Youssef El Kachati’s 19 league goals fires Telstar into promotion play-offs for the first time since 2018 | OneFootball

Telstar beat Emmen on Friday night to secure their place in the Eerste Divise play-offs for the first time since the 2017/2018 season. The side won 3-0 to finish seventh, their highest finish since that season. It is a remarkable turnaround considering the club ended the 2023/2024 season in 17th place. This also comes despite losing then top scorer Zakaria Eddahchouri midway through the campaign, with the striker joining Spanish side Deportivo La Coruna. He left with 17 goals, but thankfully for Telstar, another striker has stepped up.

Back in the summer of 2023 the club brought in former Sparta Rotterdam youth prospect Youssef El Kachati. The striker had been with Quick Boys in the Tweede Divisie, where he had scored an impressive 24 goals in just 35 games. He didn’t fully hit the ground running in the Dutch second tier, with six goals in 22 games. However, this season he has really found his feet. The 25-year-old ends the regular season with an impressive 20 goals in just 39 games, with 19 of these coming in the league.

De Witte Leeuwen are a perennial mid-table side in the Dutch second tier and rarely have hopes of promotion. With goal scorers like El Kachati, could this finally be the year they make it to the top flight? In order to do so they will need to get the better of ADO Den Haag in the first round of the play-offs. The likes of Cambuur will be the heavy favourites to win the play-offs, having won four of their last five matches.

The winner of the play-offs in the Dutch second tier is likely to face Willem II in the promotion battle. The Eredivisie side have not won since December and look destined to finish in 16th place.

GBeNeFN | Ben Jackson