Two newly promoted sides are set to come together on Friday when Groningen host NAC Breda at the Hitachi Capital Mobility Stadium on the opening matchday of the 2024-25 Eredivisie season.
The hosts earned automatic promotion from the Eerste Divisie with a second-place finish last year, while the visitors beat Excelsior in the playoff final to earn their return to the top flight.
Match preview
Groningen suffered their first relegation in 23 years when they placed at the bottom of the Eredivisie in 2022-23, finishing with just 18 points from 34 games in an extremely disappointing campaign after being widely tipped to finish in the middle of the pack.
Dick Lukkien took charge of the side heading into the Eerste Divisie season, but the new boss had to battle through an extremely tough opening 14 fixtures, losing six and winning just four, leaving his side in 14th.
However, Lukkien was able to turn around their poor form and oversaw a phenomenal run of just one loss in the remaining 24 games to lead the side to second place and automatic promotion.
A dramatic final day saw Groningen needing a win against Roda JC Kerkrade, who sat three points above them in second place, and Lukkien's men prevailed as they won 2-0, snatching second place due to a better goal difference.
Groningen's fantastic form has continued throughout their pre-season preparations ahead of their return to the Eredivisie, winning six and drawing one of their seven friendly fixtures, leaving them unbeaten in their last 19 across all competitions.
They will face familiar opponents on Friday when they host NAC Breda, who also earned promotion from the Eerste Divisie last season thanks to an action-packed playoff run.
Since being relegated from the Eredivisie in 2018-19, NAC Breda have finished in the playoff places in all of the following five campaigns in the second tier, and they finally earned promotion last year.
They managed to clinch a playoff place thanks to a better goal difference than MVV Maastricht and Jong AZ Alkmaar, with all three teams finishing on 56 points, and they went on to win 8-1 in the first round and 4-1 in the second to book a place in the final.
Jean-Paul van Gastel's team made the most of Excelsior receiving two red cards in the first leg as they ran out 6-2 winners in an extremely dominant performance, seeing them all but confirm their place in the top flight.
However, a nervy second leg saw Excelsior claw back into the tie with three first-half goals and a fourth in the second half to level the score, but Casper Staring emerged as the saviour by scoring to make it 4-1 on the day and 7-6 on aggregate, earning NAC Breda promotion in the most dramatic fashion.
Van Gastel departed at the end of the campaign after announcing his departure in March, and Carl Hoefkens took over, but the new boss has struggled in pre-season, securing only two wins and suffering five losses from eight matches.
Hoefkens will be hoping his side can get off to a better start in his first competitive match in charge against a side that NAC Breda went undefeated against last year, drawing once and winning once.
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Team News
Ragnar Oratmangoen is expected to be the only potential absentee for the hosts, as the midfielder is still in the recovery process from a hip injury and remains a doubt for selection.
Elsewhere, Lukkien could name a similar side to the one that earned his team promotion with a 2-0 victory on the final day against Roda last year.
As for the visitors, they are likely to be without both Clint Leemans, who has not appeared since December due to a tendon injury, and Tom Boere, who is not expected to return from his injury issue until later this month.
Dominik Janosek topped the scoring and assist charts for the side last season, scoring 11 and assisting 10 in the league, and the midfielder is expected to start here.
Groningen possible starting lineup:
Jurjus; Bacuna, Rente, Blokzijl, Peersman; Schreuders, Hove, Duarte, Valente; Postema, Van Bergen
NAC Breda possible starting lineup:
Bielica; Lucassen, Royo, Van den Bergh, Kemper; Jensen, Staring; Kuijpers, Omgba, Janosek; Kostorz
We say: Groningen 2-0 NAC Breda
The hosts may have failed to beat the visitors in either of their matchups last year, but they have enjoyed a much better pre-season in preparation for the Eredivisie season, and we believe they will claim an opening day victory.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
