During the 2014–15 season, AZ competed in the Eredivisie for the 17th consecutive season and the KNVB CUP under new manager Marco van Basten, and then John van den Brom after Van Basten relinquished his role after health issues, becoming assistant to Van den Brom. Under Gertjan Verbeek and Dick Advocaat the previous season, AZ lost their title of KNVB Cup to PEC Zwolle after being eliminated in the semi-finals by eventual league winners Ajax and finishing eighth in the league.
Background Following the 2013–14 season in which AZ broke their record for most competitive games in a season (58) which started in the KNVB Cup on 27 July 2013 (an extra time loss to Ajax) and ended in the Eredivisie UEFA Europa League play-offs (3–0 loss to Groningen).
During this run of 58 games, Gertjan Verbeek was sacked and Dick Advocaat was brought out of retirement to replace Verbeek until the end of the season. The club finished in 8th and lost at the final stages of the play-offs for European football.
League results were inconsistent, although the club managed to make the quarter-finals of the 2013–14 UEFA Europa League, playing Atromitos,2013–14 UEFA Europa League#Play-off round PAOK, Maccabi Haifa, Shakhter Karagandy,2013–14 UEFA Europa League#Group L Slovan Liberec, Anzhi Makhachkala before being eliminated by Benfica.2013-14 UEFA Europa League#Knockout phase
For the new season, Marco van Basten left Heerenveen to sign a two-year contract at AZ, expressing his desire for the new challenge.
Transfers
Arrivals
The following players moved to AZ. NamePositionPrevious clubFeeDate Guus HuppertsRW Roda JC€1,000,000 Summer Robert MührenCF Volendam€300,000 Summer Djavan AndersonRB Ajax U19€200,000 Summer Muamer TankovićFW Fulham U21Free (end of contract) Summer Sergio RochetGK DanubioUndiscolsed Summer
Departures
The following players moved from AZ. NamePositionNew clubFeeDate Nick ViergeverCB/LB/CDM Ajax€2,000,000 Summer Roy BeerensRW Hertha BSC€1,500,000 Summer Ruud BoymansCF Utrechthttp://www.ad.nl/ad/nl/5617/FC-Utrecht/article/detail/3662729/2014/05/27/FUndisclosed Summer Thomas LamCB PEC ZwolleZwolle neemt Lam transfervrij over van AZ - AD.nlFree (percentage of next sale) Summer Johann Berg GuðmundssonLW Charlton AthleticFree (end of contract) Summer Etiënne ReijnenCB CambuurFree (end of contract) Summer Erik FalkenburgCM NAC BredaFree (end of contract) Summer Hobie VelhurstGK MVV MaastrichtFree (end of contract) Summer Erik HeijblokGK VolendamGoalie Erik Heijblok tekent contract bij FC VolendamFree (end of contract) Summer Paul KokLB OssFree (end of contract) Summer Willie OvertoomCAM Zulte WaregemContract terminated Summer Dirk MarcellisRB NAC BredaContract expired Summer Mikhail RosheuvelRW CambuurUndisclosed January Viktor ElmCM Kalmar FFUndisclosed March
Loans The following players moved to new clubs whilst under contract at AZ. NamePositionNew clubLoan period Jonas Heymans LB Willem IIFull season Joris van OvereemCM DordrechtFull season Denni AvdićST Heracles AlmeloFull season Donny GorterLB/CM Aalborg BKFull season Fernando Lewis FW Go Ahead EaglesAugust–January Fernando Lewis FW DordrechtJanuary–May Eli Babalj CF PEC ZwolleJanuary–May Raymond Gyasi FW Roda JCJanuary–May
Pre-season friendlies AZ's pre-season began on 30 June with their first training sessionMaandag 30 juni: eerste training - AZ and consisted of seven official matches which started with an away friendly match on 5 July 2014 against Dutch amateurs SVW '27 from Heerhugowaard, just outside Alkmaar, and amateur club AFC '34 from Alkmaar.
Following the games against amateur opposition the club played a friendly with the full AZ squad, with two teams (blue and red) where both teams were mixed with regular first team players.
Then followed a weeks training camp in Epe, Netherlands where AZ played their first games against professional teams in the pre-season; they played reserves against NEC, newly relegated from the Eredivisie, on the Saturday and then on Sunday fielded a full strength team against Gabala FK of Azerbaijan on the final day of the training camp.
After the training camp in Epe, AZ had a specially arranged friendly against Eerste Divisie side VVV to celebrate exactly 60th anniversary since the two teams first met in a competitive game. This special fixture had silverware to be won in the form of the Herman Teeuwen Bokkal, a pre-season competition organised by VVV to play larger teams for the trophy named after the legendary VVV player and scout Herman Teeuwen. After VVV winning against OFI last year on this occasion AZ were victorious and awarded the cup;here is the AZ captain, Nemanja Gudelj, with the trophy.
