Marked for Luuk Koppert
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match24 Jul 2028
Every point is an argument now for Vitesse
Position 17 and 23 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Market24 Jul 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Vitesse can pretend not to have heard.
Squad24 Jul 2028
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad24 Jul 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vitesse this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Jul 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Luuk Koppert commits to Vitesse for another 4 years.
Squad24 Jul 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Maximilian Brüll, and the manager let it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom17 Jul 2028
The caretaker keeps it: Interim Coach confirmed
A month of looking elsewhere ended where it started. He already knows every name in the building; the rest of it he now has to prove in public.
Market17 Jul 2028
St. Pauli come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Vitesse did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market17 Jul 2028
The chase for Luuk Koppert ended with $1.6M changing hands and Willem II out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Georginio Wijnaldum was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Market17 Jul 2028
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Vitesse will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Squad17 Jul 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 Jul 2028
Miguel Falé hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Willem II can pretend not to have heard.
Market17 Jul 2028
Groningen pay $2.3M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Squad17 Jul 2028
The medical room confirms 32 days on the sidelines for Amine Lachkar, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Market17 Jul 2028
Business is business: Luuk Koppert goes
Vitesse paid $1.6M and Willem II took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad17 Jul 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Devin Haen commits to Willem II for another 4 years.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Tsuyoshi Watanabe was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Jul 2028
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Willem II, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad10 Jul 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Willem II this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Jul 2028
At 21, Uriël Van Aalst is already the best thing here
An average of 7.13 in a first team he is several years too young for. Willem II have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market26 Jun 2028
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Willem II, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Armin Ćulum: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Willem II have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad26 Jun 2028
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Willem II are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad26 Jun 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Willem II this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Jun 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jens Mathijsen, and the manager let it.
Market26 Jun 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Nick Doodeman’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Jun 2028
64 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Market19 Jun 2028
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Tsuyoshi Watanabe was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad19 Jun 2028
37 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad19 Jun 2028
The manager makes an example of Amine Lachkar
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Market19 Jun 2028
Per van Loon is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Willem II has been clear about where Per van Loon stands, which is more than many ever get.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings30 Aug 2027
Defensive actions: 31, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Luuk Koppert: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Willem II have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match28 Aug 2027
Still nobody has beaten Willem II
The unbeaten run reaches 8. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Thomas Didillon-Hödl was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad30 Aug 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Uriël Van Aalst and Willem II agree another 5 years.
Player ratings30 Aug 2027
Marked 9.38 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings30 Aug 2027
Marked 9.02 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Match28 Aug 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Justin Hoogma. 2‑0 against Roda, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Jul 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Willem II may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Samuel Bamba in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Willem II this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Jul 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Luuk Koppert and Willem II agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Market5 Jul 2027
Bright van Dijk is 18, and Willem II have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Market5 Jul 2027
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Willem II, another week without a signature from Amine Lachkar.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Amine Lachkar knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Amine Lachkar trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market25 Jan 2027
NEC come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Willem II did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Justin Hoogma was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Market25 Jan 2027
Ismael Mouhoul has left for Excelsior in a $210.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad25 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Samuel Bamba, and the manager let it.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Defensive actions: 17, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Defensive actions: 17, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad25 Jan 2027
A booking nobody needed, on a night the game was already won. Willem II lose a player for the most avoidable reason there is.
Match23 Jan 2027
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Excelsior will be the happier side with the point.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match13 Jan 2027
The cup run ends for Willem II
2‑3 against PSV, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Squad18 Jan 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Willem II this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
A performance of 8.95 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Finn Stam gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Marked 8.70 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Match16 Jan 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Juan Dinenno. 1‑0 against Twente, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Market18 Jan 2027
The name of Luuk Koppert has come up in conversations Willem II were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
A performance of 8.37 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
A performance of 8.28 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.