2026/2027 season

Eredivisie

Team page
Eredivisie · Team page
Willem II
Head coach: John Stegeman
Rank
18th
Pts
2
P
9
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
2/10
Attack
2/10
Defence
1/10
Form
3/10
Confidence / mood
Current risk:Low

18th with 2 pts from 9 matches: 0 wins, 2 draws, 7 defeats.

9 goals scored, 26 conceded.

Milan Zonneveld (23) made his sixth goal in seven base places against Willem II. He's the first Spartan ever to perform that in the Eredivisie. The rush continues to amaze friend and enemy, but not himself: "I know what I can do. But it's really nice that they keep falling."

Voetbal International · 18 Oct 2026 · machine-translated

John Stegeman sees the pressure constantly increasing after another defeat of Willem II in the Eredivisie. The Tilburgers dove on Saturday to visit Sparta Rotterdam (3-2).

Voetbalprimeur · 18 Oct 2026 · machine-translated

In the new episode of VI ZSM, Sjoerd Keizer and Jarno Verweij look back on Saturday evening's match between Sparta Rotterdam and Willem II, with special attention to Milan Zonneveld.

Voetbal International · 18 Oct 2026 · machine-translated

After a few minor results, Rogier Meijer's team left three points to the game with Willem II on Saturday night. Afterwards Meijer praised Jens Toornstra.

Voetbal International · 18 Oct 2026 · machine-translated

How the team has played recently

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

Latest matches
Lvs Sparta Rotterdam (A) · 2-3
Lvs FC Utrecht (A) · 1-3
Lvs Fortuna Sittard (H) · 0-1
Lvs AFC Ajax (A) · 1-5
Dvs AZ (A) · 1-1
DDLLLLLLL
9 scored / 26 conceded over 9 matches played
Rest: 1 day since the last match · 2 matches played in the last 15 days
Home form
0W - 1D - 3L
Away form
0W - 1D - 4L
Statistics

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

Goals scored per match
1.0
Goals conceded per match
2.6
At home
0 scored · 1 conceded in 1 match
Away
5 scored · 12 conceded in 4 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 Willem II play

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

Playing style not documented for this team.

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
Low in points terms, a single point from three matches, but revived by a very busy end to the window.
Coach / players / board relationship
John Stegeman publicly challenged his board on the eve of the closing of the transfer window, on 30/08/2026: “We moeten zorgen dat we een Eredivisie-waardige selectie krijgen en die hebben we op dit moment niet”, adding that technical director Freek Heerkens is working on it (VoetbalPrimeur).
Mood with the supporters
The club held a Flagday on 21 August, with Tilburg decked out in red, white and blue, and celebrated its 130 years of existence this season.
Pressure on the head coach
John Stegeman, in post since 1 July 2025, is under contract until 30 June 2027.
Club objectives
Survival. On the eve of the closing of the transfer window, set for Wednesday at 23:59, Stegeman indicated that players still had to arrive and that technical director Freek Heerkens was working on it.
Recent internal tensions
On 31 August, John Stegeman publicly judged that his squad was not worthy of the Eredivisie and is calling for reinforcements before the market closes, putting the sporting management under pressure.
Absences
InjuredAmine Lachkar — The defensive midfielder is unavailable.
InjuredJari Schuurman — The midfielder is among the injured.
InjuredAnass Zarrouk — The midfielder is also absent from the 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

