SC Heerenveen somewhat overachieved last season under manager Marco van Basten, coming in 5th place in the Eredivisie, just two points off PSV and a guaranteed Europa League qualifying round spot. By coming in 5th, however, Heerenveen had to play through a qualification tournament with the 6-8th place clubs (Groningen, Vitesse, and AZ Alkmaar) for the Europa League 2nd qualifying round spot. Captian Marten de Roon's Heerenveen did not make it past their first opponent AZ, losing 3-1 over two legs. Heerenveen also lost to AZ in the KNVB Beker round of 16, with the Alkmaar side beating their opponents 6-5 in a penalty shootout following a 2-2 draw at the end of extra time. Over the course of 2013/14, Alfred Finnbogason was Heerenveen's standout player. The Icelandic forward scored 29 goals in just 31 Eredivisie matches and claimed the Eredivisie golden boot in the process. The striker was also Heerenveen’s top assister, setting up 10 goals for his teammates.
Going into the 2014/15 season, Heerenveen kick off their campaign hosting newly promoted FC Dordrecht, while their first away match is against freshly raided Feyenoord Rotterdam. Their match against Feyenoord is followed by the hosting of another newly promoted club- SBV Excelsior. All in all, Heerenveen have a pretty good chance of winning their opening several fixtures, and the first two home matches will act as huge confidence boosters for the entire team.
However, Heerenveen will have to play through the campaign without their Icelandic star Finnbogason, who was sold to Real Sociedad for a fee around £7 million earlier in July. With young Norwegian midfielder Morten Thorsby currently Heerenveen’s only purchase, the club still has a lot to do if they want to be competitive in the upcoming campaign. In addition to Thorsby’s £440.000 purchase, 25 year old defensive midfielder Jordy Buijs was signed on a costless transfer after the player was released by NAC Breda. In addition to Finnbogason, manager Marco van Basten also departed the club after two seasons in charge, with Dwight Lodewdges coming in to replace him.
The club has experienced its ups and down throughout history, finishing as high as second in the Eredivisie in 2000, and as low as 17th in the Eerste Divisie in 1986. Unfortunately, this upcoming season will not be one fondly remembered by the Heerenveen faithful. Losing Finnbogason will be a huge blow for the club, and not signing at least a semi-adequate replacement is something that will surely come back to haunt them. The forward scored 40% of Heerenveen’s goals last season, and without someone who can at least get half the goals tallied by Finnbogason, Heerenveen will be left practically toothless in many of its matches. The responsibility of banging in goals will have to fall to young duo Hakim Ziyech (attacking midfield) and Bilal Basacikoglu (left wing). The two had 15 assists and 15 goals between each other, and without the presence of Finnbogason as their chief passing target, Ziyech and Basacikoglu should be able to score more goals for the club. But the two won’t be able to fix Heerenveen’s leaky defense that conceded 51 goals last season, and failure to control the match at the back will be the club’s downfall. As for the cup, without Finnbogason Heerenveen will surely exit earlier than before.