2021–22 NEC Nijmegen season

NEC Nijmegen

2021–22 season
Chairman	Ron van Oijen
Manager	Rogier Meijer
Stadium	Goffertstadion
Eredivisie	11th
KNVB Cup	First Round
Top goalscorer	League: Ali Akman Jonathan Okita (1 each) All: Ali Akman Jonathan Okita (1 each)
Highest home attendance	8,333 (vs. PEC Zwolle, 20 August 2021)
Lowest home attendance	–
Average home league attendance	–
Biggest win	2-0 (vs. PEC Zwolle (h), 20 August 2021)
Biggest defeat	0-5 (vs. Ajax (a), 14 August 2021)

The 2021–22 season was the 55th season in the existence of NEC Nijmegen and the club's first season back in the top flight of Dutch football. In addition to the domestic league, NEC Nijmegen participated in the season's editions of the KNVB Cup.

Players

First-team squad

As of 28 January 2022

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
1	GK	NED	Mattijs Branderhorst
2	DF	NED	Ilias Bronkhorst
3	DF	NED	Rens van Eijden (captain)
4	DF	ESP	Iván Márquez
5	DF	BRA	Rodrigo Guth (on loan from Atalanta)
6	MF	NED	Jordy Bruijn
7	MF	NED	Elayis Tavşan
8	MF	PAR	Édgar Barreto (3rd captain)
9	FW	TUR	Ali Akman (on loan from Eintracht Frankfurt)
10	FW	COD	Jonathan Okita
11	MF	DEN	Magnus Mattsson
12	FW	CIV	Wilfried Bony
14	MF	DEN	Mikkel Duelund (on loan from Dynamo Kyiv)

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
15	MF	NED	Javier Vet
16	DF	MAR	Souffian El Karouani
18	MF	BEL	Mathias De Wolf
19	FW	ESP	Pedro Ruiz (on loan from Marseille)
20	MF	DEN	Lasse Schöne (vice-captain)
22	FW	NED	Joep van der Sluijs
24	DF	NED	Calvin Verdonk (on loan from Famalicão)
26	DF	NED	Cas Odenthal
27	GK	AUS	Danny Vukovic
28	DF	NED	Bart van Rooij
31	GK	NED	Robin Roefs
71	MF	NED	Dirk Proper

Youth/reserves squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
—	GK	NED	Ruben van Kouwen
—	GK	NED	Mark van der Heijden
—	DF	NED	Guus Gertsen
—	DF	NED	Thijme Deckers
—	DF	NED	Thomas Cox
—	MF	NED	Jordy Ruizendaal
—	MF	NED	Bart Ebbers

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
—	MF	NED	Kas de Wit
—	MF	NED	Michaël Dangi
—	FW	NED	Aimé Ogba
—	FW	NED	Sergio Hughes
—	FW	NED	Venitchio Sint
—	FW	NED	Giovanni Zwikstra
—	FW	NED	Dennis Haazer

On loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
—	DF	ANG	Kevin Bukusu (to Helmond Sport until 30 June 2022)
—	MF	NED	Thomas Beekman (to Helmond Sport until 30 June 2022)

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
—	FW	BEL	Thibo Baeten (to Torino Primavera until 30 June 2022)

Pre-season and friendlies

  Win   Draw   Loss   Fixtures

AZ v N.E.C.

3 July 2021 Friendly	AZ	4–1	N.E.C.	Dirkshorn, Netherlands
16:00 CEST (UTC+2)	Boadu 27' Aboukhlal 60' Beukema 76', 87'		Okita 36'	Stadium: Sportpark vv Dirkshorn

TOP Oss v N.E.C.

14 July 2021 Friendly	TOP Oss	Cancelled	N.E.C.	Netherlands
14:30 CEST (UTC+2)

N.E.C. v RKC Waalwijk

17 July 2021 Friendly	N.E.C.	3–0	RKC Waalwijk	Netherlands
17:00 CEST (UTC+2)
Note: three halves of 30 minutes.

Heracles Almelo v N.E.C.

