SC Cambuur are back in the Eredivisie, and will face FC Groningen on the opening weekend
by Thomas Ansell
The Eredivisie 2021/2022 schedule has been announced, with Leeuwarden club SC Cambuur back in the top division following five seasons (including one that was called off due to the Coronavirus pandemic), and will start their campaign against FC Groningen on August 15. Meanwhile Friesland’s most successful club, SC Heerenveen, will face their most local rivals in December.
A traditional season opener will be played on Saturday, August 7 when Ajax and PSV face off in the Johan Cruyff Schaal, which is played between the previous season’s league and cup champions. SC Heerenveen will then play newly-promoted Go Ahead Eagles on August 13, away in Deventer.
SC Cambuur, who are based in the Frisian capital of Leeuwarden, will bookend their season against FC Groningen (the largest club in the North), and won promotion to the Eredivisie by winning the Keuken Kampioen Divisie last season. They were controversially denied a return to top-level football in 2020, when the Dutch football association (KNVB) cancelled all competitions during the first Coronavirus outbreak, whilst Cambuur sat at the top of the table.
In the 2020/2021 season, SC Heerenveen finished in twelfth last season, five places behind ‘Derby of the North’ rivals FC Groningen (seventh).
SC Cambuur will hope that by the time the season comes to an end they will be guaranteed further Eredivisie membership in the 2022/2023 season. Their squad includes the former FC Groningen players Jachinio Antonia and Michael Breij, as well as former Dutch youth international player Issa Kallon. Top-scorer for the past two seasons, Robert Mühren (with 64 goals in 66 appearances) has left the club to play for FC Volendam.
All of the Eredivisie fixtures can be viewed here.
Image: the Abe Lenstra Stadion, home ground of SC Heerenveen. By Udo Ockema. License here.
