Welcome back to Dutch Dreams!
I’ll give you a rough overview over the 2025/26 season at FC Volendam. This blogpost is a little less text heavy than past ones. That’s mainly down to the fact that certain things (cup wins, huge transfers profits, etc.) get less exciting each time they happen.
Expectations:
– Win the Eredivisie
– Win the Dutch cup
– Reach the first K.O. round
Transfers:
Money made from player sales: 238M€
Notable sales:
– A. Bajrami ( Position: Central Defender | signed for: 6.25K€ | sold for: 38.5M€ | joining: Ajax )
– D. Hoogewerf ( Position: Striker/Winger | signed for: 300K€ | sold for: 35M€ | joining: Aston Villa )
Money spend on new signings: 197M€
Notable signings:
– M. Beutel ( Position: Striker/Winger | signed for: 25.5M€ + add-ons | from: Bayer 04 Leverkusen )
– H. van der Meulen ( Position: Central Midfielder/Defender | signed for: 24M€ | from: FC Utrecht )
– Edson (Position: Right Back | signed for: 15M€ | from: Sao Paulo FC )
Eredivisie and Dutch cup:
We won both competitions comfortably and we lost one domestic match all season. Business as usual. This time Ajax were responsible for another non-invincible season as they beat us 2-0 at ‘home’. Since our new ‘FC Volendam Stadium’ is once again being upgraded, we share the Johan Cruijff ArenA with Ajax for the season, so we weren’t exactly the home side when they beat us. On a side note, we also won the UEFA Super Cup against last years CL winners Liverpool and the Johan Cruijff Schaal against PSV.
Champions League:
We were drawn in a group with Barca, Celtic and greek side PAOK. After missing out on the CL knockout rounds last season, we learnt from our mistakes and finished the group in second position behind Barca. We even had the chance to finish the group in first place after beating them 4-3 in a memorable game at the Camp Nou. In the end, an away loss to Celtic (1-0) combined with a 2-0 loss to Barca at home denied us from doing so.
The round of 32 saw us face German outfit RB Leipzig.
Although we didn’t play great, we still advanced after beating them 3-2 on aggregate.
We’d face another German side in Bayern Munich in the quarter finals.
This time around, we played great. In the end, we beat them 5-1 on aggregate! That’s a new chapter in the clubs history books.
Last season we were left behind by Olympique Lyon and AC Milan in the group stages.
Naturally, we were drawn against Lyon in the semi finals.
Due to the progress we made since our last meeting, I was confident that we’d be able to make it past them this time around.
Subsequently, we went on to lose the first leg away in Lyon by 3-0 despite playing a good game. Conceding two goals from set pieces in extra time of the second half didn’t help my temper.
I wasn’t really expecting anything from the second leg. Still, we gave it our very best shot. In the end, a 2-0 home win sadly wasn’t enough.
Lyon also ended up winning the final against Real Madrid in extra time by 1-0.
Brazilian winger Thiago Carioca was the top goalscorer of the competition (9 goals) and his fellow countryman and right back Edson was the top assister (8 assists).
Overall, we can’t really be too disappointed considering this was the first Champions League semi final in the clubs history. We go again next season and see how far we can go.
International:
This season there once again were a number of players at the club whor made their national team debuts.
Most importantly, Richard Rosink became the second Volendam academy graduate who made his senior international debut for the Dutch national team! At the time, he hadn’t even turned 20. It’s been a proud moment for everyone at the club.
Other players who made their debuts are M. Bakker (25, Holland), H. van der Meulen (22, Holland), Thiago Carioca (19, Brazil), Altemar (20, Brazil), Marcos Paullo (21, Brazil), M. Beutel (19, Germany), C. Breton (21, France), S. Chaput (20, France) and S. Mulattieri (25, Italy and Holland, the latter one was only a friendly).
Breakout Star:
Sebastien Chaput (20) started last season with the B-Team and only got promoted due to an injury to main striker A. Dekkers (21). He made 20 league appearances last season and scored 10 goals. One could make a case that this already was his breakout season. To me, 22 goals in 27 league games this season is more worthy of the term breakout star. If we manage to keep him past the summer, I can see him challenging Dekkers for the role of the number one striker.
Dutch Dreams:
Integrating youth:
This season, Maikel Postma (17) became our youngest ever academy graduate to make his first team debut. At the time he was just 16 years and 301 days old. In Haaije van Nieff (20) we had another academy graduate making his debut. He did well for the B-Team and got a couple of first team starts towards the end of the season. This years youth intake wasn’t great. The fact that our U19s won the UEFA Youth League made up for it. This also means that we may see some of them making their first team debuts in the upcoming season.
Dutch players in the team:
This season we once again had 8 dutch players getting regular playing time. Like I said last time around, this task doesn’t get any easier due to ever increasing board expectations. Let’s see what happens.
Win the Champions League:
So close yet so far… We go again next season!
That’s it for the season.
As always, thank you so much for reading and I’d love to welcome you again next time!
Feedback is always welcome, so please get back to me by writing a comment or give me a heads up on the FM Slack ( #oaky-fm ) !
Oaky-FM 
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