The 2023–24 season is Willem II's 128th season in existence and second consecutive in the Eerste Divisie. They also competed in the KNVB Cup.
After a slow start to the season which saw the club fall to 15th position in the Eerste Divisie, with only one win in four games, culminating in a 4–1 loss to arch-rival NAC Breda, manager Reinier Robbemond was fired by the club on 5 September 2023.
On 16 September 2023, the club introduced Peter Maes as their new head coach, succeeding Robbemond. The appointment of Maes marked the club's first-ever Belgian head coach and his first coaching venture outside of Belgium. Under Maes' guidance, the team secured victories in their initial six matches and on Matchday 14, following a 2-1 home victory over Jong FC Utrecht, Willem II took over the 1st position in the Eerste Divisie.
The run of good play continued under Maes and on Matchday 37 late substitute Michael de Leeuw scored in the 93rd minute to earn a 1-1 draw on the road against FC Dordrecht. The draw earned Willem II enough points on the season to secure promotion back to the Eredivisie for the 2024-25 season. To finish off the season, on the final match day, Willem II came back from a 0-2 deficit to win 3-2 on a stoppage-time goal by midfielder Ringo Meerveld to secure the Eerste Divisie championship.
Players First-team squad
Transfers In DatePositionNo.PlayerFrom clubNotesRef. 12 July 2023 MF 10 Max de Waal Ajax U21 Free Transfer 28 July 2023 DF 30 Raffael Behounek WSG Tirol Transfer 31 July 2023 FW 17 Patrick Joosten Apollon Limassol FC Free Transfer 24 August 2023 FW 9 Jeredy Hilterman Almere City FC Loan 28 August 2023 DF 5 Rúnar Thór Sigurgeirsson Östers IF Transfer 1 September 2023 DF 33 Tommy St. Jago FC Utrecht Free Transfer 24 October 2023 GK 41 Maarten Schut Willem II youth team Transfer 24 October 2023 FW 35 Khaled Razak Willem II youth team Transfer 20 January 2024 DF 22 Rob Nizet K.F.C. Lommel S.K. Free Transfer
Out DatePositionNo.PlayerFrom clubNotesRef. 31 May 2023 MF 13 Leeroy Owusu Odense Boldklub Free Transfer 9 June 2023 FW 7 Elton Kabangu Royale Union Saint-Gilloise Free Transfer 24 June 2023 DF 6 Wessel Dammers Randers FC Transfer 3 July 2023 FW 9 Jizz Hornkamp Heracles Almelo Transfer 4 July 2023 MF 22 Wesley Spieringhs Roda JC Kerkrade Free Transfer 4 August 2023 GK 1 Kostas Lamprou Feyenoord Free Transfer 4 August 2023 MF 8 Pol Llonch SD Ponferradina Free Transfer 5 August 2023 DF 25 Lucas Woudenberg Valenciennes FC Transfer 1 September 2023 FW 14 Joeri Schroijen Helmond Sport Free Transfer 24 October 2023 FW 36 Jelte Pal Without a team Terminated
Pre-season and friendlies
Competitions
Overall record
Eerste Divisie
League table
Results summary
Results by round Results by round
Matches The league fixtures were unveiled on 30 June 2023. '
KNVB Cup
Awards Team Awards Award Competition Ref. Second Period Champions Eerste Divisie Season Champions Eerste Divisie
Individual Awards Award Player Competition Ref. Best Keeper Joshua Smits Eerste Divisie
References
External links