🏏 Sat, 22 Aug 2026 16:30 CEST
Fortuna Sittard
vs
AZ Alkmaar
4-3-3 vs 4-2-3-1
Substitutes
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Match Preview
- League leaders AZ travel to fourth-placed Fortuna Sittard with both sides still unbeaten. AZ have won both matches for six points, scoring six and conceding just one for a division-best goal difference of +5, edging Groningen (also on six, +4) at the top. Fortuna sit on four points from a win and a draw.
- Fortuna opened with a 2-2 draw away at PSV before beating Cambuur 3-1 at home, giving them five goals in two matches. AZ, meanwhile, saw off ADO Den Haag 2-0 at home and then dismantled Utrecht 4-1 on the road, conceding only once so far. Fortuna's attacking output against AZ's meanest defence in the league is the first battle to watch.
- Fortuna's centre-forward Zeefuik faces his parent club: the 21-year-old is on loan from AZ. He came through Volendam's youth system before joining AZ, then gained experience at OH Leuven and Heracles. At 197cm he maximises his height in the air and in hold-up play, setting up a compelling duel with AZ's 191cm centre-back Schouten.
- The shape battle pits Fortuna's 3-4-2-1 against AZ's 4-2-3-1, making the flanks decisive. Fortuna field Nick de Groot (187cm, ex-Den Bosch) and Belgian Siebe Wylin (previously at Oostende and Club Brugge) as wing-backs, while AZ have Mexico international Mateo Chávez at left-back and 20-year-old Netherlands U19 man Elijah Dijkstra on the right. Whoever gets forward first will tilt the game.
- Michut is Fortuna's key to the midfield contest. The 23-year-old left-footer was labelled the 'new Verratti' at PSG's academy and is rebuilding his career in Sittard after spells at Sunderland and Adana Demirspor. AZ counter with a double pivot of Peer Koopmeiners — younger brother of Juventus midfielder Teun, and a man who racked up 34 appearances and seven assists in 2024-25 — alongside Kwakman.
- Kees Smit, deployed in AZ's attacking band, is only 20. He joined the AZ academy aged nine, made his professional bow with Jong AZ in 2023 and has already been called into the full Netherlands squad. Nominally a defensive midfielder, his pressing intensity and rapid transitions after winning the ball could decide whether AZ can pin Fortuna back.
- AZ's wide players offer contrasting threats. Brazilian Weslley Patati, 22, arrived from Santos via a loan at Maccabi Tel Aviv and operates as an inverted winger, cutting in from the right onto his left foot. Rosanhero Daal is an Amsterdam-born academy graduate who opened the scoring against Fenerbahce in the Europa League. If they get into the channels beside Fortuna's back three, the hosts will be stretched.
- Fortuna field two Indonesia internationals at either end of the pitch. Centre-back Justin Hubner, 22, was developed at Wolverhampton Wanderers and spent time in Japan with Cerezo Osaka, combining 187cm of height with genuine pace as a modern ball-playing defender. Up front, Ole Romeny — Dutch-born but committed to Indonesia at 26 — scored 11 goals in 33 Eredivisie games at Emmen and uses his 189cm frame as an attacking reference point.
- Two Japanese players are on AZ's bench. Rion Ichihara, 21, is a centre-back hailed as the finest product of RB Omiya Ardija's academy; at 185cm he pairs aerial strength with sharp vertical passing and was named in the 2025 J2 League Best XI after representing Japan at U20 level. Seiya Maikuma, 28, is an attacking right-back who made the 2023 J1 Best XI at Cerezo Osaka, has become a Japan regular, and impressed in the Europa League by keeping Tottenham's Son Heung-min quiet.
- Both benches carry genuine game-changers. Fortuna can call on Ihattaren, the left-footed attacking midfielder once billed as PSV's prodigy who went on to Juventus and Ajax, plus 36-year-old captain Ivo Pinto, a Porto academy graduate who won four Croatian titles with Dinamo Zagreb and played Premier League football for Norwich City. AZ have Hornkamp, signed for around €4.5m after 10 goals in 14 Eredivisie matches at Heracles, and 35-year-old Jordy Clasie, an 11-cap Netherlands international.