Late bloomer Fabian Verzuu shoots his way to the top in 2026

This is in keeping with the surprising start Verzuu has enjoyed this season. After three match rounds, he was top of the scoring charts with six goals. He was just as surprised by this as the rest of the Dutch hockey world.

‘It’s truly surreal,’ he told Hockey.nl this week . ‘After the first match round, I thought: I’ll probably only be at the top for a week. Then another week went by. And now I’m still there. I can hardly believe it myself.’

What’s more, his goals weren’t just simple tap-ins. Against Schaerweijde in the season opener, he scored his first ever hat-trick in the Hoofdklasse. For one of those goals, he received the ball near the penalty spot, beat a defender and then scored with a backhand shot from a difficult angle.

‘You do try things like that in training sometimes,’ Verzuu said of the incident. ‘Sometimes it even works out. But in a match, that sort of thing never really happens to me.’

Not good enough for Were Di
It is precisely his path to the top that makes his current statistics all the more remarkable. From the age of nineteen to twenty-three, Verzuu played for the student club SHOT in the Third Division. An initial attempt to move up the ranks at Were Di failed.

‘They didn’t think I was good enough. That’s why I was happy to stay at SHOT,’ he said. Two years later, he tried again. This time, it worked out. ‘From that moment on, I wanted to make the most of it. I was already 23 at the time, but I was determined to see how far I could still go.’

Via Were Di, Verzuu eventually ended up at Tilburg. It wasn’t until he was 26 that he made his debut in the Hoofdklasse there. Following Tilburg’s relegation, he moved to HDM, where he has since become a key player.

‘I had a brilliant time playing in the Third Division whilst I was at university. I probably developed skills there that I still use today. I’m absolutely delighted with the path I’ve taken. For me, this was the right route.’

The fact that Verzuu, now aged 31, has suddenly found himself amongst the Hoofdklasse’s top scorers therefore remains a remarkable story. Not only because of his six goals in the first three matches, but above all because his form has been consistent for some time now. With twelve league goals in 2026 – all twelve scored from open play – he is the most prolific open-play goalscorer of the calendar year.

‘I don’t think national team manager Jeroen Delmée is going to ring me,’ he said with a laugh. But he is clearly enjoying all the attention his form is bringing. ‘I’m now getting all sorts of messages from lads from my old student team. I really love that. We could never have imagined this back then.’