With the 2022 FIFA World Cup finally out of the way, our attention as soccer fans turns towards the domestic leagues across Europe which are resuming competition.
One of these divisions is the Eredivisie – based in the Netherlands.
Despite the loss of the hugely skilled Cody Gakpo – who joined the English club Liverpool from PSV Eindhoven in a deal that could be worth up to 45 million pounds – there’s a plethora of talent participating in this league.
Therefore, we thought it would be a great opportunity to watch some highlights and pinpoint the regular set piece takers for each team.
Read on to see the full list!
Set piece takers list for the Eredivisie
A lot of time has been spent studying video footage of the 18 teams competing in this league.
And as a result of that effort, we’ve managed to compile a detailed list of penalty, free kick and corner kick takers.
As the current season progresses, we will continue to flesh out the list to include more players who take up backup roles when it comes to free kicks and corners, as well as finding alternate penalty takers who assume spot kick duties in the absence of the regular taker.
Anyways, go ahead and take a look at the following table:
Club | Penalties (Main) | Penalties (Alternate) | Free Kicks (Main) | Free Kicks (Alternate 1) | Free Kicks (Alternate 2) | Corners (Main) | Corners (Alternate 1) | Corners (Alternate 2) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ajax Amsterdam | Dušan Tadić | Steven Berghuis | Dušan Tadić | Steven Berghuis | Dušan Tadić | Steven Berghuis | ||
AZ Alkmaar | Vangelis Pavlidis | Jesper Karlsson | Đorđe Mihailović | Đorđe Mihailović | ||||
SC Cambuur | Robin Maulun | TBC | Michael Breij | Mees Hoedemakers | Silvester van der Water | Michael Breij | Mees Hoedemakers | Silvester van der Water |
Excelsior Rotterdam | TBC | Marouan Azarkan | Marouan Azarkan | Julian Baas | Marouan Azarkan | Julian Baas | ||
FC Emmen | TBC | Jeroen Veldmate | Mark Diemers | Mark Diemers | ||||
FC Volendam | Henk Veerman | Robert Mühren | Carel Eiting | Gaetano Oristanio | Carel Eiting | Gaetano Oristanio | ||
Feyenoord Rotterdam | Orkun Kökçü | Danilo | Sebastian Szymański | Sebastian Szymański | ||||
Fortuna Sittard | Burak Yılmaz | Paul Gladon | George Cox | George Cox | ||||
Go Ahead Eagles | Willum Þór Willumsson | TBC | Philippe Rommens | Willum Þór Willumsson | Bas Kuipers | Philippe Rommens | Bas Kuipers | |
FC Gronigen | Ricardo Pepi | TBC | Tomáš Suslov | Luciano Valente | Luciano Valente | Tomáš Suslov | ||
SC Heerenveen | Amin Sarr | TBC | Amin Sarr | Anas Tahiri | Anas Tahiri | |||
NEC Nijmegen | Landry Dimata | TBC | Oussama Tannane | Oussama Tannane | ||||
PSV Eindhoven | Luuk de Jong | TBC | Joey Veerman | Xavi Simons | Joey Veerman | Xavi Simons | ||
RKC Waalwijk | Dario Van den Buijs | Michiel Kramer | Pelle Clement | Pelle Clement | ||||
Sparta Rotterdam | Vito van Crooij | TBC | Vito van Crooij | Mica Pinto | Vito van Crooij | Mica Pinto | ||
FC Twente | Ricky van Wolfswinkel | TBC | Ramiz Zerrouki | Václav Černý | Gijs Smal | Ramiz Zerrouki | Václav Černý | Virgil Misidjan |
FC Utrecht | Anastasios Douvikas | Bart Ramselaar | Taylor Booth | Amin Younes | Taylor Booth | Amin Younes | Can Bozdoğan | |
SBV Vitesse | Matus Bero | TBC | Maximilian Wittek | Kacper Kozłowski | Maximilian Wittek | Kacper Kozłowski |
Which Eredivisie team scored the most goals from set pieces last season?
As you’d expect, the dominant team from set pieces in the last Eredivisie campaign was Ajax Amsterdam.
With the likes of Dušan Tadić, Steven Berghuis and the now departed Daley Blind on free kick and corner deliveries, they were able to score 19 separate times from dead ball situations in 2021/2022.
Here’s an image which illustrates this data:
You can also see that Ajax netted a total of six penalties from a total of nine in the last campaign, which is a decent 67% conversion rate.
PSV Eindhoven and Feyenoord followed closely behind with totals of 17 and 16 set piece goals respectively, although you’d probably expect this sort of production for the former to drop a little seeing that Gakpo left the picture.
With soccer becoming a game of much finer margins, a lot of teams are looking for any tactical edge they can get over their opponents.
This has actually led to a rising trend of clubs employing dedicated set piece specialists who come in and revamp existing free kick, throw in and corner kick routines.
Are there set piece guides for other leagues?
As matter of fact, there are!
Over here on the Soccer Whizz blog, we go the extra mile when it comes to compiling data on teams and players.
Using the same research methods that comprise of doing things like trawling through hours and hours of video clips on the internet and referencing statistical websites, we’ve been able to produce a number of similar articles which we’ve published over on the blog.
Here’s an example of one for the French league, and another one for America’s soccer league.
Happy reading!
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