Fortuna Sittard host Feyenoord at the Fortuna Sittard Stadion on Sunday, 3 May 2026, with Ayase Ueda and his 25 league goals front and centre as Feyenoord chase a crucial result in the 32nd gameweek of the Eredivisie.
Feyenoord arrive in second place on 58 points, a single point clear of NEC on 57 and four ahead of Ajax and FC Twente on 54, and know that finishing second behind PSV Eindhoven would secure direct qualification for the Champions League. With those numbers, every point this weekend carries a clear, immediate value.
The weight of the fixture is obvious: Feyenoord are unbeaten in four matches and average 2.1 goals per match with nine clean sheets this season, while Fortuna sit 12th and have one win from their last five games — a sequence that includes three defeats and one draw. Fortuna’s Kaj Sierhuis has 10 league goals and Mohammed Ihattaren has supplied 10 assists, but the hosts concede 1.8 goals per match, a stat that underlines the gulf the table suggests.
Context sharpens the stakes. Feyenoord are already guaranteed European football for 2026-27 but still need to secure second place to avoid the Champions League qualifying rounds; third place would only take a team into the Champions League third qualifying round, fourth place into the Europa League second qualifying round, and fifth place would leave a team with merely a European play-off spot. For Fortuna Sittard, whose chances of reaching the European play-offs are slim and could be extinguished by this result, the clash is more about pride and preserving a season that slipped when they fell behind eighth-placed FC Utrecht in recent weeks.
Tension arrives in the details. Feyenoord have won 12 of the recent meetings between the clubs while Fortuna have won two and three have finished level; the visitors have not lost this fixture since a 4-2 defeat in October 2019 and carry a 13-match unbeaten run against Fortuna into Sittard. Yet Feyenoord have won only two of their last five matches overall, a figure that sits awkwardly next to their four-match unbeaten run and suggests the team has drawn multiple games rather than running away with the campaign.
Availability complicates predictions. Fortuna will be without Ivo Pinto, suspended after a straight red card away at Heerenveen, and list Nick Marsman, Alen Halilovic, Daley Sinkgraven, Mattijs Branderhorst, Justin Lonwijk, Edouard Michut and Ramazan Bayram among their absentees. Feyenoord are missing Bart Nieuwkoop, Anel Ahmedhodzic, Hwang In-beom, Jakub Moder, Thomas Beelen, Leo Sauer, Shaqueel van Persie and Malcolm Jeng, a roll-call that could blunt depth and force tactical adjustments from the visitors.
For Ueda, the game is both personal and pivotal: he leads Feyenoord’s scoring charts with 25 goals and offers a clear focal point for a side that averages more than two goals per match. If Feyenoord convert that threat into the three points, they will put real distance between themselves and NEC and make life difficult for Ajax and FC Twente in the closing three fixtures. If they falter here, the title of second place becomes a live, urgent fight across the final weeks.
The likeliest outcome is that Feyenoord, despite absences and an inconsistent run of late wins, will press for a result that keeps second place in sight; but the combination of Fortuna’s pockets of attacking threat and the visitors’ squad gaps ensures the game will be watched as a meaningful turning point in a tight finish to the Eredivisie season.
