Dutch Eredivisie Football 2012-2013 - First Round Schedule

The first round of the Dutch league is just days away and we might get to see a few interesting matches over the weekend.

This year we start with a regional derby between Willem II and NAC. It is also Willem II’s re-entrance in the Eredivisie, after playing a year in the Jupiler league. We hope it will do them well, because they weren’t able to win the last 5 games against their arch-rivals NAC Breda. Their kick off is on Friday.

Saturday PSV Eindhoven travels to face their neighbors RKC Waalwijk. PSV are the favorites to win, but last season RKC did win their home-game against them.

Roda JC welcomes PEC Zwolle back to the highest level, after being absent for 8 years. This is going to be the 5th game between them, in the history of the Eredivisie.

VVV will want to get a much better result than last year’s, when they face Heracles Almelo. Heracles had a 7-0 home win. VVV did win the return.

The matches on Sunday start with FC Utrecht – Feyenoord. Nobody is sure if FC Utrecht is happy with their first opponent. They haven’t been able to win 1 of the last 6 games playing Feyenoord. The teams did play 2 draws last year, with very little to separate them.

FC Twente – FC Groningen might end in a home-win if we look at history. Not only was FC Twente able to win the last 3 home-games against them, Groningen conceived 4 goals every one of those games. Interesting detail: Dusan Tadic is playing his former team with his new team in the 1st round.

Vitesse is somewhat expected to win, since they won the last 3 home-games against ADO Den Haag. And SC Heerenveen will feel confident starting against NEC. They haven’t lost a single match in the last 5 confrontations between the teams.

Ajax-AZ is considered the game of the week. We have 2 candidates for the title facing off in the first game. In this regional derby AZ has been able to win the away game against Ajax only once. But it did happen last year in the Dutch Cup. The 2 league-games both ended in a draw.

The kickoff for the new season is scheduled for August 10th.

Here is an overview of the 1^st round:

Friday August 10^th

20.00 Willem II – NAC Breda

Saturday August 11^th

18.45 RKC Waalwijk – PSV 

19.45 Roda JC Kerkrade – PEC Zwolle

20.45 Heracles Almelo – VVV-Venlo

Sunday August 12^th

12.30 FC Utrecht – Feyenoord

14.30 FC Twente – FC Groningen

14.30 SC Heerenveen – NEC

14.30 Vitesse – ADO Den Haag

16.30 Ajax – AZ

All times mentioned are local times (CET).