🏏 Sun, 18 Oct 2026 14:30 CEST
Cambuur
vs
AZ Alkmaar
4-2-3-1 vs 4-2-3-1
Substitutes
Substitutes
Match Preview
- AZ arrive third with 19 points from eight matches (6W-1D-1L) and a goal difference of +10. They sit four points behind leaders Feyenoord, who have 23 from nine, and are level on points with PSV while having played a game fewer. Cambuur are 13th on eight points with 11 scored and 19 conceded for a difference of -8, locked level on points with 14th-placed Utrecht in a congested lower half.
- This is the first meeting between the clubs this season. Cambuur come in unbeaten in three: a 3-0 home win over NEC Nijmegen in round six, a 1-1 draw away at ADO Den Haag in round seven, and a 1-0 victory away at PEC Zwolle in round eight. The caveat is their defending, with 19 goals conceded in eight games, including a 4-1 home hammering by Twente in round four.
- AZ's last five read three wins, a draw and a defeat. They thrashed Go Ahead Eagles 5-2 at home in round four, edged Heerenveen 3-2 away in round five and kept a clean sheet in a 1-0 home win over Telstar in round seven. Their run was halted by a 2-0 loss at Feyenoord in round eight, so the visitors need a response. Only eight goals conceded in eight games remains the backbone of their title challenge.
- The midfield battle should decide who controls the tempo. AZ pair 35-year-old Jordy Clasie with 26-year-old Peer Koopmeiners. Clasie stands just 169cm but made 129 Eredivisie appearances for Feyenoord, played Premier League football at Southampton, won 11 Netherlands caps and has anchored AZ since 2019. Koopmeiners, the 186cm younger brother of Juventus's Teun, delivered seven assists in 34 games in 2024-25. Cambuur counter with 26-year-old Nicky Souren, whose legs and defensive work were forged at MVV and Roda.
- AZ's attacking band carries real quality. Calvin Stengs, 27, is back at the academy that raised him after spells at Nice, Antwerp, Feyenoord and Pisa, and supplies the final pass with his right foot. On the right is 20-year-old Ayoub Oufkir, a 170cm sprinter signed from Sparta Rotterdam for around five million euros, while 22-year-old Netherlands U21 international Ro-Zangelo Daal, who opened the scoring against Fenerbahce in the Europa League, starts on the left. Leading the line is Mexx Meerdink, 23, son of former AZ man Martijn and a two-goal hero of the 2022-23 UEFA Youth League final.
- Cambuur build around Nicolas Binder, a 24-year-old Austrian of 193cm and 94kg signed from Austria Klagenfurt, as their reference point up front. Alongside him is 23-year-old Frenchman Ilyes Hamache, whose career has taken in Valenciennes, Schalke 04 and Amiens. They face a centre-back pairing of two 22-year-olds: the 187cm Netherlands U21 defender Wouter Goes and the 191cm Lewis Schouten, which should make the aerial duels a genuine contest.
- Both of AZ's Japanese players begin on the bench. Rion Ichihara, 21, is a 185cm centre-back described as the finest product of RB Omiya Ardija's academy, named in the 2025 J2 Best XI and capped by Japan at U20 level. Seiya Maikuma, 29, is a right-back converted from forward who made the 2023 J1 Best XI at Cerezo Osaka, became a Japan regular, and memorably shackled Tottenham's Son Heung-min in the Europa League. The starting back four is Mexico international Mateo Chavez, Schouten, Goes and 20-year-old Elijah Dijkstra.
- There is a reunion on the Cambuur bench. Jorn Berkhout, 24, was raised in AZ's academy and played regularly for Jong AZ before moving to Leeuwarden, where he counts as one of the older heads in a young defence. AZ's own starting line-up is full of homegrown talent in Goes, Koopmeiners and Daal, so this is very much Alkmaar's production line facing one of its graduates.
- The goalkeeping duel has a shared backstory. AZ's Jari De Busser, 26, saved two penalties in the 2024-25 KNVB Cup final shootout to help Go Ahead Eagles lift the first trophy in their history. Cambuur's reserve keeper Luca Plogmann, a German from Werder Bremen's academy with Bundesliga minutes behind him, was part of that same cup-winning squad. Cambuur start 192cm Thijs Jansen, 24, a Feyenoord product who earned the number one shirt via De Graafschap and FC Oss.
- Cambuur's squad is strikingly young. Norwegian Fabian Kvam, signed from Mjondalen, turns 21 on the day of the match, and the bench holds 19-year-old Ajax academy defender Lucas Jetten, 18-year-old Sami Bouhoudane from Jong PSV, and 187cm Skye Vink, the 20-year-old handed the number nine after a spell with Jong Ajax. Notably, 27-year-old captain Jamal Amofa, the oldest man in the squad, is absent from the matchday list, leaving the hosts short of experience against a top-three side.