Feyenoord will host FC Groningen at De Kuip in Rotterdam on April 25, 2026, with the match scheduled to kick off at 10:30 AM.
Raheem Sterling, who joined Feyenoord in February 2026 and whose contract extension has been ruled out, goes into the game as the most prominent individual figure in a side under pressure to convert draws into wins.
The stakes are immediate: Feyenoord sit second in the Eredivisie but have drawn four of their last five league matches, including a 1-1 draw with NEC Nijmegen on April 12 and a 1-1 result against Ajax in March. The club have been beaten just once in their last nine top-flight fixtures, yet they enter Saturday on the back of three consecutive stalemates and four draws in the past five gameweeks — a run that leaves them in danger of falling outside the top three if results go against them.
Groningen arrive in contrasting mood. The visitors are ninth in the table and have won three of their last five Eredivisie games, a run that included a 3-0 victory over AZ Alkmaar in March 2026. Groningen have only M. Hoekstra listed as injured, with Oskar Zawada and Stije Resink unavailable for the trip; Resink has contributed five goals and five assists this season. Those figures feed into a side that believes it can punish hesitation at De Kuip.
Numbers underline the narrative both ways. Feyenoord’s recent sequence of draws has cost momentum for a team that spent much of the season in the top two and once led the title race, while Groningen’s form—three wins in five—has steadied a midtable campaign. On historical terms, Groningen carry a long hoodoo into Rotterdam: they have been winless in this fixture since 2019 and have not beaten Feyenoord in Rotterdam since April 2007. Manager Dick Lukkien has not beaten Feyenoord since February 2019.
There is a mismatch in available resources. Feyenoord are hampered by a lengthy injury list and several sidelined players, a problem the club must manage without clear reinforcements from the bench; Groningen’s problems are smaller in scale, with only one confirmed injury and two known absences. That gap explains why a team sitting ninth can still see a pathway to points at De Kuip while Feyenoord worry about dropping further in the table despite being unbeaten in most recent games.
Beyond club shape, league-wide attacking figures provide context for what either side must contend with: Ayase Ueda leads the top-flight with 23 goals, while other names across the division—Thom van Bergen with 12 goal contributions among them—map the threats that shape opponents’ tactical choices. For Feyenoord, converting control into clear victories has become the problem; for Groningen, the task is to exploit that exact weakness.
The match kicks off at 10:30 AM ET on April 25 and will be available live in the United States on Select, with viewers able to stream through +. If Feyenoord fail to break their recent pattern, the immediate consequence is clear: they risk dropping out of the top three and handing momentum back to rivals. If they take three points, Sterling’s short-term role at a club that has ruled out an extension will nevertheless remain a central storyline for the run-in.
