Preview: SBV Excelsior vs NEC - prediction, team news, lineups

With just six matches remaining for both teams to achieve their respective objectives, SBV Excelsior and NEC face off on Saturday evening at Stadion Woudestein in round 29 of the 2025-26 Eredivisie season.

Occupying 16th place in the standings, the hosts are aiming to climb out of the bottom three and secure top-flight survival, while their third-placed visitors have their sights set on Champions League qualification.

Match preview

Buoyed by their 3-2 triumph over PSV Eindhoven eight days earlier, NEC were nearly stunned at home by Heerenveen but managed to salvage a 2-2 draw on March 14 courtesy of Tjaronn Chery's equaliser just before the hour mark.

While Dick Schreuder's men will be disappointed to see their three-game winning streak end against opponents sitting five places below them, a 1-1 draw between Feyenoord and Ajax ensured that the Nijmegen-based side did not lose any ground on their nearest rivals in the race for a top-three finish.

Now unbeaten in four matches (W3, D1) since enduring a four-game winless run between 11 and 28 February, NEC will look to return to winning ways in Rotterdam. Their away form this season has been impressive, having avoided defeat in their last 10 outings dating back to November 2.

Unsurprisingly, only PSV (36) have picked up more points away from home than Saturday's visitors (23), whose confidence will be further boosted by an emphatic 5-0 triumph against the hosts earlier this season, which made it back-to-back wins in this fixture by a combined score of 8-0.

With a crunch clash against Feyenoord on the horizon, victory for NEC this weekend would give them a chance to move into second place next Sunday and add another chapter to what has been an undeniably stellar campaign so far.

After winning three of their final four matches in 2025, SBV Excelsior could hardly have foreseen their difficult start to 2026, having won just one of 12 matches since the turn of the year and collecting only eight points from a possible 36.

Ruben den Uil's side ended a five-game losing streak by holding bottom club Heracles to a 1-1 draw last time out but have subsequently slipped into the relegation playoff spot following Telstar's shock victory over PSV.

Less than a year after securing promotion to the Eredivisie, De Roodzwarten now face the prospect of an immediate return to the second tier of Dutch football unless they can mount a late-season fightback.

With Excelsior having scored the joint-fewest goals in the division (29), Saturday's hosts cannot afford to remain defensively vulnerable, having now gone six matches without a clean sheet and conceding more than once in four of those games.

As with most teams battling relegation, home form is crucial, and Excelsior must improve on a league-low 14 points at home, with their fans yet to witness a victory on home turf since December 20.

SBV Excelsior Eredivisie form:

NEC Eredivisie form:

NEC form (all competitions):

Team News

Hamdi Akujobi and Miliano Jonathans have both been ruled out for the remainder of the season with anterior cruciate ligament injuries.

Calvin Raatsie remains sidelined for Excelsior with a shoulder problem that has kept him out since mid-February, while Jerolldino Bergraaf (hamstring) and Lewis Schouten (head) are also unavailable — the latter having been forced off after just 38 minutes against Heracles.

Rick Meissen was Schouten's replacement in the aforementioned game and is on course to be given the nod to start this time around in the heart of the defence alongside Casper Widell.

Goalkeepers Jasper Cillessen (calf) and Gonzalo Crettaz (hamstring) are out of contention for NEC, leaving Rijk Janse as the favourite to feature between the sticks.

Brayann Pereira, Freek Entius and Deveron Fonville are also sidelined for the visitors, although Eli Dasa is fully fit and available for selection once again.

Chery's brace against Heerenveen has taken him to 15 direct goal contributions in 27 league matches, making the 37-year-old one to watch despite his recent World Cup disappointment with Suriname.

SBV Excelsior possible starting lineup:

Van Gassel; Zagre, Meissen, Widell, Bronkhorst; Hartjes; De Regt, Yegoian, Naujoks, Fernandes; Van Duinen

NEC possible starting lineup:

Janse; Sandler, Kaplan, Willems; Ouaissa, Nejasmic, Sano, Onal; Chery, Lebreton; Linssen