How does an Eredivisie club avoid the trap of complacency when facing an amateur team on a cold Wednesday night? In his “De Warming Up” column for the KNVB Cup clash against VV Capelle on October 30, 2013, FC Groningen manager Erwin van de Looi reveals the meticulous preparation—both on the pitch and in the stands—required to avoid a cup upset.
Van de Looi sets the tone by referencing the previous cup round, a professional, no-nonsense away victory against another amateur side, AFC in Amsterdam. To ensure his team was ready for Capelle, the manager didn’t rely on video footage; he went to see them himself. “Last Saturday I went to take a look at Capelle–Excelsior ’31,” he writes, proving that the coaching staff was treating the Topklasse side with the exact same scouting rigor as they would Ajax or PSV.
But the most fascinating detail is found under the “ENTHOUSIAST” header, revealing a brilliant piece of stadium management. Cup matches against lower-league opposition notoriously suffer from poor attendance, leading to a hollow, echoing stadium that kills the home advantage. To counter this, the club made a bold decision: they gave season ticket holders free entry, but only opened the lower ring of the Euroborg. “It is a nice gesture from the club and it gives an extra ‘boost’ to the team,” Van de Looi notes. By forcing all attending fans into the lower bowl, the club artificially engineered a dense, loud, and intimidating atmosphere, ensuring the amateur visitors felt the full weight of a professional stadium.
A Look into the Future
This strategy of closing the upper tiers for early-round cup matches became a standard, highly effective operational tactic for many Eredivisie clubs, balancing operational costs with atmospheric engineering. Erwin van de Looi‘s meticulous approach to scouting amateurs and demanding absolute focus paid off. FC Groningen won the match 2-0, avoiding the dreaded “cupset.” This exact combination of tactical respect for lower-league opponents and engineered home support became the blueprint for the club’s legendary, victorious KNVB Cup campaign in the 2014/2015 season.