Heerenveen braced for Sporting sortie

SC Heerenveen will hope to spoil Sporting Clube de Portugal's impressive record in the Netherlands when the two sides meet in their opening UEFA Europa League Group D game.

Previous meetings

• The two teams have never met before. Heerenveen's three previous home games against Portuguese opponents produced a win, a draw and a defeat. Sporting's record after seven games in the Netherlands reads W4 D1 L2.

Match background

• Heerenveen played in four UEFA Cup group stage competitions, qualifying for the round of 32 in their first two attempts (2004/05 and 2005/06) but missing out in the more recent editions (2006/07 and 2008/09). They lost all four of their games in last season's campaign.

• Sporting breezed through the group stage in their only previous attempt, making it all the way through to the 2004/05 UEFA Cup final, which they went down 3-1 to PFC CSKA Moskva at their own Estádio José Alvalade.

• Heerenveen have gone six European games without a win since the start of last season's UEFA Cup group stage. The last side they beat in UEFA club competition were Sporting's Liga rivals Vitória FC, 5-2 losers at the Abe Lenstra Stadium in the 2008/09 first round.

• Sporting have drawn their last four European outings since their 12-1 aggregate mauling at the hands of FC Bayern München in last season's UEFA Champions League first knockout round.

• The Lisbon side have already visited the Netherlands this season, drawing 1-1 at FC Twente in the UEFA Champions League third qualifying round. That result took them into the play-off round on the away-goals rule, though they subsequently lost out against ACF Fiorentina by the same method.

Team facts

• Heerenveen won the first Dutch Cup in their history last term but Norwegian coach Trond Sollied became the first Eredivisie dismissal of the season in August following a poor start to their domestic campaign. He has been replaced by former youth-team trainer Jan de Jonge, formerly a striker for FC Groningen, Heerenveen and FC Emmen.

• Sporting coach Paulo Bento is a former Portugal midfielder who was surprisingly handed the first-team job midway through the 2005/06 campaign after a spell as a youth coach. His team's success in winning two Portuguese Cups and two Super Cups earned him the nickname 'Papa-Taças' (Cup Eater).

• Ruud van Nistelrooy is a former Heerenveen player while Klaas Jan Huntelaar (AC Milan), Miralem Sulejmani (AFC Ajax) and Danijel Pranjić (Bayern) have come through the ranks at the club in recent seasons.

• Sporting are at home to Hertha BSC Berlin on Matchday 2, with Heerenveen visiting FK Ventspils on the same night, 1 October.