AZ up for Women's Cup challenge

New league
In 2006/07, Saestum became the first Dutch side to reach the quarter-finals and the following season there was a radical change with the launch of the women's Eredivisie. AZ, FC Utrecht, ADO Den Haag, SC Heerenveen, Willem II, FC Twente and now Roda JC have women's teams competing in the league. The Royal Netherlands Football Association (KNVB) hoped that the reform would allow Dutch players to begin to reach the level of their foreign counterparts, with each team being linked to a side from the amateur former top flight Hoofdklasse, in AZ's case Fortuna Wormerveer.

AZ on top
It was the Alkmaar club who topped the inaugural league table last term, earning a campaign in the UEFA Women's Cup, where they meet Glasgow City LFC, FC Narta Chişinău and Serbian hosts ZFK Mašinac Niš in first qualifying round Group A2 from Thursday. Their success has come under Ed Engelkes, loaned to AZ by the KNVB, where he is assistant to national coach Vera Pauw. He stood in for Pauw when the Netherlands produced a sensational 1-0 win in France in 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup qualifying and was also at the helm when the junior side reached the 2006 UEFA European Women's Under-19 Championship finals.

Tactical change
For their UEFA Women's Cup campaign, Engelkes has changed the team's tactics and signed a raft of players – defenders Dyanne Bito and Leonoor van Nieuwenhuizen from Den Haag and ASV Watburgia respectively, plus attacker Loïs Oudemas and goalkeeper Roxanne van den Berg from Wormerveer. "We will play with our defenders in one line," said Engelkes, whose side opened their domestic season on 21 August with a 0-0 draw against Heerenveen. "We need some matches to get used to this system, but I am satisfied with how we have played so far. In defence we do pretty well, but in possession we have to be more secure. We have trained really hard in our preparation period. Compared to this time last year, I think we are already a bit further on in terms of development."