Heerenveen v FC Twente: Eredivisie - European Play-off Preview, 2023

Heerenveen and FC Twente will begin the battle for a European place when they contest the first leg of their Eredivisie play-off semi-final tie at the Abe Lenstra Stadium on Thursday evening.

Four clubs will battle it out for a place in the second preliminary round of next season's Europa Conference League with Sparta Rotterdam and Utrecht completing the play-off quartet.

FC Twente will arguably go into their play-off semi-final against Heerenveen as the favourites given their fifth-place finish in the regular season. Heerenveen occupied the final play-off spot after finishing 18 points behind their semi-final opponents.

Team News

Heerenveen

Heerenveen remain without the services of captain Sven van Beek who has an Achilles tendon injury. Fellow defender Joost van Aken is out for the long-term with a knee injury.

Head coach Kees van Wonderen could select Paweł Bochniewicz to start at centre-back ahead of Jeffrey Bruma off the back of Sunday's 2-0 victory over Go Ahead Eagles at the Abe Lenstra Stadium. Bochniewicz was on target for Heerenveen in that match.

FC Twente

FC Twente have good squad availability going into their latest match. Head coach Ron Jans is likely to have a full squad of players available other than defender Max Bruns.

Jans could keep faith with the same side that impressively defeated Ajax 3-1 at De Grolsch Veste at the weekend.

Predicted lineups

Heerenveen: Noppert, Köhlert, Bochniewicz, Van Ottele, Van Ewijk, Tahiri, Haye, Olsson, Sahraoui, Van Hooijdonk, Colassin

FC Twente: Unnerstall, Smal, Pröpper, Pleguezuelo, Brenet, Sadilek, Vlap, Zerrouki, Misidjan, Ugalde, Černý

Ones to watch

Sydney van Hooijdonk (Heerenveen)

On-loan Bologna forward Van Hooijdonk has made a real impact at Heerenveen this season. The 23-year-old is the son of former Celtic and Nottingham Forest forward Pierre and he is set for a very bright future in the game.

Van Hooijdonk has scored 16 goals in 33 outings in the Eredivisie this season. The striker is the focal point of the Heerenveen attack and should he be on form, the FC Twente back-line will be given a difficult evening at the Abe Lenstra Stadium.

Václav Černý (FC Twente)

Is there a more efficient attacking player in the Eredivisie than Černý? The Czech Republic international has made a huge contribution to the FC Twente forward line this year. Černý ended the regular season with 13 goals and 11 assists, his quality has been seen right across the FC Twente attack.

Černý is a real handful and Heerenveen will need to have the player tightly-marked to keep the danger to a minimum in their defensive third. Allow the attacker too much space and he will punish you. Černý could be a potential match-winner if he is allowed to shine.

Previous meetings

Despite finishing a significant distance behind FC Twente in the regular season, Heerenveen will go into their play-off semi-final with some confidence. The Super Frisians are unbeaten against the Enschede-based club this season.

Goals from Van Ewijk and Bochniewicz helped Heerenveen to come from behind to defeat FC Twente 2-1 at the Abe Lenstra Stadium in the first half of the season before the two sides played out a 3-3 thriller at De Grolsch Veste in March. FC Twente were 3-1 up in that match before throwing their two-goal lead away.

FC Twente did complete a league double against Heerenveen in the 2021/2022 season.