24 July 2021 Friendly	Heracles Almelo	0–1	N.E.C.	Netherlands
13:00 CEST (UTC+2)

N.E.C. v OFI

30 July 2021 Friendly	N.E.C.	2–0	OFI	Nijmegen, Netherlands
19:00 CEST (UTC+2)	Bruijn 12' (pen.) Márquez 52'		Balogiannis  17' De Guzmán  55'	Stadium: Goffertstadion

Competitions

Overall record

Competition	First match	Last match	Starting round	Final position	Record
					Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Win %
Eredivisie	14 August 2021	15 May 2022	Matchday 1	11th	34	10	8	16	38	52	−14	029.41
KNVB Cup	27 October 2021	10 February 2022	First round	Quarter-finals	4	3	0	1	7	4	+3	075.00
Total					38	13	8	17	45	56	−11	034.21

Source: Soccerway

Eredivisie

Main article: 2021–22 Eredivisie

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
9	Cambuur	34	11	6	17	53	70	−17	39
10	RKC Waalwijk	34	9	11	14	40	51	−11	38
11	NEC	34	10	8	16	38	52	−14	38
12	Groningen	34	9	9	16	41	55	−14	36
13	Go Ahead Eagles	34	10	6	18	37	51	−14	36

Source: Eredivisie
Rules for classification: Season in progress: 1) Most points won; 2) Less points lost; 3) Goal difference; 4) Goals scored; 5) Alphabetical order; End of season: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) Head-to-head points; 5) Head-to-head goal difference; 6) Head-to-head away goals scored; 7) Play-off if relevant for deciding champion, relegation or participating in a European league, otherwise by draw. 8) Penalty shoot-out (only after a play-off)

Results summary

Overall								Home						Away
Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
34	10	8	16	38	52	−14	38	3	5	9	13	22	−9	7	3	7	25	30	−5

Source: Eredivisie

Results by round

Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34
Ground	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	A	H
Result	L	W	W	D	D	L	L	W	L	W	W	D	D	L	L	L	W	W	D	L	D	W	D	L	L	L	D	W	L	L	L	W	L	L
Position	18	11	7	7	7	10	11	11	11	9	8	8	9	10	11	12	10	9	9	9	9	8	8	9	10	10	9	10	10	11	9	8	11	11

Source: Eredivisie
A = Away; H = Home; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Loss

Matches

The league fixtures were announced on 11 June 2021.

Ajax v N.E.C.

14 August 2021 1	Ajax	5–0	N.E.C.	Amsterdam
21:00 CEST (UTC+2)	Haller 5' Mazraoui 9' Van Rooij 14' (o.g.) Tadić 19', 38'	Report		Stadium: Johan Cruyff Arena Attendance: 32,275 Referee: Bas Nijhuis

N.E.C. v PEC Zwolle

20 August 2021 2	N.E.C.	2–0	PEC Zwolle	Nijmegen
20:00 CEST (UTC+2)	Akman 3' Duelund  18' Okita  36', 41' van Rooij  53' El Karouani  73'	Report	Clement  53' Reijnders  82' van den Belt  85' Kersten  88'	Stadium: De Goffert Attendance: 8,333 Referee: Sander van der Eijk

Heracles Almelo v N.E.C.

29 August 2021 3	Heracles Almelo	0–1	N.E.C.	Almelo
14:30 CEST (UTC+2)	Bakış  27'  41' De la Torre  76' Fadiga  77' Blaswich  77' Knoester  86'	Report	Márquez  41' Akman 50' Okita  90+2'	Stadium: Erve Asito Attendance: 8,053 Referee: Jochem Kamphuis

NEC v Willem II

12 September 2021 4	NEC	0–0	Willem II	Nijmegen
12:15 CEST (UTC+2)	Tavşan  71'	Report	Brondeel  15' Jenssen  59' Pol Llonch  64'	Stadium: De Goffert Attendance: 8,333 Referee: Pol van Boekel

Sparta Rotterdam v NEC

17 September 2021 5	Sparta Rotterdam	1–1	NEC	Rotterdam
20:00 CEST (UTC+2)	Mijnans 44' Auassar  62' Abels  73'	Report	Okita 28' Akman  36' Barreto  79' Schöne  85'	Stadium: Sparta Stadion Het Kasteel Attendance: 7,041 Referee: Edwin van de Graaf

