Go Ahead Eagles will play SK Brann at home on Thursday evening in the second preliminary round of the Conference League. It is the first match of the new season for the team from Deventer and the first match since the death of Kees Vierhouten.

Vierhouten died suddenly last month at the age of 51. The death of the major shareholder made a big impression, fans flocked to the Adelaarshorst to show their support. Go Ahead made an appeal the day before the meeting with Brann.

“The request from Go Ahead Eagles and the Vierhouten family (they are not present) not to commemorate the death of Kees Vierhouten on Thursday,” the club communicated via social media.

On August 11, when Go Ahead Eagles starts the new Eredivisie season with a home match against Fortuna Sittard, the death of Vierhouten will be remembered. A minute's silence will be observed before that match. Vierhouten's family will also be present.

The major shareholder of the Deventer club was a multimillionaire and earned a large part of his fortune in business. For example, he was the owner of the Vierhouten Group in Ermelo.

In 2019, Vierhouten bought into Go Ahead Eagles. As a result, the entrepreneur owned thirty percent of the shares of Go Ahead Eagles at that time.

Jumper, one of his companies, became the main sponsor in Deventer. In 2022, Vierhouten became the big boss at Go Ahead Eagles, when he took over the shares of Ajax frontman Alex Kroes.

Go Ahead will play SK Brann at home on Thursday evening at 18:30 and will travel to Norway a week later for the return leg. If the team qualifies for the third preliminary round, it will face Valur (Iceland) or St Mirren (Scotland).

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