2026/2027 season

Eredivisie

Team page
Eredivisie · Team page
NEC Nijmegen
Head coach: Dick Schreuder · 4-2-3-1
Rank
11th
Pts
9
P
8
Form
🟠 Poor

The essentials at a glance

The summary of this page: estimated level of play, form trend and qualitative verdict. For the details, head to the other tabs.

Editors' ratings
4/10
Attack
7/10
Defence
2/10
Form
3/10
Confidence / mood
Current risk:Low

11th with 9 pts from 8 matches: 2 wins, 3 draws, 3 defeats.

13 goals scored, 14 conceded.

Van Beuker, former player of Feyenoord, NEC and Vitesse, was previously suspended for sixty days by the KNVB. He was also fired by GVVV. The Veenendaal club also fired his brother Dennis van Beuker, who was the main trainer.

NOS Voetbal · 16 Oct 2026 · machine-translated

Dusan Tadic and NEC, it doesn't seem like a happy marriage. Thursday night the Serb fell out injured against Levski Sofia. The European adventure gets a tail... The Gelderlander: Tadic possibly longer out The regional newspaper De Gelderlander reports that Dusan Tadic will be absent from NEC in the near future. The Serbian attacker hit the [...] Continue reading..

Soccernews · 16 Oct 2026 · machine-translated

NEC responded to the incidents surrounding the Europa League match against Levski Sofia. There were many Bulgarian fans in the stands during that game. The Nijmegen club explained with a statement how that could happen.

Voetbalprimeur · 17 Oct 2026 · machine-translated

Darko Nejasmic hates the form of NEC. The Nijmegenaren are already waiting for a victory. The Croatian midfielder also tells about his future at the club.

Voetbalprimeur · 17 Oct 2026 · machine-translated

How the team has played recently

Match-by-match results, record and rhythm of the current season.

Latest matches
Dvs AFC Ajax (A) · 1-1
Dvs Go Ahead Eagles (H) · 1-1
Lvs SC Cambuur-Leeuwarden (A) · 0-3
Dvs SBV Excelsior (H) · 2-2
Lvs Feyenoord Rotterdam (H) · 1-3
WWDDDLLL
13 scored / 14 conceded over 8 matches played
Rest: 8 days since the last match · 1 match played in the last 15 days
Home form
0W - 2D - 2L
Away form
2W - 1D - 1L
Statistics

Computed from this season's scores, every time the page is shown.

Goals scored per match
1.0
Goals conceded per match
2.0
At home
4 scored · 6 conceded in 3 matches
Away
1 scored · 4 conceded in 2 matches
Over 2.5 goals
3 of 5
Both teams score
4 of 5
Clean sheets
0 of 5
Failed to score
1 of 5
Cumulative points vs league average

Not enough matchdays recorded yet for this curve — history builds up with every standings refresh.

How NEC Nijmegen play

System, playing identity, and what sets the team apart at both ends of the pitch.

Playing identity
Preferred system
4-2-3-1
Philosophy
Dick Schreuder, in charge since July 2025, has a squad in which highly experienced leaders (Dusan Tadic, Tjaronn Chery, Bram Nuytinck, Jamiro Monteiro, Perr Schuurs) mentor young players such as Adam Tahaui and Noé Lebreton. The club further strengthened this axis on 28 August 2026 by recruiting Dennis Geiger, whom Schreuder had already coached before.
Attacking strengths
Eight goals in three Eredivisie matchdays (1-2 against Telstar, 4-1 at Willem II, 3-1 at PEC Zwolle). Captain Tjaronn Chery is the club's top scorer with 3 goals, including two penalties converted in the first half at Zwolle on 29 August.
Defensive solidity
Four goals conceded in three Eredivisie matchdays, for a goal difference of +4. The European record is considerably heavier: 6-1 on aggregate over the two-legged tie against Bodø/Glimt, with goalkeeper Gonzalo Crettaz sent off as early as the 2nd minute of the second leg for a handball outside his area.
Pressing
At Zwolle on 29 August 2026 (1-3), NEC clearly dropped their block deeper after half-time, according to FCUpdate's match report.
Transitions
StrengthChery's efficiency, particularly from the penalty spot, and squad depth allowing the team to cope with European and league fixtures back-to-back. The return of Perr Schuurs, who scored in the 83rd minute at Zwolle after almost three years without an official match, adds an option in central defence.
WeaknessAn opening home defeat 1-2 against promoted side Telstar on 8 August. In Europe, the team fell apart after Crettaz's red card and lost 3-0 in Norway. The run of European fixtures has already caused league matchdays to be postponed.

The mood around the club, and who is missing

Internal climate, relationship with the supporters, and known absences before the next match.

