Featured: Rotterdam off to a better start than ever

Never before has Rotterdam started a Hoofdklasse season so energetically. Last season's number five still played a draw (2-2) in its first match away at Pinoké, but went on to win four in a row: 4-2 against Bloemendaal, 7-2 against HDM, 2-4 at Schaerweijde and last Sunday 9-0 against Hurley.

With thirteen points from its first five matches, Rotterdam has erased its previous best league start - eleven points after five matches in 2008-2009. What is particularly striking is the team's enormous productivity: there have already been 26 cheers for a Rotterdam goal, also a new club record at this stage of the league.

Most goals Rotterdam scored after the first five match rounds

• 26 goals -2025-2026 🔥
• 21 goals - 2022-2023
• 20 goals - 2016-2017
• 19 goals - 2024-2025
• 18 goals - 2023-2024

Remarkably, the unprecedented goal explosion is taking place precisely in the first season in which Rotterdam can no longer call on Jeroen Hertzberger, the Hoofdklasse's all-time top scorer who retired from top hockey. The loss of the goal-scoring machine is being absorbed by numerous players, as the list of this season's ten goal scorers below shows.

Of them, Guus Jansen's productivity stands out in particular. The 23-year-old striker is on five goals after five matches and is the only player this season to have scored in all competitions. It will have to be strange this season if Jansen does not improve his personal record from last season (nine goals).

Distribution of Rotterdam's 26 goals in 2025-2026

• 5 goals - Guus Jansen
• 5 goals - Tjep Hoedemakers
• 4 goals - Pepijn van der Heijden
• 4 goals - Timme van der Heijden
• 3 goals - Thijs van Dam
• 1 goal - Olivier Hortensius
• 1 goal - Marc Recasens
• 1 goal - Justen Blok
• 1 goal - Matthijs van der Wielen
• 1 goal - Menno Boeren

Another club record
Rotterdam equalled another club record with the 9-0 victory over Hurley last Sunday. Van Driel's team remained unbeaten on their own pitch for the eleventh time in a row, series consisting of ten wins and one draw. Only in season 2016-2017 did Rotterdam have such a success series: then it did not even lose a single point in eleven consecutive home games.