🏏 Fri, 18 Sep 2026 20:00 CEST
FC Groningen
vs
PEC Zwolle
4-2-3-1 vs 4-1-4-1
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- Ninth-placed Groningen (8 points from six, 2W-2D-2L, GD -1) host Zwolle, who sit 16th on 4 points with a -11 goal difference. Only Willem II (2 points) and ADO Den Haag (1) are below the visitors, so this is already a scrap near the wrong end of the table, a long way from leaders PSV Eindhoven on 16 points.
- Groningen arrive on the back of consecutive draws: 2-2 at home with Twente on matchday 5 and 1-1 away at GO Ahead Eagles on matchday 6. Their 4-1 win at ADO Den Haag on matchday 2 remains the standout result, and with 12 scored and 13 conceded in six games they tend to be involved in open contests. A 2-3 home defeat to Fortuna Sittard on matchday 4 shows how much work is still needed on home soil.
- Zwolle come here straight after a 0-7 home thrashing by Feyenoord on matchday 6. Seventeen goals conceded in six matches is among the worst in the division, and only six scored underlines the lack of a cutting edge. Their single victory was a 2-0 win at Heerenveen on matchday 3, and a 2-2 draw at Sparta Rotterdam on matchday 5 suggests they travel better than they defend at home.
- Zwolle's number 10 Thijs Oosting (26, attacking midfielder) is on loan from Groningen, so he faces his parent club at their own ground. Raised in the AZ Alkmaar academy and a former Willem II player before moving to Groningen, his touch and final ball are among the few reliable creative sources in this Zwolle side.
- In the opposite dugout, Groningen midfielder Pelle Clement (24, central midfielder) meets a former club of his own after a spell at PEC Zwolle. An Ajax academy product who has also played for Reading, Sparta Rotterdam and RKC Waalwijk, he sets the tempo with clean distribution alongside Tika de Jonge (23), who came through the NAC Breda and Feyenoord youth systems, in the double pivot of a 4-2-3-1.
- The shape battle pits Groningen's 4-2-3-1 against Zwolle's 4-1-4-1, which leaves academy graduate Nick Fichtinger (22) alone screening the back four. Whether Jacob Ondrejka (24, Sweden, on loan from Parma since August 2026), Thom van Bergen (22) and David van der Werff (22) can occupy that pocket will go a long way to deciding who controls the game.
- Groningen's centre-forward Brynjólfur Willumsson (26, Iceland international, 185cm) arrived via Breiðablik and Kristiansund BK and leads the line with back-to-goal play and a striker's instincts; his brother plays for NEC. He faces a contrasting Zwolle pairing: 37-year-old Nick Viergever, a three-cap Netherlands international with Ajax and PSV on his CV, and the 191cm Dane Simon Graves, signed after a spell at Palermo.
- Zwolle lean heavily on Koen Kostons (27, striker, 186cm), their leading scorer, who managed 157 games and 32 goals at MVV Maastricht, 11 goals in 16 matches at Dalkurd in Sweden and a spell in Germany's 2. Bundesliga with Paderborn. Groningen answer with 21-year-old Thijmen Blokzijl (190cm centre-back, an academy product and Dutch youth international) and German right-back Marco Rente (29), an 87-game veteran of Heracles Almelo.
- Both benches offer aerial power for the closing stages. Groningen can call on the 192cm Polish striker Oskar Zawada (30), a Wolfsburg academy graduate who has played in Poland, Germany, New Zealand and the Netherlands, while Zwolle hold back the 189cm Dane Elias Sørensen (27), whose English spells took in Newcastle and Blackpool. Groningen also have PSV loanee Tygo Land (20, 168cm) as a more technical option in midfield.