The 2026-27 Eredivisie season opens at the Abe Lenstra Stadion on 9 August with SC Heerenveen hosting FC Twente, both sides starting on zero points after finishing eighth and fourth respectively in 2025-26. Heerenveen narrowly missed European play off qualification last season while Twente reached the Conference League group stage after exiting Europa League qualifiers and they arrive carrying considerable head to head momentum into the fixture.
Robin Veldman took charge of Heerenveen in March 2025 after serving as youth coach, while John van den Brom arrived at Twente in September 2025 with Erik ten Hag installed as technical director. Twente have gone nine league meetings unbeaten against Heerenveen, including a 5-0 win on 7 February 2026 and Van den Brom's transition heavy system has consistently found the gaps in Heerenveen's defensive shape.
Heerenveen come into the opener unbeaten in four pre season friendlies having scored 17 goals along the way and their home record in season openers stretches back to 2014 without a loss. Twente's summer was more turbulent: they lost on aggregate to Ferencvaros in European qualification but recovered with a 6-0 Conference League qualifier win, showing strong resilience before a late season dip. Heerenveen's pre season numbers mean little against a side they have not beaten in nine attempts.
Heerenveen will be without Levi Smans long term after the knee injury he picked up early in 2025-26. New signing Dirk Proper from NEC is expected to anchor midfield alongside Jacob Trenskow, who contributed 15 goals and seven assists last season. Veldman will likely line up in a 4-2-3-1 with Klaverboer in goal behind Zagaritis, Willemsen, Kersten and Braude, Linday and Proper shielding the back four and Trenskow, Meerveld and Oyen supporting lone striker Vente. Twente have more significant absentees: Mees Hilgers is still recovering from ACL surgery and both Lars Unnerstall and Naci Unuvar remain unavailable. Free signing Marko Pjaca brings direct running and finishing ability to fill some of that gap and their likely 4-2-3-1 puts Pasveer in goal behind Propper, Nijstad, Lemkin and Van Rooy, with Weidmann and Zerrouki in the middle and Orjasaeter, Hlynsson and Rots behind Lammers.
Tactically, Veldman tends to build from a solid defensive base at home, with set pieces his clearest attacking outlet. Trenskow and Vente both scored from set pieces last season and that will be Heerenveen's most obvious route to goal here. Trenskow's pace and movement will give Twente's full backs problems, while Proper's role is to cut off transitions before they develop. Van den Brom's side defend compactly and move quickly in transition, with Pjaca, Lammers and Rots as the primary outlets. The midfield contest between Proper and Twente's Zerrouki Weidmann pairing will largely determine how much space either attack gets to work in.
Twente lead the historical head to head across more than 30 meetings, with roughly 15 wins to Heerenveen's nine, though the recent run is what matters. Heerenveen have not beaten Twente in nine league meetings, with the last Twente defeat coming in 2022. The 5-0 in February 2026 says enough.
Backed by a home crowd and Trenskow's movement, Heerenveen will push hard early and may well find the net, with neither side affected by suspensions going into the match. But Twente's nine game unbeaten run in this fixture, their defensive discipline and the quality of Pjaca and Lammers on the counter make Twente the more likely winners. Heerenveen will chase the game and leave space and Pjaca and Lammers have the pace and finishing to make Heerenveen pay for it. Twente to win 2-1.
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?.
