🏏 Sat, 15 Aug 2026 18:45 CEST
FC Utrecht
vs
AZ Alkmaar
4-2-3-1 vs 4-2-3-1
Substitutes
Substitutes
Match Preview
- Utrecht return home 13th with zero points after losing 1-2 away at Groningen on the opening weekend, a start that also leaves them on minus-one goal difference. AZ Alkmaar, by contrast, opened with a clean sheet, beating ADO Den Haag 2-0 at home to sit fourth on three points with a plus-two goal difference. The two sides have not met yet this season, so this is Utrecht's first chance to get on the board in front of their own crowd.
- The shape battle pits Utrecht's 3-4-2-1 against AZ's 4-2-3-1, with the flanks likely to decide the tempo. Utrecht use 168cm Arthur Zagre, a natural left-back schooled at Paris Saint-Germain and blooded at Monaco and Dijon, on the left, and 185cm Dane Niklas Vesterlund, a right-back who came through Copenhagen's academy, on the right. AZ answer with Rosanhero Dahl on the right and left-footed Brazilian Wesley Patati cutting in from the other side, both looking to attack the space behind those wing-backs.
- Dani de Wit faces the club where he made his name. The 28-year-old attacking midfielder came through Ajax's academy, broke through at AZ including European nights, then spent time at Bochum in the Bundesliga before joining Utrecht. Operating as one of the two shadow strikers, his late runs into the box are his best weapon. Utrecht also have another former AZ youth product on the bench in 32-year-old Joris van Overeem, who has already made 116 appearances for Utrecht.
- AZ have two Japanese defenders among the substitutes. Seiya Maekuma, 28, is a converted forward turned attacking right-back who made the 2023 J1 Best Eleven with Cerezo Osaka, became a Japan international, and kept Son Heung-min quiet in a Europa League tie for AZ. Alongside him is 21-year-old centre-back Rion Ichihara, a product of the RB Omiya Ardija academy whose 185cm aerial presence and passing out from the back earned him a place in the 2025 J2 Best Eleven.
- AZ's double pivot pairs 26-year-old Peer Koopmeiners, younger brother of Juventus midfielder Teun, with 22-year-old D. Kwakman. Peer is an academy graduate who earned his place after loans at Excelsior and Almere City, registering seven assists in 34 appearances in 2024-25 from his 186cm defensive-midfield base. Kwakman, formerly of Volendam, balances ball-winning with distribution, and whether this pair can control the middle will shape the game.
- There is an intriguing goalkeeping contrast. Utrecht field 196cm left-footer Vasilis Barkas, a 32-year-old Greece international with Celtic and AEK Athens on his CV. AZ start 26-year-old Belgian Jari de Busser, who saved two penalties in the 2024-25 KNVB Cup final shootout to help Go Ahead Eagles lift the first cup in their history and is rated highly for his close-range reflex saves.
- AZ's attack leans heavily on academy talent. Centre-forward Mex Meerdink, 23, is the son of former AZ player Martijn and scored twice in the 2022-23 UEFA Youth League final as the club won 5-0. On the right, 21-year-old Dahl has already opened the scoring against Fenerbahce in the Europa League, while Kees Smit, who joined AZ aged nine and was called up to the senior Netherlands squad at 20, operates in the number ten role.
- Utrecht's front line is a cosmopolitan mix. The two shadow strikers are 24-year-old Frenchman Yoann Cathline, a left-footed winger developed at Guingamp who passed through Lorient and a loan at Almere City and thrives cutting inside, and 22-year-old Spaniard Angel Alarcon, formerly of Barcelona B and FC Porto. Artem Stepanov leads the line wearing number 18, with 194cm striker David Min waiting on the bench if Utrecht need aerial power later on.
- AZ's back four is strikingly young: 187cm Wouter Goes and 191cm L. Schouten, both 22, form the centre-back pairing, with 22-year-old Mexican Mateo Chavez, a Guadalajara product who assisted on his Eredivisie debut, at left-back and 20-year-old Elijah Dijkstra on the right. That quartet kept a clean sheet on matchday one and will now be tested by Utrecht's height at set pieces, not least 194cm centre-back Mike Eerdhuijzen.
- The benches offer contrasting game-changers. Utrecht can call on Zidane Iqbal, the Manchester United academy graduate and Iraq international who became the club's first British South Asian player to appear in the Champions League, plus American Kevin Paredes, formerly of Wolfsburg. AZ hold in reserve 20-year-old flyer Ayoub Aouchiche, signed from Sparta Rotterdam for around five million euros, and 27-year-old Calvin Stengs, back at the club after spells at Nice, Antwerp and Feyenoord.