🏏 Sun, 18 Oct 2026 20:00 CEST
NEC Nijmegen
vs
Fortuna Sittard
3-4-2-1 vs 5-3-2
Substitutes
Substitutes
Match Preview
- A mid-table meeting in matchday 9: seventh-placed Fortuna Sittard (14 points, 4-2-2) travel to 11th-placed NEC Nijmegen (9 points, 2-3-3). The five-point gap hides how similar the two sides are statistically — both carry a goal difference of -1 after eight games, NEC with 13 scored and 14 conceded, Fortuna with 14 and 15. With leaders Feyenoord already on 23 points from nine matches, neither side can afford to stall.
- NEC arrive without a win in five league outings (three draws, two defeats). They were beaten 3-1 at home by Feyenoord in round 5 and hammered 3-0 at Cambuur in round 6, but responded with a 1-1 draw against Go Ahead Eagles and another 1-1 away to fourth-placed Ajax last time out. Turning that resilience against strong opponents into three home points is the obvious task.
- Fortuna's season has been built on the road. They edged Groningen 3-2 and ADO Den Haag 3-2 in successive away trips, then closed out a 1-0 win at bottom club Willem II in round 7 — three straight away victories. Their only heavy defeat was a 5-1 home collapse against Ajax, and they drew 1-1 at home with fifth-placed Twente in the last round.
- The reunion story belongs to NEC's No. 30, 36-year-old centre-forward Bryan Linssen, who spent part of his career at Fortuna Sittard before moving on to Feyenoord, Vitesse and Urawa Red Diamonds in Japan. At 170cm he is no target man, but his movement inside the box and his ability to get shots away in tight spaces remain his calling cards.
- Two more ex-Fortuna men wait on the NEC bench. Perr Schuurs, the 191cm centre-back who went from Ajax to Fortuna Sittard and then Torino, offers height at the back, while 28-year-old striker Kaj Sierhuis — an Ajax academy product with spells at Groningen and Stade de Reims — also has Fortuna on his CV. Either could come on late against familiar opponents.
- Tactically this is NEC's 3-4-2-1 against Fortuna's 5-3-2, which gives the hosts a 4v3 edge across the middle band. Bischoff, Monteiro, Nejašmić and 20-year-old academy right winger Kevin Kers must stretch the pitch, while 't Zand, Michut and Simons try to congest the centre with five defenders behind them. Width versus compactness is the central question.
- The creative duel is worth watching. Fortuna's Édouard Michut, 23, is the left-footed central midfielder once tagged the 'new Verratti' at PSG's academy, arriving via Sunderland and Adana Demirspor. NEC counter with 32-year-old Cape Verde international Jamiro Monteiro, a former Philadelphia Union designated player, and Croatian holder Darko Nejašmić, schooled at Hajduk Split.
- There is a clear aerial mismatch to exploit. Fortuna start Lequincio Zeefuik, the 197cm striker on loan from AZ Alkmaar whose heading and hold-up play are his main weapons. NEC's back three features Deveron Fonville at 174cm and Tobias Storm at 176cm, leaving 189cm Turkey international Ahmetcan Kaplan — himself on loan from Ajax — to shoulder most of the aerial duels.
- Fortuna's defence is a well-travelled unit. Captain Ivo Pinto, 36, won four Croatian titles with Dinamo Zagreb and played Premier League football with Norwich City from right-back. Inside him are Justin Hubner, the Wolverhampton-raised Indonesia international who also spent time at Cerezo Osaka in Japan, and 191cm Brazilian Rodrigo Guth, a product of Atalanta's youth system.
- Both benches carry game-changers. Fortuna can call on Mohamed Ihattaren, the left-footed attacking midfielder once hailed as a prodigy at PSV before moves to Juventus and Ajax, plus Swedish winger Kristoffer Peterson, who scored 12 goals in a season at Heracles. NEC counter with 193cm Iceland international Willum Þór Willumsson and Norway's Isak Hansen-Aarøen, a Manchester United academy graduate who later played for Werder Bremen.