Tonight four Eredivisie sides will begin the final matches of the 2023/2024 season as they battle to claim the final European ticket. Rather than a two-legged affair, each round will be determined by just one game. NEC Nijmegen will host Go Ahead Eagles while FC Utrecht welcome Sparta Rotterdam. The winners will face each other in the final on the 26th of May.
NEC finished the season in sixth place, just three points behind Ajax in fifth. They will face Go Ahead Eagles who ended up in ninth, 10 points behind their opponents. The home side had the seventh best home record in the league, with eight wins, four draws and five defeats. They scored 35 goals at home in 17 matches and conceded 25. Go Ahead Eagles were decent away from home. They had the ninth best record, with five wins, six draws and six defeats. They scored 16 of their 47 goals away from home. During the regular season the sides drew 1-1 in Nijmegen, but in the KNVB Cup the home side won 2-1 back in January. NEC have not beaten Go Ahead in the league at home since 8th May 2022.
Utrecht finished just three points behind NEC and only one point ahead of their opponents Sparta. They had the sixth best home record in the league, with eight wins, five draws and four defeats at home. They scored 29 of their 49 goals at home. Their opponents Sparta had the fifth best away record in the league, above the likes of Ajax and on par in terms of points with FC Twente. They won eight of their 17 away games and scored 26 goals in 17 games. The sides recently played each other in Utrecht on the 12th of May, with Sparta winning 1-0 thanks to a goal from Camiel Neghli. This is a repeat of the play-off from last season where Sparta won on penalties over two legs.
The winner of the European play-offs will qualify for the preliminary rounds of the Conference League in July.
GBeNeFNÂ |Â Ben Jackson
