Before football clubs had dedicated smartphone apps with integrated fan tokens and instant digital polling, fan engagement required a bit more effort—and phone credit. Page 18 of the August 2013 matchday programme offers a delightful trip down technological memory lane, explaining the rules for the “Essent Speler van het Jaar” (Player of the Year) voting.
To vote for the Man of the Match, fans inside and outside the Euroborg were instructed to text “GRO [space] SHIRT NUMBER to 4040.” The cost? A hefty 60 eurocents per message. But the real treasure on this page isn’t the retro technology; it’s the list of players those 60-cent texts helped elect over the years. The photo shows a young Virgil van Dijk receiving the award for the 2012/2013 season before his departure to Celtic.
Looking at the “Players of the Year since 2000” table printed below him is staggering. It reads less like a local club’s history and more like a scouting masterclass for the global elite. Arjen Robben (2000/2001), Luis Suarez (2006/2007), Marcus Berg (2007/2008), and Dusan Tadic (2010/2011) are all immortalized here. It is a profound reminder of FC Groningen‘s status in the 21st century as one of Europe’s premier springboard clubs.
A Look into the Future
By 2026, the idea of paying 60 cents to send a premium SMS to a four-digit number feels like ancient history, replaced entirely by free, in-app voting systems. However, the legacy of the players on this list only grew more mythical. Virgil van Dijk would go on to win the Champions League and Premier League, becoming the best defender in the world. Looking at this humble page, you realize that the fans sitting in the Euroborg were literally watching—and texting to vote for—the future of world football.