ruiter were not extended. They have made transfers to EY Malatyaspor and Sunderland respectively, while it looks likely that Yassine Ayoub will also make a transfer. Cyriel Dessers and Simon Makienok have been added to the squad to deal with the departure of Haller and Zivkovic but Makienok has already picked up a severe injury. Sander van de Streek and Anouar Kali will replace Barazite and Brama. Some more players have been added to the squad but it will be a challenge for coach Erik ten Hag to make his team function the way it did in the previous season with so many new players.