Original Hummel football shirt FC Utrecht 2016/17

Season 2016/2017. 34 games played. 18 won, 8 tied, 8 lost. 62 points. Final score: fourth. This is the story that belongs to the 2016/2017 season.

FC Utrecht was the first of all teams to start the 2015/2016 year, and lastly the team of trainer / coach Erik ten Hag was ready in that season. The harvest? None, in fact. European football was within reach, but was missed. During the short summer break, the so-called mid-season, all those involved processed that sporty hangover.

New round, new opportunities. But without men like Louis Nganioni, Mark Diemers, Ruben Ligeon, Chris Kum, Ruud Boymans, Timo Letschert and Bart Ramselaar. They exchanged the FC's shirt from the Dom city for that of other teams. There were also incoming transfers. David Jensen came over from FC Nordsjaelland, Robin van der Meer was taken from Go Ahead Eagles, Richairo Zivkovic came over from Ajax on a rental basis and there was the return of Gyrano Kerk in Utrecht; After a season on a rental basis with Helmond Sport, he got a new chance at FC Utrecht.

In the preparation, the results were not overly encouraging. Yes; victories were booked. On Desto (4-0), Borussia Mönchengladbach II (1-0) and Spakenburg (3-0). But they were not too spacious. And in tests against Lierse SK (1-2), Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv (1-1) and 1. FC Union Berlin (0-3), the Utrecht team did not make the difference.

After six match days in the Eredivisie, FC Utrecht was still waiting for the first competition win of the year. After the defeat at home against FC Groningen (1-5), the murmurs started to become audible. Nobody in the staff and team was distracted by that. The goal was clear, as was the working method. FC Utrecht started to grab points. And more. And more. And more. After the faltering start, it turned out that the football machine that was called FC Utrecht was indeed of the right quality. Partly thanks to Wout Brama and Zakaria Labyad, who joined in the winter break, who both proved their added value.

With an impressive number of 62 points, FC Utrecht closed the regular league in fourth place. And that meant, just like a year earlier: play-offs for European football. In the semifinals, the Domstedelingen met sc Heerenveen. Via a 1-3 victory in Friesland and a 2-1 home victory, the Ten Hag team qualified for the final battle. AZ was the opponent in this. AZ; a team that was beaten 2-3 by the Utrecht team during round 34 of the regular season in Alkmaar. In short: a job that should be done.

But things went completely wrong on Thursday 25 May at the AFAS Stadium in Alkmaar. FC Utrecht was trumped on all fronts by an AZ that was on the warpath: 3-0 for the North Hollanders. "AZ with one and a half legs in Europe," headlines the day after. But those newspapers, like so many others, had counted outside the resilience of FC Utrecht. Ten Hag did not want to give up and on the day that he really had to, on Sunday 28 May, got the most out of his team. In Stadium Galgenwaard, which was visited by 16,586 people that day, it was 2-0 after half an hour of play. Ten minutes before time Gyrano Kerk scored 3-0 and an extension followed. FC Utrecht dictated the game in the scorching heat, but it did not get the much desired fourth hit.

So: penalties. Blood-curdling. Nervous. And above all: successful. Nacer Barazite shot with his last ball contact as a player of FC Utrecht into his team Europe. The folk festival that followed was as evident as it was correspondingly.