FC Groningen was relegated from the Eredivisie on Sunday after 23 years. That became clear when the game against Go Ahead Eagles from Deventer ended in a draw (1-1) earlier on Sunday. Groningen had to win this game to stay in the Eredivisie. The club is second last in the table with 18 points. The distance with Excelsior, which has ten points more, can no longer be bridged with three games to go.
It is the end of an unhappy season for FC Groningen: the team only won a match four times. There was also rumbling in the board: in November former Heracles trainer Frank Wormuth was fired and later technical director Mark-Jan Fledderus. Under current trainer Dennis van der Ree, who replaced Wormuth, the Groningen team won only one game.
Captain Mads Bech Sørensen said “sorry” to all Groningen fans on Sunday after the match in Deventer. “We are all very disappointed and feel bad,” he told sports channel ESPN. It has been a long time since the club from Groningen was last relegated from the Eredivisie. This last happened in 1998. Two years later, the club came back and in 2015 it even won the KNVB Cup. Another club from the north was relegated this weekend: SC Cambuur is at the bottom of the table with 16 points after losing to FC Utrecht last Saturday.