On Saturday, the news broke that Jill Roord would make a move back to her native Netherlands, signing for current Vrouwen Eredivisie champions FC Twente. The news came as a shock to many women’s football fans, including Dutch National team head coach Andries Jonker, but it could be good news for the Dutch league.
The Vrouwen Eredivisie has traditionally been a developing league, in which players are being developed and from where they move on to bigger leagues if they are talented enough. Think of players like Victoria Pelova, who started at ADO Den Haag and grew even further as a player at Ajax, before moving on to Arsenal. Roord herself was one of these players. She started her career at FC Twente and has played at clubs like Wolfsburg and Manchester City since. It is the latter club she is leaving for a new start at FC Twente. It is unknown how much the Dutch club paid to meet the release clause, but some outlets are reporting that it is a significant sum.
It also means the overall quality of the league is lower and clubs in the league fail to properly compete in the European competitions, Ajax’ stint in 23/24 being a bit of an exception. FC Twente’s run this season is a better example: although they qualified for the group stage, they lost 7-0 against Real Madrid and 6-1 to Chelsea. Ajax failed to qualify for the group stages this past season.
To have a player like Jill Roord return to play in the Eredivisie in her prime years is relatively good news for the league. Hopefully her experience will lift her teammates and elevate the level of the game played on the pitch by her team and maybe therefore by other teams too. Her popularity might draw in more crowds.
Will her return be an example for other ‘big’ Dutch players like Jackie Groenen and Vivianne Miedema? Probably not. Roord’s case is a unique one.
She has openly stated that she has felt homesick during recent seasons. This is what she had to say in the FC Twente press release:
“The last couple of years I lost my joy playing football and lost a bit of my happiness. I am going to find that again here, I can already feel that.”
Moreover, with Manchester City having come fourth in the Barclays Women’s Super League and therefore missing out on UEFA Women’s Champions League qualification. At FC Twente, Roord can play Champions League football and live close to home at the same time, having just become Eredivisie champions, Twente earned themselves a place in the qualifying rounds.
