Things don’t come naturally at NAC in terms of sport and the rankings look dramatic with a last place. But director Remco Oversier doesn’t want to know anything about a crisis. According to him, 2025 was a good and beautiful year for the club in many areas, with steps forward and a stronger foundation for the future. In a year in which he still bears the pain every day of the loss of his daughter Keet, who died in 2014 at the age of two.
He actually doesn’t like looking back. Remco Oversier is a man who wants to move forward. From building, continuing and not standing still for too long. Yet he also cannot avoid looking back at the turn of the year. And then he sees that 2025 was an important year for NAC. The club maintained its position in the Eredivisie, made a profit for the first time in years, regained control of its own stadium and expanded it.
“It’s all connected,” he says. “Without enforcement, no renovation, without stability, no financial progress.” Yet Oversier refuses to use the word success. That is also difficult and not appropriate because the club is currently in a relegation spot in the Eredivisie. “We are certainly not yet where we want to be. A few battles have been won, but the war has not yet.”
“I am in NAC with my whole heart. That has to be the case, otherwise I cannot do this job.”
That down-to-earth look suits him. After years of doom and gloom, NAC is on the right track, but it is still not a stable Eredivisie club and in terms of sport it continues to fight. Oversier knows that, accepts that, works hard on it and insists that this takes time. “We have achieved a number of milestones, but this is a process that will take years. You can’t want everything at once.”
Anyone who watches him work sees someone who is completely absorbed in his club. Sixty to seventy hours a week is the rule rather than the exception. Evenings, weekends, match days, everything revolves around NAC. “I’m in it with my whole heart,” he says. “That has to be the case, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to do this job.”
But that complete surrender also means that enjoying is difficult. “I just don’t give myself that time,” Oversier continues honestly. “We have to keep going. Celebrating success takes time and we don’t have time. Maybe that moment will come later.”
“The loss of Keet is always present.”
But hard work and complete dedication to it also has a dark side. Because behind the director is also a man with a family. A family that is no longer completely complete since daughter Keet suddenly died in September 2014 at the age of 2. “That loss is always present,” says Oversier.
But especially at times when life stands still, such as birthdays and of course Christmas. Then the loss sometimes hits him extra hard and affects him very deeply. Such as on December 14 during World Lights Day, an annual day of remembrance where people worldwide light candles for deceased children. While Oversier was at NAC-FC Utrecht for work, his other daughter recited a poem for her sister in their village.
“She is fifteen, but she can express it better than I can,” says Oversier. “A video was made of it and I was sent it during the match. That does something to you.”
“We have to stay together. Within the club, but also outside.”
Then NAC seems very unimportant for a moment. But Oversier also needs his busy life at the club. That’s when he’s at his best. Looking ahead to 2026, his message is clear. In terms of sport, everything is once again about enforcement in the Eredivisie and the technical team is also working hard on this during the Christmas period. And NAC also wants to continue building the stadium and make the club stronger step by step.
But his greatest wish is not about money or results. “We have to stick together,” he says. “Within the club, but also outside. Through weather and wind. We are of course not where we want to be in terms of sport, but I have full confidence that we will maintain our position. Of course there is unrest, but commotion is part of NAC. In good times and in bad. And we have proven: we will always get back up.”
According to the director of the Pearl of the South, 2026 will again be a year of fighting, building and persevering. For Remco Oversier this is not a task, but a matter of course. Because as long as the fire burns, he will continue. With everything he has. For NAC. And with everything he carries.
In the last days of the year, Omroep Brabant has a series ‘The year of…’ This focuses on people for whom 2025 was an important year.
