ACV has now also started preparing for the new season in the second division. On Saturday, the first exhibition match of the club, which so beautifully won the championship of the third division in Harderwijk on May 20, is on the roll: SV Meppen 2 comes to visit.
FC Groningen and FC Emmen have been on their way for a while, but the Asser Saturday club, the third club in terms of level in Groningen and Drenthe, is now back in training. On Monday evening, trainer Ruud Jalving welcomed his selection to the training field for the first time.
Six newbies
Including almost all newcomers: Bas Aalderink, the midfielder who came over from Emmen av., Max Jasper, brother of Gijs and, like his brother, attacking midfielder, defender Rick Boyer who came over from Oranje Nassau, Ibrahim Sillah, defensive midfielder or center defender who came over van Kickers Emden, Yannick Hettinga, who was trained at FC Groningen and came over from Cambuur Onder23, and Freddy Quispel, the fast attacker who previously played for ACV and played for Staphorst last season.
Shortly after winning the championship, now two months ago, Jalving announced that he was still looking for an attacker with depth who could replace Niels Grevink and a central defender. Both needs are now met, it seems: Grevink did not return to SV Meppen but stayed with ACV and with the arrival of Hettinga and the strong Sillah, ACV has two more defenders.
,,Yes, I am satisfied with the way the selection is now”, said Jalving after the first training session. ,,Of course it is possible that something will change in the last month before the competition starts, but I don’t expect that. We have such a nice group.”
Premature
The question of how far he thinks he can get with this group in the second division is much too premature, Jalving thinks. ,,I haven’t dealt with the opponents at all yet, I still have to make an inventory of them, we do everything in due time. I want to concentrate on my own selection first.”
ACV will play at least four exhibition games in the run-up to the debut season in the second division. The second team of Derde-Bundesligaclub SV Meppen is the opponent on Saturday from 2.30 pm. A week later, on July 29, ACV travels to Bremen, where FC Oberneuland serves as a sparring partner. That club, for which former FC Groningen striker Eric Groeleken played 23 years ago, became champion, just like ACV, but decided not to promote and will therefore also play in the Bremen-Liga, Germany’s fifth tier, next season.
Northern get-together with Be Quick, 1887
On Saturday, August 5, ACV’s sports park will probably fill up nicely with fans of northern top amateur football, because then ACV kicks off at 2.30 pm against Be Quick 1887, which will also be playing in the fourth division this season.
In the last weekend before the start of the competition, ACV will play a tournament with other top amateur clubs at Excelsior’31 in Rijssen. On August 19, ACV opens the competition against Jong Sparta at home.
ACV on its way to…
In the run-up to the competition in the second division, in which we will follow ACV intensively, we are making a short series of stories about ACV’s preparations for that second division. You can read those stories, including board and volunteers, players and technical staff, on Friday 28 July, 4 and 11 August.