Willem II — SC Cambuur

At homeSaturday 24 October at 18:45Matchday 10
In 6 days. 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
EstimateWillem II — SC Cambuur
28 %
1 · Willem II
20 %
X · draw
52 %
2 · SC Cambuur
In-house calculation, from this page's standings data alone: 9 matches played by Willem II, 8 matches by SC Cambuur. 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
    Willem II — attack9 in 9 matches0.530.72
    Willem II — defence26 in 9 matches1.521.31
    SC Cambuur — attack11 in 8 matches0.730.84
    SC Cambuur — defence19 in 8 matches1.251.14
    The “Kept” column is the result of shrinkage towards the mean: weight = P / (P + 6), i.e. 0.60 for Willem II and 0.57 for SC Cambuur. 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%.
    Willem II at home: 0.25 pts/match versus 0.22 overall over 4 matches → ×1.042
    SC Cambuur away: 1.25 pts/match versus 1.00 overall over 4 matches → ×1.083
  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.
    λWillem II = 1.90 × 0.72 × 1.14 × 1.03 × 1.042 = 1.66
    λSC Cambuur = 1.90 × 0.84 × 1.31 × 1.083 = 2.28
  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 28.3%, draw 20.0%, away win 51.7% — displayed rounded to whole numbers so that they add up to exactly 100. Most likely exact score in the grid: 1-2 (only 8.4%, 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
  • Thomas Didillon-Hödl
  • Wouter van der Steen
  • Karst de Leeuw
  • Tygo Kotte
Defenders
  • Alessandro Ciranni
  • Finn Stam
  • Justin Hoogma
  • Hidde ter Avest
  • Jens Mathijsen
  • Amine Et-Taibi
  • Per van Loon
  • Nathan Tjoe-A-On
  • Mats Lemmens
Midfielders
  • Calvin Twigt
  • Kasper Boogaard
  • Jari Schuurman
  • Anass Zarrouk
  • Uriel van Aalst
  • Amine Lachkar
  • Divano Iglesias
  • Sebas Wermenbol
  • Julian van Esdonk
  • Ismael Mouhoul
  • Tonny Vilhena
Forwards
  • Jaden Slory
  • Devin Haen
  • Armin Culum
  • Lasse Abildgaard
  • Thomas Verheydt
  • Luca Maal
This team's current captain could not be confirmed with certainty at the last check — no armband is shown above until the information is reliable.
Squad last verified on 1 Sep 2026 — source: soccerbase.com and voetbalzone.nl (matching numbers); selectie page of the official website inaccessible.

What has been said recently

Chronological feed of verified information about the club.

rss17 Oct 2026
Vast competitor ADO leaves fence shutter Willem II cold: "Don't look at others."
Source: Voetbal International
rss17 Oct 2026
Sparta rewards herself in party week with victory on toboggan carrier Willem II
Source: Voetbal International
rss17 Oct 2026
Sparta booked first home victory by turning behind Willem II
Source: NOS Voetbal
rss17 Oct 2026
Sparta does good business and defeats Willem II, which matches negative club record
Source: Voetbalprimeur
rss17 Oct 2026
Talk to me on VP: Sparta Rotterdam
Source: Voetbalprimeur
rss16 Oct 2026
Willem II closes financial year with a loss of about three tonnes
Source: Voetbal International
Transfers1 Sep 2026
Willem II made a statement by securing the loan until the end of the season of 18-year-old forward Chido Obi, from Manchester United, where he already had eight Premier League appearances.
Source: NOS
Transfers1 Sep 2026
Winger Vito van Crooij has arrived from NEC Nijmegen for a season plus an optional one, and Belgian goalkeeper Maxime Delanghe has been loaned for a year by Cercle Brugge.
Source: Willem II
Transfers31 Aug 2026
Attacking midfielder Thijs Muller, developed at PSV and then at FC Eindhoven, has signed a three-year contract.
Source: Willem II
Result30 Aug 2026
Willem II snatched a 2-2 draw against SC Heerenveen, their first point of the season after two defeats.
Source: SC Heerenveen
Club30 Aug 2026
Newly promoted Willem II took their first point of the season by holding SC Heerenveen to a 2-2 draw, thanks to a late equaliser from Devin Haen.
Source: Stadindex
Injury9 Aug 2026
Head coach John Stegeman fears a long absence for his goalkeeper Thomas Didillon-Hödl, who went off with a hamstring injury during the away trip to Go Ahead Eagles.
Source: VoetbalPrimeur
News last verified on 18 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.