Willem II’ers on a pink cloud after promotion: ‘You can’t think of a better scenario’ | Football

When De Leeuw takes a moment for himself in the dressing room on Friday evening, he thinks of the newspaper cutting that then technical director Teun Jacobs showed him two years ago. At the time, it was a means to convince the striker to return to his old love.

“Teun had made that cutting himself. The headline was: ‘De Leeuw shoots Willem II to De Heuvel’. But then you don’t think it will come true,” says 37-year-old De Leeuw in the catacomb of the FC Dordrecht stadium .

Still, it comes out on Friday evening. The Goirlenaar, who returned in 2022, headed Willem II to 1-1 at FC Dordrecht in the 93rd minute and gave his club the point needed for promotion to the Eredivisie, after the team lost it a week earlier against FC Groningen (1-1). ).

Extra striking: three hours before the match, video analyst Rick Mennes announces during dinner that De Leeuw will help Willem II get promoted. Just before coming on as a substitute, the striker tells his fellow players that he thinks he is going to score.

“I said: ‘One moment’. And that happened. I didn’t think, I just headed in hard,” says De Leeuw. Then grinning: “I didn’t come in the last two matches, but now I do. Then it’s extra tasty when you make it. This is enjoyment for the entire club and the city.”

The promotion will cause Willem II to be very happy on Friday. The players celebrate on the field with the 400 fans who traveled with them and the Tilburg supporters who have obtained tickets for the home sections.

About 60 kilometers away, thousands more Willem II supporters are partying wildly. The match was watched on a large scale at the King Willem II Stadium. Later in the evening, the Willem II players are met at the stadium by many supporters with fireworks.

The promotion makes a lot of waves for Willem II. After relegation in 2022 and a bad year in the Kitchen Champion Division, the club – despite significant investments – is starting this season poorly. It cost trainer Reinier Robbemond his head. Technical director Jacobs resigns.

But after Maes takes over in September, things will start turning. The Belgian guides Willem II from fifteenth to first place. The club maintains that position from the fourteenth round, sometimes with hanging and strangles. Willem II often comes back from behind, as was the case on Friday.

And while Maes called his team a “squeezed lemon” last week. “The fact that we are back again today shows that we have rightly been number one since November,” says Maes.

According to De Leeuw, Maes has turned Willem II into a tough, mature and stable team that does the right things at the right times. “And the trainer has lined up the good players,” says De Leeuw, who, remarkably enough, was often a bencher.

“I also think that it is the strength of Peter and the staff to manage a group in such a way that everyone knows their role. There were no bad apples in the group. This is not a season of excellence, but of our collective.”

The success means a lot to Maes. He arrived in Tilburg with a serious scratch, after he had accepted black money as a trainer in Belgium and thus played a role in the large-scale fraud investigation. Clean Hands.

Maes, who reached a settlement with the Belgian federal prosecutor’s office, was said to have been “silenced and burned” in his home country. “In the Netherlands I wanted to relaunch my coaching career and show that I was still the coach I was before. That worked.”

Maes looks very happy on Friday evening. The sixty-year-old Belgian says he will enjoy the festivities and drink some bacon. Laughing: “My son-in-law is my driver back to Belgium.”

De Leeuw is given a beer in his hands during the interview on Friday. It is probably not his last. “I’m going into town tonight. And going to bed very late,” he says, laughing.

Next week Willem II can also win the title in the Kitchen Champion Division. With a home win over Telstar, the championship is a fact.

The title adds extra luster to the ceremony on May 12 on De Heuvel, the large square in the center of the city. This weekend, Willem II will not be honored in Tilburg due to Remembrance Day and Liberation Day.

For De Leeuw, who may retire after this season, a dream farewell awaits if he wins a title. “We’ll see about that. This evening was already very special. The fact that the whole city is celebrating thanks to my goal is great.”