NEC v Utrecht

22 September 2021 6	NEC	0–3	Utrecht	Nijmegen
18:45 CEST (UTC+2)		Report	Ramselaar 7' 79' van der Maarel  66' Douvikas 67'	Stadium: De Goffert Attendance: 8,333 Referee: Marc Nagtegaal

Feyenoord v NEC

25 September 2021 7	Feyenoord	5–3	NEC	Rotterdam
21:00 CEST (UTC+2)	Kökçü 14' (pen.)  55' Sinisterra 17' Til 80' 89' Geertruida  90' Dessers 90+2'	Report	Branderhorst  13' Mattsson 32' Odenthal 44' Verdonk 74' Iván Márquez  79'	Stadium: Stadion Feijenoord Attendance: 45,495 Referee: Joey Kooij

Fortuna Sittard v NEC

2 October 2021 8	Fortuna Sittard	1–3	NEC	Sittard
21:00 CEST (UTC+2)	Seuntjens 34' (pen.) Tekie  36' Johansson  85'	Report	Okita 21' Tavşan 26' Odenthal  41' Bruijn  45+1' 52'	Stadium: Fortuna Sittard Stadion Attendance: 7,011 Referee: Jeroen Manschot

NEC v Vitesse

17 October 2021 9	NEC	0–1	Vitesse	Nijmegen
14:30 CEST (UTC+2)	Iván Márquez  39' van Rooij  44' Barreto  53'	Report	Frederiksen 16' Openda  58' Tronstad  59' Wittek  66' Bazoer  68'	Stadium: De Goffert Attendance: 12,500 Referee: Allard Lindhout

Twente v NEC

24 October 2021 10	Twente	1–2	NEC	Enschede
12:15 CEST (UTC+2)	Troupée  39' Pröpper  49' Misidjan 58'	Report	Okita  38' Tavşan 50' El Karouani  51' Vet 76'  84' Odenthal  90+3'	Stadium: De Grolsch Veste Attendance: 26,000 Referee: Kevin Blom

NEC v Groningen

31 October 2021 11	NEC	3–0	Groningen	Nijmegen
14:30 CEST (UTC+2)	Akman 45+1' Tavşan 55' Okita 90+2'	Report	Ngonge  70' Dammers  81'	Stadium: De Goffert Attendance: 0 Referee: Ingmar Oostrom

NEC v Heerenveen

6 November 2021 12	NEC	1–1	Heerenveen	Nijmegen
18:45 CEST (UTC+2)	Akman 53'	Report	Veerman 72'	Stadium: De Goffert Attendance: 0 Referee: Bas Nijhuis

AZ v NEC

20 November 2021 13	AZ	1–1	NEC	Alkmaar
20:00 CET (UTC+1)	Martins Indi  85' Aboukhlal 90+3'	Report	Bruijn 9'	Stadium: AFAS Stadion Attendance: 0 Referee: Jeroen Manschot

NEC v Cambuur

26 November 2021 14	NEC	2–3	Cambuur	Nijmegen
20:00 CET (UTC+1)	Barreto 31' Akman 36' Tavşan  45+2' Iván Márquez  55' Schöne  90+4'	Report	Jacobs 17' Uldriķis 52' Bangura 66'  74'	Stadium: De Goffert Attendance: 0 Referee: Rob Dieperink

RKC Waalwijk v NEC

5 December 2021 15	RKC Waalwijk	2–1	NEC	Waalwijk
12:15 CET (UTC+1)	Odgaard 28' Augustijns  54' Adewoye  62' Azhil  90' Kuijpers 90+4'	Report	Bruijn 16' Márquez  47' Odenthal  65' Verdonk  84'	Stadium: Mandemakers Stadion Attendance: 0 Referee: Dennis Higler

NEC v PSV

12 December 2021 16	NEC	2–1	PSV	Nijmegen
20:00 CET (UTC+1)	Mattsson 8' Schöne  68' Proper  90+7'	Report	Vertessen 80' Carlos Vinícius 90'  90+3'	Stadium: De Goffert Attendance: 0 Referee: Serdar Gözübüyük

Go Ahead Eagles v NEC

19 December 2021 17	Go Ahead Eagles	0–2	NEC	Deventer
14:30 CET (UTC+1)	Deijl  79'	Report	Tavşan 29' Bruijn 37' (pen.) Proper  40'	Stadium: De Adelaarshorst Attendance: 0 Referee: Erwin Blank

Willem II v NEC

22 December 2021 18	Willem II	0–1	NEC	Tilburg
18:45 CET (UTC+1)	Jenssen  89'	Report	Mattsson 38'	Stadium: Koning Willem II Stadion Attendance: 0 Referee: Danny Makkelie

NEC v Heracles

15 January 2022 19	NEC	0–0	Heracles	Nijmegen
18:45 CET (UTC+1)	Tavşan  45+1'	Report	Quagliata  81' Knoester  85'	Stadium: De Goffert Attendance: 0 Referee: Joey Kooij

NEC v Feyenoord

23 January 2022 20	NEC	1–4	Feyenoord	Nijmegen
12:15 CET (UTC+1)	Schöne 17' Iván Márquez  87'	Report	Kökçü 32' (pen.) 53' Jahanbakhsh 64' Til 90+1'	Stadium: De Goffert Attendance: 0 Referee: Pol van Boekel

PEC Zwolle v NEC

5 February 2022 21	PEC Zwolle	1–1	NEC	Zwolle
20:00 CET (UTC+1)	Nakayama  8' Redan 27' Voet  69' van Wermeskerken  85'	Report	Bruijn 26' Vet  41' Verdonk  72'	Stadium: MAC³PARK Stadion Attendance: 4,500 Referee: Jannick van der Laan

Heerenveen v NEC

13 February 2022 22	Heerenveen	0–1	NEC	Heerenveen
14:30 CET (UTC+1)	Haye  53' van Hooijdonk  77' Drešević  82'	Report	Barreto  8' Tavşan 41' van Rooij  73' Schöne  90+8'	Stadium: Abe Lenstra Stadion Attendance: 8,321 Referee: Richard Martens

NEC v RKC Waalwijk

19 February 2022 23	NEC	1–1	RKC Waalwijk	Nijmegen
16:30 CET (UTC+1)	Odenthal  79' Okita 88' Schöne  90+1'	Report	van der Venne 18' Büttner  71' Touba  90+1' Gaari  90+4'	Stadium: De Goffert Attendance: 11,802 Referee: Erwin Blank

Vitesse v NEC

27 February 2022 24	Vitesse	4–1	NEC	Arnhem
12:15 CET (UTC+1)	Doekhi 54' Oroz 56' 80'  81' Buitink 90+5'  90+6'	Report	Duelund 49'	Stadium: GelreDome Attendance: 13,877 Referee: Danny Makkelie

KNVB Cup

Main article: 2021–22 KNVB Cup

VV Capelle v N.E.C.

27 October 2021 First round	VV Capelle	0–3	N.E.C.	Capelle aan den IJssel
20:00 CEST				Stadium: Sportpark 't Slot

Cambuur v NEC

16 December 2021 Second round	Cambuur	1–2	NEC	Leeuwarden
18:00 CEST	Hendricks 57' Bangura  90'	Report	Romeny 2' Proper 41' Bronkhurst  77' Rodrigo Guth  84' Vet  90+1'	Stadium: Cambuur Stadion Attendance: 0 Referee: Edwin van de Graaf

Groningen v NEC

19 January 2022 Round of 16	Groningen	1–2	NEC	Groningen
18:45 CET	de Leeuw 45+1' Duarte  53' Kasanwirjo  90'	Report	Verdonk 10' Duelund 48' Vet  90' Akman  90+4'	Stadium: Euroborg Attendance: 0 Referee: Jeroen Manschot

NEC v Go Ahead Eagles

10 February 2022 Quarter-finals	NEC	0–2	Go Ahead Eagles	Nijmegen
19:00 CET	Barreto  50'	Report	Brouwers 19' (pen.)  54' Botos 26' Deijl  90+4'	Stadium: Goffertstadion Attendance: 0 Referee: Danny Makkelie