# 2021–22 FC Groningen season

The 2021–22 season is the 66th season in the existence of FC Groningen and the club's 55th (22nd consecutive) season in the top flight of Dutch football.
In addition to the domestic league, FC Groningen participated in this season's edition of the KNVB Cup.
FC Groningen finished 2021–22 Eredivisie season as 12th.
In the KNVB Cup, FC Groningen lost 2–1 against NEC Nijmegen in round of 16 and are eliminated from the cup.
Jørgen Strand Larsen was the top scorer of the club in this season with 17 goals; 14 goals in Eredivisie and 3 goals in KNVB Cup. (His 2nd consecutive.)
Jørgen Strand Larsen (31E-3K), Neraysho Kasanwirjo (31E-3K), Peter Leeuwenburgh (33E-1K) and Romano Postema (31E-3K) were the most appeared players in this season with 34 appearances.

## Players
### First-team squad

    As of 12 July 2021
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 1 | GK | NED | Peter Leeuwenburgh |
| 2 | DF | SUR | Damil Dankerlui |
| 3 | DF | NED | Bart van Hintum |
| 4 | DF | NED | Wessel Dammers |
| 5 | DF | NED | Mike te Wierik |
| 6 | MF | NED | Azor Matusiwa |
| 7 | MF | SWE | Ramon Pascal Lundqvist |
| 8 | FW | NED | Michael de Leeuw |
| 9 | FW | NOR | Jørgen Strand Larsen |
| 10 | FW | NED | Arjen Robben (captain) |
| 11 | FW | MAR | Mohamed El Hankouri |
| 12 | DF | NED | Radinio Balker |
| 14 | FW | NED | Patrick Joosten |
| 15 | FW | SWE | Gabriel Gudmundsson |
| 16 | GK | NED | Jan Hoekstra |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 17 | MF | SVK | Tomáš Suslov |
| 18 | MF | MAR | Ahmed El Messaoudi |
| 19 | FW | SWE | Paulos Abraham |
| 20 | DF | CRO | Marin Sverko |
| 21 | DF | NED | Neraysho Kasanwirjo |
| 22 | DF | NED | Joël van Kaam |
| 23 | FW | NED | Kian Slor |
| 24 | DF | NED | Thomas Poll |
| 25 | GK | NED | Jan de Boer |
| 26 | MF | NED | Daniël van Kaam |
| 27 | FW | BEL | Cyril Ngonge |
| 29 | FW | NED | Romano Postema |
| 30 | MF | GER | Sam Schreck |
| 33 | MF | SWE | Alex Mortensen |

## Transfers
### In

| Pos. | Player | Transferred from | Fee | Date |
| GK | Jan Hoekstra | Roda JC Kerkrade | End of loan | 30 Jun 2021 |
| MF | Nicklas Strunck | Esbjerg fB | End of loan | 30 Jun 2021 |
| FW | Romano Postema | FC Den Bosch | End of loan | 30 Jun 2021 |
| FW | Alex Mortensen | Kalmar FF | On loan | 1 Jul 2021 |
| DF | Marin Šverko | 1. FC Saarbrücken | 400,000 | 1 Jul 2021 |
| FW | Michael de Leeuw | FC Emmen | Free | 1 Jul 2021 |
| FW | Paulos Abraham | AIK Fotboll | 2,000,000 | 1 Jul 2021 |
| DF | Radinio Balker | Almere City FC | Free | 1 Jul 2021 |
| DF | Neraysho Kasanwirjo | Ajax U21 | Free | 1 Jul 2021 |
| GK | Peter Leeuwenburgh | Cape Town City F.C. | Undisclosed | 1 Jul 2021 |
| FW | Cyril Ngonge | RKC Waalwijk | €200,000 | 2 Jul 2021 |
| FW | Daleho Irandust | BK Häcken | €400,000 | 31 Aug 2021 |
| DF | Elias Olsson | Kalmar FF | On loan | 31 Aug 2021 |
| MF | Laros Duarte | Sparta Rotterdam | €675,000 | 31 Aug 2021 |
| FW | Sebastian Tounekti | FK Bodø/Glimt | On loan | 31 Aug 2021 |
| DF | Yahya Kalley | IFK Göteborg | €400,000 | 31 Aug 2021 |
| DF | Melayro Bogarde | TSG 1899 Hoffenheim | On loan | 14 Jan 2022 |
| MF | Emmanuel Matuta | PSV U21 | Undisclosed | 20 Jan 2022 |

### Out

| Pos. | Player | Transferred to | Fee | Date |
| FW | Paulos Abraham | AIK Fotboll | End of loan | 30 Jun 2021 |
| DF | Leonel Miguel | FC Emmen | Free | 1 Jul 2021 |
| MF | Nicklas Strunck | Esbjerg fB | Free | 1 Jul 2021 |
| MF | Sam Schreck | FC Erzgebirge Aue | On loan | 28 Jul 2021 |
| MF | Ramon Pascal Lundqvist | Panathinaikos F.C. | On loan | 26 Aug 2021 |
| MF | Azor Matusiwa | Stade de Reims | €4,000,000 | 31 Aug 2021 |
| FW | Gabriel Gudmundsson | Lille OSC | €6,000,000 | 31 Aug 2020 |
| FW | Kian Slor | FC Emmen | On loan | 31 Aug 2021 |
| FW | Joël van Kaam | FC Emmen | On loan | 31 Aug 2021 |
| DF | Thomas Poll | Almere City FC | €100,000 | 31 Aug 2021 |
| MF | Ahmed El Messaoudi | Gaziantep F.K. | €400,000 | 7 Sep 2021 |
| FW | Patrick Joosten | SC Cambuur | On loan | 11 Jan 2022 |
| DF | Wessel Dammers | Willem II | On loan | 29 Jan 2022 |

