Freddy Quispel is having a great season at ACV and will play with his team at home against HHC Hardenberg on Saturday, where his younger brother Jan has just started playing.
Freddy Quispel has been involved in just over half of ACV’s goals so far. He scored nine times and provided eight assists. “In terms of returns, things are going well,” says the club’s top scorer, who comes from a pedigreed football family.
Father Joost (48) went through the entire youth academy at FC Emmen and reached the main squad. Although he did not become a permanent choice, he did play a number of matches in the first division, in which Drenthe’s football pride played at the time.
Dad Joost’s football genes
His sons, Freddy, Jan and Peter, inherited his football genes. They also made it to professional football. Peter (18), the youngest of the couple, plays in the youth team of PSV and is at the start of a potentially great career. Jan (21) played in the youth ranks of FC Emmen, FC Twente and PEC Zwolle and recently joined HHC Hardenberg. Freddy (23) also played for FC Emmen, FC Twente and PEC Zwolle.
Jan just returned from the United States, where he played for the college team at Butler University in Indianapolis. That adventure only lasted two months, because Jan’s previous education did not fit in well with his studies there. The middle Quispel son is now studying international business at the Hanze University of Applied Sciences in Groningen.
“Of the three of us,” says Freddy, “Peter has come the furthest. He signed a contract with PSV six months ago and, like Jan, is a defensive midfielder. I’m more of someone who provides offensive impulses. PSV took Peter away from FC Twente when he was 13. He was doing well, but tore his cruciate ligament just before he was invited to the Dutch under-18s for a match in Italy. So double bad luck. He has now been rehabilitating for three and a half months.”
‘How my mother was able to achieve that…?’
At home with the Quispels, Freddy says, everything used to revolve around football. “When Jan and I played at FC Twente, we were picked up by a van every morning and brought home again in the evening. Then quickly eat and then go to bed. Because my father was busy with his work, a lot fell on my mother’s shoulders. Fortunately, my mother also likes football, but how on earth was she able to manage all that…?
“And of course on Saturday my parents came to watch us play. One time with Jan, the other time with me and when Peter started playing football he also joined us. It was a busy time for my parents. They still come to watch our games, by the way.”
‘I had Sergio Peña in front of me’
Freddy Quispel has three games under his belt at FC Emmen in the Premier League. All three as substitutes. He made his debut at home against SC Heerenveen on August 17, 2019 and was also given playing time against PEC Zwolle and Willem II by then coach Dick Lukkien.
“I felt like I was very close to the first team,” he says. “But in the number 10 position I had Sergio Peña in front of me, he was the best player on the team.”
Anco Jansen played from the left side, where Quispel can also play. “That was also undisputed,” says Freddy. “There was perspective, but not enough to be able to play ninety minutes every week. I therefore sought my luck at VfL Oldenburg, which at the time played in the Regionalliga Nord, the fourth level in Germany.”
‘Long strokes and pounding in: that doesn’t suit me’
Even before he had played a match at VfL Oldenburg, he turned his back on the club. “I was out of place there. The football they played, with long strokes and pounding, did not suit me. I handed in my contract and because I had not played a binding match I could immediately transfer to PEC Zwolle. But I didn’t play a match there either, because then corona came.”
In the run-up to the 2021-2022 season, Freddy Quispel requested a transfer to ACV. A year later he left the Asser Saturday club and moved to Staphorst. “Staphorst wanted to make progress and needed new players in three crucial positions and the number 10 position was one of them. That ambition appealed to me.”
He stayed with Staphorst for one season and then returned to ACV. “No, I don’t regret going to Staphorst. If I make a choice, I support it and I won’t complain about it afterwards.”
‘I’m a nine and a half’
Freddy Quispel is coming to full fruition this season at the highest ranking northern amateur club. “In my first period at ACV I was often in the rush hour, but I am not a real striker. I’m more of a nine and a half. I can really come into my own behind Giovanni Zwikstra, a real striker.’
“We also had a different type of trainer with Fred de Boer. Fred is a nice guy, a good trainer too, but in terms of being a trainer I prefer Ruud. He is tactically strong and very clear in how he wants to play. I’m very sad to see him leave at the end of the season.”
Also director
Not only sportingly, Freddy Quispel is also doing well socially. He is director of Outdoor Queen, a manufacturer of sun blinds for verandas in Meppen, just across the border from Emmen. Supported by his father and Manfred Specken (‘they are more of the shareholders’), he heads the company that focuses on the German market.
After their professional football careers (Specken played for FC Emmen and FC Groningen), Joost Quispel and Manfred Specken started the Q &S Gartendeco garden center in Meppen, turned it into a gigantic company and sold it four years ago for a more than handsome amount. “I started as an intern with my father six years ago and with Outdoor Queen we want to accelerate in the coming years.”
Brothers against each other? ‘Great fun’
Brother Jan is currently doing an internship with Freddy for his studies, and on Saturday the two could be opponents on the field. Possible, because something has to be done: “I am not yet eligible to play at HHC,” Jan reports. “I just trained in Hardenberg for the first time. So I don’t think the chance of me starting straight away is that great. But who knows. It would be great fun of course.”
Freddy, who wants to take revenge with his team for the 3-1 defeat against Jong Sparta last Saturday, is still slightly injured in his groin and does not expect a starting spot against HHC. “But I’ll probably play.”
Take a chance
He says he has been approached by a number of other amateur clubs. “I intend to stay at ACV. I like it very much. I will only think about it if an opportunity presents itself at a professional club. I would like to take that opportunity again. I think I can handle professional football.”
Just 18 and already a PSV contract
Peter Quispel, the youngest of the three Emmer brothers, turned 18 on January 2. On September 18 last he was supposed to play with Jong PSV in Euroborg against FC Groningen, but that party was canceled: shortly before that he tore his cruciate ligament during Tuesday training. his knee. “I was spinning and then I realized something was wrong, but I never thought about a torn cruciate ligament,” Peter says on the phone. “It wasn’t until I tried to kick a ball that I knew something was really wrong.”
Ahead of schedule
The youngest Quispel is now well into his rehabilitation. “I’m ahead of schedule,” says the midfielder, who was appointed captain of PSV Under-18 by coach Vincent Heilmann shortly before his injury. “So fortunately things are going in the right direction.”
At the beginning of this season, Peter, who has been playing at the Herdgang since the Under-14 level, received his first contract as a footballer. “That is a special feeling,” says the Emmen resident. “I live in an apartment in Eindhoven, but now also have a car, and of course I now spend a lot of time in Emmen.”