After winning silverware, AZ agreed to play a friendly against German Bundesliga side 1899 Hoffenheim as part of their training camp in Switzerland. The final match of pre-season has been arranged for 1 August on the training field outside AFAS Stadion and will once again feature players from just the AZ squad. This game featured the squad wearing their new kits for the forthcoming season. The white (away) kit was worn by fringe members of the squad and black (away) kits were worn by the reserve and under-19 AZ players. This concluded the pre-season with only eight days remaining until the Eredivisie season opener against Heracles Almelo away.
Accurate as of 1 August
Statistics Top goalscorers Rank Player (pen.) 1. Muamer Tanković 7(1) 2. Thom Haye 2 Denni Avdić 2 Markus Henriksen 2 Donny Gorter 2 (2) 6. Steven Berghuis 1 Jan Wuytens 1 Mattias Johansson 1 Viktor Elm 1 Mikhail Rosheuvel 1 Ridgeciano Haps 1 Djavan Anderson 1 Joris van Overeem 1 Jeffrey Gouweleeuw 1 Celso Ortiz 1 Total 25(3)Goals conceded Against (pen.) Scorers 1899 Hoffenheim3 Rudy Modeste Salihović AZ Rood2(1) Tankovic Gorter (pen.) SVW’271 Bakker AFC '34 1 Ben Hamed AZ Blauw1 van Overeem NEC 0 - Qabala 0 - VVV 0 - AZ Wit0 - AZ Zwart0 - Total 8(1) Accurate as of 1 August
Eredivisie The regular domestic league season began with an away fixture in the start of August 2015 to Heracles Almelo and finished away to Excelsior in mid-late May 2015.
Statistics Top goalscorers Rank Player (pen.) 1. Steven Berghuis 3 2= Guus Hupperts 2 Muamer Tanković 2 Total 7Goals conceded Against Scorers Ajax 3 Davy Klaassen Lasse Schöne Anwar El Ghazi Willem II 3 Bruno Andrade Ali Messaoud Charlton Vicento Dordrecht 1 Mart Lieder Heracles Almelo 0 - Heerenveen - - PEC Zwolle - - ADO Den Haag- - Twente - - PSV - - Groningen - - Excelsior - - NAC - - Vitesse - - Cambuur - - Go Ahead Eagles - - Feyenoord - - Utrecht - - Total 7
League table
KNVB Cup AZ were drawn against the winners of the first round match on 27 August 2014 between Limburg amateurs EVV and Spirit'30, amateurs from Hoogkarspel for the second round of the KNVB Cup. EVV were victorious in the match, winning 4–0, and AZ will visit the 2,000 capacity Sportpark "In de Bandert" on 24 September 2014.
Statistics Top goalscorers Rank Player (pen.) 1. -(-) Total -(-)Goals conceded Against (pen.) Scorers EVV- - Total -(-)
Squad Performance
Player League starts(pen.) Unused sub. Cup starts (pen.) Unused sub.01. Esteban Alvarado3 -60000000002. Mattias Johansson301010000003. Jeffrey Gouweleeuw400000000004. Jan Wuytens400000000006. Celso Ortiz400000000007. Guus Hupperts421000000008. Nemanja Gudelj (c)400000000009. Aron Jóhannsson000000000010. Markus Henriksen301000000011. Muamer Tanković423000000012. Viktor Elm000310000014. Wesley Hoedt000040000015. Simon Poulsen400000000017. Djavan Anderson000000000018. Mikhail Rosheuvel101210000019. Eli Babalj000000000020. Thom Haye100120000021. Robert Mühren000100000022. Steven Berghuis331000000023. Derrick Luckassen101030000024. Ridgeciano Haps000220000025. Sergio Rochet1 -10030000016. Yves De Winter0000100000
Squad Numbers
Loanees
Domestic PlayerTeamLeague starts(pen.)Unused sub.Cup starts(pen.)Unused sub. Joris van OvereemDordrecht4110000000 Jonas HeymansWillem II4000000000 Denni AvdićHeracles Almelo3120000000 Fernando LewisGo Ahead Eagles0004000000
Foreign PlayerTeamLeague XI(pen.)Unused sub.League Cup XI(pen.)Unused sub.European Competition XI(pen.) Donny Gorter Aalborg BK00000000000000
Accurate as of matchday four.
International appearances
The following first team players played for their respective nations during the 2014–15 season:
Player National Team Position Time Played Goals - - - - -
UEFA current ranking
Rank Country Team Points34Galatasaray47.98035Dynamo Kyiv47.16636AZ45.61237Lazio45.56838Athletic Bilbao43.299
Recent Eredivisie results 000102030405060708091011121314
References