Marked for Fedde de Jong
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match23 Jan 2027
No end in sight to De Graafschap's wait for a win
10 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at De Graafschap has to find a result from somewhere.
Market25 Jan 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Boardroom25 Jan 2027
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Market25 Jan 2027
Only the photograph left for Denzel Eijken
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Denzel Eijken will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around De Graafschap the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Ibrahim El Kadiri 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Joãozinho
“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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Thomas Beelen's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Match23 Jan 2027
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. AZ defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
5.43 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market28 Dec 2026
Fedde de Jong 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 De Graafschap can pretend not to have heard.
Match26 Dec 2026
No end in sight to De Graafschap's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at De Graafschap has to find a result from somewhere.
Match26 Dec 2026
5 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Ibrahim El Kadiri 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Fedde de Jong
“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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at De Graafschap training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stijn Bultman is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market30 Nov 2026
Fedde de Jong 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 De Graafschap can pretend not to have heard.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Ibrahim El Kadiri 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 Nov 2026
Reuven Niemeijer falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The terraces30 Nov 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Levi Schoppema has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Kyano Kwint 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 ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match11 Nov 2026
Ajax ended it 1‑2. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Squad16 Nov 2026
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad16 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at De Graafschap this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces16 Nov 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Fedde de Jong has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at De Graafschap training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stijn Bultman is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Dirk Baron 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 ratings16 Nov 2026
Marked 7.91 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, De Graafschap had the best player on the pitch.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 12. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market2 Nov 2026
Fedde de Jong 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 De Graafschap can pretend not to have heard.
Match31 Oct 2026
6 matches without a win for De Graafschap
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around De Graafschap are no longer polite ones.
Squad2 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” De Graafschap may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Ibrahim El Kadiri 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.
Match31 Oct 2026
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at De Graafschap can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad2 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Rijk Janse, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Oct 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 15 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad26 Oct 2026
“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.
Match24 Oct 2026
5 matches without a win for De Graafschap
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around De Graafschap are no longer polite ones.
Squad26 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at De Graafschap this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Fedde de Jong, and the manager let it.
Loan watch26 Oct 2026
“I watch every De Graafschap game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Heracles runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Reuven Niemeijer out for 23 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason De Graafschap will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match17 Oct 2026
4 matches without a win for De Graafschap
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around De Graafschap are no longer polite ones.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Ibrahim El Kadiri 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 Oct 2026
No hiding place for Joãozinho
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Joãozinho, and the manager let it.
Squad19 Oct 2026
8 new faces, and De Graafschap are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Match17 Oct 2026
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. PSV defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Reuven Niemeijer out for 39 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason De Graafschap will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Joeri Heerkens is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad5 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at De Graafschap this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match3 Oct 2026
Vitesse left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at De Graafschap training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mark Pabai is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Reuven Niemeijer out for 53 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason De Graafschap will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
No sign of nerves from Jevon Simons at 21 — 7.92
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Jevon Simons did not need any: 7.92, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad21 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at De Graafschap this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The terraces21 Sep 2026
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match19 Sep 2026
Cambuur made De Graafschap work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Reuven Niemeijer out for 62 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason De Graafschap will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Sten Kremers decides it from twelve yards
2 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Match12 Sep 2026
A 0‑3 win over Excelsior, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Match9 Sep 2026
A 2‑2 win over Excelsior, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
No sign of nerves from Kyano Kwint at 19 — 8.45
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Kyano Kwint did not need any: 8.45, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The terraces14 Sep 2026
A cup hiding at Excelsior leaves De Graafschap explaining themselves
0-3, and long before the end the away end had switched from encouragement to something considerably more pointed. Nobody rings a phone-in about losing narrowly.
Squad14 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at De Graafschap this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces14 Sep 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Kyano Kwint has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Squad14 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Fedde de Jong, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 34. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Dirk Baron gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Dirk Baron has just signed for De Graafschap, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Reuven Niemeijer 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 Aug 2026
Vitesse pay $150.0K, 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 Aug 2026
16 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Mark Pabai falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Market17 Aug 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Market17 Aug 2026
Joãozinho is 37 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
Match15 Aug 2026
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Roda defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.