Mood
Squad confidence
A mixed record: elimination from the Champions League on 25 August against Bodø/Glimt and a drop into the Europa League, but an immediate response with a 3-1 win at PEC Zwolle on 29 August. The club sit 7th with 6 points in 3 matchdays. Dick Schreuder said he was “incredibly proud” of his players after the European elimination.
Coach / players / board relationship
After the win at Zwolle (1-3), Dick Schreuder said he was not surprised by his team's average level and pointed back to his own warnings from the off-season: “Nee, het was niet best, maar dit heb ik in de zomer al gezegd”, adding “Dit wordt een ander jaar voor alles en iedereen” (Voetbal International, late August 2026). Perr Schuurs, who scored on his return after 1,043 days, said for his part he was “de trainer en de club heel dankbaar”.
Mood with the supporters
The away section at the Goffert will be empty for the visit of Feyenoord on 5 September 2026: after Rotterdam supporters set off fireworks at Cambuur on 23 August, Nijmegen mayor Hubert Bruls threatened to ban Feyenoord fans in the absence of arrests (NU.nl, 25/08/2026), before Feyenoord itself denied its own supporters this trip (NL Times, 26/08/2026).
Pressure on the head coach
Club objectives
Keeping pace in the Eredivisie while discovering the European league phase.
Recent internal tensions
In early August 2026, GOAL reported that Dick Schreuder said he was deeply disappointed that an internal agreement regarding Kodai Sano had not been honoured during Champions League qualifying. Information not corroborated by a second source.
Absences
InjuredAhmetcan Kaplan — The defender is unavailable.
InjuredPhilippe Sandler — The defender is also among the injured in the Nijmegen squad.

Before kick-off

What to know before the next match: statistical form, qualitative analysis, and a computed estimate of the 1/X/2 probabilities.

Next match

NEC Nijmegen — Fortuna Sittard

At homeSunday 18 October at 20:00Matchday 9
It's today. Kick-off time confirmed by the league. Paris time · football-data.org fixtures.
What the press says

No preview found for this fixture. The press mostly covers the big games, and usually the day before.

Prediction
EstimateNEC Nijmegen — Fortuna Sittard
31 %
1 · NEC Nijmegen
22 %
X · draw
47 %
2 · Fortuna Sittard
In-house calculation, from this page's standings data alone: 8 matches played by NEC Nijmegen, 8 matches by Fortuna Sittard. Confidence: fair
The formula, in plain words — with this match's figures
  1. League average. 292 goals scored over 154 team-matches played (18 teams taken into account), i.e. μ = 1.90 goal scored per team per match. This is the reference point: everything that follows is expressed relative to it.
  2. Attacking and defensive strengths. Goals scored (or conceded) per match, divided by μ. 1.00 = exactly average; in defence, above 1.00 means “concedes more than average”.
    TeamGoalsRawKept
    NEC Nijmegen — attack13 in 8 matches0.860.92
    NEC Nijmegen — defence14 in 8 matches0.920.96
    Fortuna Sittard — attack14 in 8 matches0.920.96
    Fortuna Sittard — defence15 in 8 matches0.990.99
    The “Kept” column is the result of shrinkage towards the mean: weight = P / (P + 6), i.e. 0.57 for NEC Nijmegen and 0.57 for Fortuna Sittard. The rest of the weight goes to the league average. This is what stops a lone 5-0 from producing an attack at 3.3 times the average — and hence a 95% probability.
  3. Home advantage (γ). Measured on the league itself: 1.89 goal scored on average by the host against 1.77 by the visitor, over the 46 fixtures present in each team's last 5 matches. Raw ratio 1.07; shrunk towards 1 (weight 0.42, on the log of the ratio) then capped at 1.25 → γ = 1.03. Shrinkage goes towards 1, i.e. no advantage at all: while the sample is small, the model does not assert a home advantage it cannot measure.
  4. Venue correction, specific to each team. Drawn from the home/away split: points per match at the venue concerned are compared to points per match over all fixtures, with stronger shrinkage (weight = P / (P + 8)) and a bound of ±12%.
    NEC Nijmegen at home: 0.50 pts/match versus 1.13 overall over 4 matches → ×0.880
    Fortuna Sittard away: 2.50 pts/match versus 1.75 overall over 4 matches → ×1.120
  5. Expected goals. One side's attack is set against the other's defence. γ applies to the host only: applying it the other way round too would count the home advantage twice.
    λNEC Nijmegen = 1.90 × 0.92 × 0.99 × 1.03 × 0.880 = 1.56
    λFortuna Sittard = 1.90 × 0.96 × 0.96 × 1.120 = 1.94
  6. Poisson grid. Probability of every exact score from 0-0 to 8-8, assuming the two goal totals are independent, then adding up the cells: home win 31.4%, draw 21.9%, away win 46.7% — displayed rounded to whole numbers so that they add up to exactly 100. Most likely exact score in the grid: 1-1 (only 9.1%, which says enough about how unpredictable an exact score is).
Limits of this model — they are not anecdotal.
  • It only knows goals and a venue. Neither absences, suspensions, line-ups, fatigue, stakes, weather nor club context enter the calculation — while the other tabs of this page show that they matter.
  • The assumption that the two goal totals are independent is false in reality: it slightly underestimates tight scores, hence the draw.
  • γ is measured over a rolling window (each team's last 5 matches), not over the whole season.
  • The shrinkage constants (6, 60, 8) and the bounds are choices, not measurements. They were tuned to be cautious early in the season; they were not calibrated on a results history, as none is available here.
  • No after-the-fact evaluation has been made: at this stage, nobody knows whether this model is better or worse calibrated than another.
What other sources say
No external source has been collected for this match. That is the normal state: readings are taken by hand, and an empty box is better than an unverified figure.
This block shows probability estimates, not predictions, and carries no advisory value. The in-house estimate is the result of a formula applied to a small sample; the figures from external sources are reproduced as they were collected, without their method having been verified.

