Match Report
Telstar edged past NEC 2-1 on 8 August 2026. Patrick Brouwer opened the scoring inside the first minute for Telstar, set up by Abdelnour Soualhia, to make it 1-0. Rui Mendes added to the tally in the 24th minute for Telstar, set up by Patrick Brouwer, to make it 2-0. Kaj Sierhuis pulled one back late on, in the 83rd minute for NEC, set up by Dušan Tadić, to make it 1-2. Brayann Pereira (57'), Isak Hansen-Aarøen (68'), Isaiah Ahmed (74') and Ronald Koeman Jr. (78') were booked. Kaj Sierhuis scored after coming off the bench. Our current Elo ratings make NEC slightly the stronger side, by 97 rating points over Telstar, even though it was Telstar who won this one. On current ratings our Elo-Poisson model gives Telstar only a 17.1% chance in this pairing, the least likely of the three outcomes. Telstar won this pairing for the first time in our records, after 2 meetings without a win.