In our latest update on new clubs for National Teamers Abroad, we look at Oguchi Onyewu's loan move to FC Twente.
Why Are We Here?
It's not easy fighting for and keeping a place in the starting lineup of one of the World's biggest clubs. Losing most of a season to injury further complicated Oguchi Onyewu's chances at Milan. In search of playing time, he's been loaned to Twente (pronounced twenteh) for the rest of the season. He's joining a contending club with a shot at a second consecutive Eredivisie title.
Enschede, Holland, the club is named for the Twente region. A city of around 156,000, Enschede is only a few miles from the German border in the southeast of Holland. It is the home of the Grolsch brewery.
And The Club?
The club's official name is FC Twente '65, giving you an idea of its age. Enschedese Boys and Sportclub Enschede merged in 1965, with the new club seeing quick success. Though they wouldn't win a title until last season, they were competitive early and were the losing UEFA Cup finalists in 1975. It hasn't all been good for the club. They fell into the second division in 1983, winning promotion the next season. In the early 2000's, they almost went under financially. Working out their problems, they're now a top club in Holland. FC Twente are known as The Tukkers, a reference to the Twente regional dialect.
How Tough Is the Eredivisie?
FC Twente won the 2009-10 Eredivisie title by a point over Ajax, taking the Dutch league's automatic slot in the Champions League group stage. That was under former manager Steve McClaren, who left the club after leading it to its first title. Under new manager Michel Preud'homme, Twente is again among the teams in the title hunt. And as every story on Onyewu's loan has told us, Preud'homme was Onyewu's manager at Belgium's Standard Liege. So if the Eredivisie is a tough league, Twente are a tough club.
The Stadium?
De Grolsch Veste, literally The Grolsch Fortress, is a 24,000-capacity stadium in Esnchede. It opened in 1998 as an expandable stadium. The first stage of that expansion happened in 2008. The next stage of expansion will increase capacity to 32,000. Had the Holland/Belgium bid for the 2018 World Cup been successful, the stadium would've been expanded to hold 44,000.