The full squad

The professional squad by position, captain marked with an armband.

Goalkeepers
  • Gonzalo Crettaz (1)
  • Nikolas Polster (12)
  • Freek Entius (36)
  • Joep Geneste (38)
Defenders
  • B. Pereira (2)
  • P. Sandler (3)
  • P. Schuurs (4)
  • T. Ouwejan (5)
  • B. Nuytinck (17)
  • Tobias Storm (21)
  • A. Kaplan (22)
  • D. Fonville (24)
  • Y. Moslih (42)
  • A. Kabar (66)
  • Gabi Bras (73)
Midfielders
  • D. Nejasmic (6)
  • Hansen-Aaroen (8)
  • Tjaronn Chery (9)
  • Dusan Tadic (10)
  • W. Willumsson (11)
  • Adam Tahaui (19)
  • Noe Lebreton (20)
  • S. De Laat (26)
  • V. Van Crooij (32)
  • Jamiro Monteiro (35)
  • M. van de Wiel (37)
  • Dennis Geiger
Forwards
  • E. Mor (7)
  • K. Sierhuis (14)
  • Sami Ouaissa (25)
  • Brian Linssen (30)
  • Kevin Kers (34)
  • C. Bischoff (99)
Squad last verified on 1 Sep 2026 — source: BeSoccer (2026/27 squad).

What has been said recently

Chronological feed of verified information about the club.

rss17 Oct 2026
NEC responds to provocative Levski Sofia fans in home class: "We were surprised, too."
Source: Voetbalprimeur
rss17 Oct 2026
Nejasmic doubts about the future at NEC and dreams: "That's where I'd like to play."
Source: Voetbalprimeur
rss16 Oct 2026
NEC for new European evening to Zagreb: Where, when and how do you look at the duel?
Source: Voetbalprimeur
rss16 Oct 2026
‘Tadic haakt af bij NEC’
Source: Soccernews
rss16 Oct 2026
'It's a good thing there's someone at NEC who raises the bar.'
Source: Voetbal International
rss15 Oct 2026
NEC takes against Levski Sofia first point in Europe League but again does not win
Source: NOS Voetbal
European competition2 Sep 2026
The club published ticketing information for its European trip to Juventus, a communication that angered some of its most loyal season-ticket holders.
Source: N.E.C.
Transfers1 Sep 2026
NEC sold winger Sami Ouaissa to PSV for €9m and French defender Brayann Pereira to West Bromwich Albion, while Thomas Ouwejan left for Japan, to Machida Zelvia.
Source: NOS
Result29 Aug 2026
NEC won 3-1 at Zwolle thanks to two Tjaronn Chery penalties and above all Perr Schuurs's header, three minutes after coming on, on his return to competition close to three years after his last competitive match.
Source: N.E.C.
Transfers28 Aug 2026
NEC Nijmegen have recruited German midfielder Dennis Geiger, 28, from Hoffenheim, for two seasons.
Source: N.E.C. Nijmegen (site officiel)
Club25 Aug 2026
Beaten 3-0 at Bodø/Glimt (1-6 on aggregate over the two matches) after goalkeeper Gonzalo Crettaz was sent off as early as the third minute, NEC Nijmegen exit the Champions League play-off and drop into the Europa League league phase.
Source: NOS
News last verified on 17 Oct 2026. Sources: sports press (L'Équipe, Le Parisien, Foot Mercato, regional press…) and official club websites — see the link on each item.
Editorial content (playing style, mood, absences, external prediction sources) last verified on 3 Sep 2026. The standings/form data above are refreshed automatically — as is the 1/X/2 estimate, recomputed on every view.