Matchday 10 of the Eredivisie brings newly promoted ADO Den Haag face to face with SC Heerenveen on 24 October 2026. ADO sit 17th with six points from nine games, about where you would expect a promoted side after a rough start, while Heerenveen are eighth on 12 points and pushing for a top six place. The main talking point coming in is ADO's 2-1 win over 10-man PSV a week ago, a result that raised eyebrows across the division, Heerenveen, for their part, arrive on the back of a 4-0 win over Excelsior. Robin Peter has been in charge of ADO since July 2025, while Robin Veldman took over at Heerenveen on 21 March 2025 after Henk Brugge's brief interim stint following Robin van Persie's departure in February. The two have not crossed paths much as managers, so the tactical battle will be decided by systems and personnel rather than any personal familiarity.
The PSV upset sits alongside a 2-2 draw with Telstar and two defeats in ADO's recent results and 20 goals conceded in nine league games is the number that tells the real story of their season. Heerenveen have been more consistent, with the 4-0 against Excelsior their biggest win of the run.
ADO are without Luka Reischl (groin), Donát Bárány (thigh) and Sem Eekhout (suspension), which stretches Peter's options in attack and midfield considerably and puts a heavier load on Yannick Eduardo and Evan Rottier. Heerenveen have only one concern in Dirk Proper, who is a doubt with a hamstring problem, though his absence would not be catastrophic given the depth Veldman has available.
ADO operate in a 5-3-2 with the wing backs pushing high and Juho Kilo screening the back five from midfield. Losing Reischl, Bárány and Eekhout leaves Eduardo as the primary attacking outlet and whether Rottier and Jesse Bal can deliver crosses or run channels behind Heerenveen's full backs will matter more than usual given how stretched the attacking options already are. Heerenveen line up in a 4-2-3-1, with Levi Smans doing the unglamorous holding work in front of the defence and Maxence Rivera operating between the lines, picking passes in tight spaces and driving forward when cover sits behind him. Jacob Trenskow leads their scoring and Dylan Vente drops deep to press centre backs and drag defenders out of shape. The battle between Kilo and Smans in the middle will probably decide which side dictates tempo and forces the other to defend for longer stretches, if Eduardo can get in behind Heerenveen's centre backs, ADO have a chance.
ADO have won just four of their 22 previous meetings with Heerenveen, who have nine victories in this fixture alongside nine draws. The clubs have not met in the Eredivisie for five years following ADO's time in the second tier, so some of those historical patterns may not carry much weight here.
Losing Reischl and Bárány strips out ADO's aerial threat at set pieces, removing one of their more reliable attacking routes. ADO need points to stay out of the bottom three, whereas Heerenveen are chasing the consistency a top six challenge demands and the defensive numbers suggest which side is better equipped to get what they want from this game. The prediction is Heerenveen 2-1 ADO Den Haag. The PSV result showed what Eduardo and this high energy ADO system can do when everything clicks but going into a home game without first choice forward options and with a midfielder already suspended is a different kind of test. Trenskow and Vente are available to exploit the defensive frailty ADO have shown all season and if Smans and Rivera control the tempo in midfield, Heerenveen should have enough to win. ADO's defensive resilience in the PSV game makes a clean sheet unlikely for either side but the gap in attacking quality should tell in the end.
Ryan Baldi
Football Writer
Ryan Baldi is a professional football writer with years of experience and has been featured by respected outlets such as the BBC, The Guardian, Sky Sports, DAZN, FourFourTwo, ESPN, Yahoo Sport and Football365. He has also written several books including Arsène Who?.