## Pre-season and friendlies

Win  Draw  Loss  Fixtures

## Competitions
### Overall record

| Competition | First match | Last match | Starting round | Final position | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record |
| Competition | First match | Last match | Starting round | Final position | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % |
| Eredivisie | 15 August 2021 | 15 May 2022 | Week 1 | 12th | 34 | 9 | 9 | 16 | 41 | 55 | −14 | 026.47 |
| KNVB Cup | 27 October 2021 | 19 January 2022 | 1st round | Round of 16 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 3 | +6 | 066.67 |
| Total | Total | Total | Total | Total | 37 | 11 | 9 | 17 | 50 | 58 | −8 | 029.73 |
Source: Soccerway

### Eredivisie
#### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 10 | RKC Waalwijk | 34 | 9 | 11 | 14 | 40 | 51 | −11 | 38 |
| 11 | NEC | 34 | 10 | 8 | 16 | 38 | 52 | −14 | 38 |
| 12 | Groningen | 34 | 9 | 9 | 16 | 41 | 55 | −14 | 36 |
| 13 | Go Ahead Eagles | 34 | 10 | 6 | 18 | 37 | 51 | −14 | 36 |
| 14 | Sparta Rotterdam | 34 | 8 | 11 | 15 | 30 | 48 | −18 | 35 |

#### Results summary

| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |
Source: ESPN

#### Results by round

| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 |
| Ground | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | H | A | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H |
| Result | W | D | L | D | L | L | L | D | D | W | L | D | W | W | D | D | L | L | L | W | W | L | D | W | D | W | W | L | L | L | L | L | L | L |
| Position | 6 | 6 | 11 | 11 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 15 | 16 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 14 | 13 | 12 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 13 | 11 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 10 | 11 | 12 |

#### Matches

The league fixtures were announced on 11 June 2021.

##### 2nd half
### KNVB Cup
## Statistics
### Scorers

| # | Player | Eredivisie | KNVB | Total |
| 1 | Jørgen Strand Larsen | 14 | 3 | 17 |
| 2 | Cyril Ngonge | 7 | 1 | 8 |
| 3 | Michael de Leeuw | 5 | 1 | 6 |
| 3 | Romano Postema | 4 | 2 | 6 |
| 5 | Bjorn Meijer | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 5 | Daleho Irandust | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 5 | Mohamed El Hankouri | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 8 | Ahmed El Messaoudi | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 8 | Daniël van Kaam | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 8 | Laros Duarte | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 8 | Neraysho Kasanwirjo | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 8 | Tomáš Suslov | 1 | 0 | 1 |

### Appearances

| # | Player | Eredivisie | KNVB | Total |
| 1 | Jørgen Strand Larsen | 31 | 3 | 34 |
| 1 | Neraysho Kasanwirjo | 31 | 3 | 34 |
| 1 | Peter Leeuwenburgh | 33 | 1 | 34 |
| 1 | Romano Postema | 31 | 3 | 34 |
| 5 | Cyril Ngonge | 30 | 3 | 33 |
| 5 | Michael de Leeuw | 31 | 2 | 33 |
| 5 | Mohamed El Hankouri | 30 | 3 | 33 |
| 8 | Bart van Hintum | 28 | 3 | 31 |
| 8 | Tomáš Suslov | 28 | 3 | 31 |
| 10 | Paulos Abraham | 28 | 2 | 30 |
| 11 | Laros Duarte | 26 | 2 | 28 |
| 12 | Damil Dankerlui | 25 | 2 | 27 |
| 12 | Mike te Wierik | 25 | 2 | 27 |
| 14 | Bjorn Meijer | 22 | 3 | 25 |
| 14 | Marin Sverko | 23 | 2 | 25 |
| 16 | Daniël van Kaam | 20 | 2 | 22 |
| 17 | Wessel Dammers | 18 | 2 | 20 |
| 18 | Daleho Irandust | 18 | 1 | 19 |
| 19 | Patrick Joosten | 10 | 2 | 12 |
| 20 | Melayro Bogarde | 7 | 1 | 8 |
| 21 | Emmanuel Matuta | 6 | 0 | 6 |
| 22 | Yahya Kalley | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| 23 | Ahmed El Messaoudi | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 23 | Alex Mortensen | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 23 | Azor Matusiwa | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 23 | Gabriel Gudmundsson | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 27 | Elias Olsson | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 27 | Jan Hoekstra | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 29 | Ramon Pascal Lundqvist | 1 | 0 | 1 |

### Clean sheets

| # | Player | Eredivisie | KNVB | Total |
| 1 | Peter Leeuwenburgh | 5 | 1 | 6 |
| Total | Total | 5 | 1 | 6 |

### Disciplinary record

| # | Player | Eredivisie | Eredivisie | KNVB | KNVB | Total | Total |
| 1 | Mike te Wierik | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 2 |
| 2 | Neraysho Kasanwirjo | 6 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 1 |
| 3 | Cyril Ngonge | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
| 4 | Daniël van Kaam | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 5 | Tomáš Suslov | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 |
| 6 | Jørgen Strand Larsen | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| 6 | Laros Duarte | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| 8 | Bart van Hintum | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 9 | Wessel Dammers | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 10 | Bjorn Meijer | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 10 | Mohamed El Hankouri | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 10 | Paulos Abraham | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 10 | Romano Postema | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 14 | Azor Matusiwa | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 14 | Daleho Irandust | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 14 | Damil Dankerlui | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 14 | Marin Sverko | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 14 | Michael de Leeuw | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 14 | Peter Leeuwenburgh | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 14 | Yahya Kalley | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |