The final matchday programme of the season serves as the definitive historical record for the entire FC Groningen youth academy. Page 17 of the May 18 edition provides a comprehensive, team-by-team breakdown of how the year ended for the hundreds of boys training at Corpus den Hoorn.
The most anticipated update was at the very top, under “JONG FC GRONINGEN”. In previous issues, we documented the agonizing drama of the reserves, who tied on points with Jong Vitesse but lost the division title on goal difference, sparking a KNVB investigation. The text here provides the final, bitter conclusion: the investigation didn’t change the outcome. Jong Vitesse advanced to the national championship match, where they defeated Jong Feyenoord 3-1 to claim the overall title. The Groningen reserves had to settle for being the second-best team in the country.
The rest of the page is a mix of survival and celebration. The B1 team (Under-17s), managed by Peter Moltmaker, was forced into a nerve-wracking relegation playoff against Excelsior to maintain their Eredivisie status. But the true joy of the page is found at the very bottom. The D2 team (Under-12s), managed by Bote Talsma, officially secured their championship with a 4-0 victory over Be Quick 1887. The text proudly announces: “Around the match this afternoon, the team will be honored in Euroborg!”
A Look into the Future
For the 11- and 12-year-old boys of the D2 squad, doing a lap of honor around a sold-out Euroborg during a European playoff final was the absolute pinnacle of their young lives. While the older academy teams faced the brutal, cynical realities of goal differences and relegation playoffs, the youngest generation provided the pure, unadulterated joy of lifting a trophy. By 2026, the vast majority of the boys mentioned across this page have left the sport, but the structural resilience documented here—the ability of the academy to compete at the highest national levels across all age groups—remains the bedrock of FC Groningen‘s long-term strategy.