Opening day in the Hoofdklasse

OR trashed by Amsterdam. Kampong confirms. Rotterdam off to a bad start.

In the Netherlands the Hoofdklasse got underway with two games on Saturday and the rest on Sunday.

The surprise came from Amsterdam…

Amsterdam - Oranje-Rood: 7-1

The biggest loss ever for the club from Eindhoven. Not exactly the way you hope to get started as a new coach (Omar Schlingemann) and a new goalie (Tonias Walter) for your new club.
At Amsterdam Boris Burkhardt was the big man with 4 goals in the first half. At half time the home club led 5-1 and at the final hooter it was a historic 7-1.

The other game on Satuday saw Hurley beat SCHC 2-0

Both clubs are expected to play the bottom half of the table. Both were promoted from the second level division Promotieklasse. Hurley is the club who seems to have made the better investments for the new season, beating their direct opponents to avoid relegation 2-0.

Kampong confirms their role as favourites

Not many newcomers were needed for Kampong, the team of coach Tim Oudenaller. The current team is the reigning champion and the biggest favourite to repeat their title run this season. HCKZ is a big name from the past but still struggling to catch up with their glorious past after several difficult years. Nevertheless it is a team that can make life difficult for any opponent and can hope for a top 6 ranking in some months. This Sunday however it was all Kampong who won without difficulty 4-1.

Den Bosch is ambitious

In Den Bosch Pinoke lost their first points of the season with a solid 2-1 victory for the new club of Thierry Brinkman. The captain of the Dutch Olympc gold winners is the biggest transfer this season and the reason for the supporters of Den Bosch to dream of a play off.

Bloemendaal makes no mistakes in opening game

It’s a new start for Bloemendaal who have seen Michel van den Heuvel return as their coach. But they have lost impactful players like Thierry Brinkman and Arthur Van Doren. Opponent on the opening day was the champion of the Promotieklasse Nijmegen. Freshly promoted and aiming to stay in the Hoofdklasse. Bloemendaal however was too strong as could be expected: 3-0.

Rotterdam has a difficult start

The team of legend Jeroen Hertzberger were the losing finalists last season and is expected to reach the play off once more this season. Against HDM, a candidate for the bottom of the table, the club of Rotterdam struggled in the opening game. Resulting in an unexpected draw: 1-1.

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With the rest of the hockey world already jealous of the means given by the KNHB to the site of hockey.nl to promote the game of hockey… And of the deal made with Viaplay that guarantees all games in the Hoofdklasse (men and women) are captured in a way that make these fun to watch, both full game as well as the highlights. Now they also launched a new site just to promote the Hoofdklasse where you can find all highlight videos of all games every week: