2015–16 AZ Alkmaar season
season of football team
During the 2015–16 season AZ competed in the Eredivisie for the 18th consecutive season the KNVB Cup and the Europa League after qualifying for the 3rd qualification round due to finishing 3rd the previous season.
Background
European football returned after a one-year hiatus. John van den Brom finished third last season with Marco van Basten his assistant. Several key players moved elsewhere including captain Nemanja Gudelj and fan favourite Simon Poulsen.
Several youth players were promoted to the first team the same year the club won the Rinus Michels award for best youth academy and youth development programme in the Netherlands, beating Feyenoord who won this award each of the five preceding years.
Transfers
Arrivals
The following players moved to AZ.
Departures
The following players moved from AZ.
Loans
The following players moved to new clubs whilst under contract at AZ.
Pre-season friendlies
The first training session for the new season began on 28 June. Friendlies were arranged with smaller teams in the Netherlands as well as two additional friendlies against foreign teams touring the Netherlands. A training camp was also arranged the week before competitive football in the Europa League by 30 July.
Statistics
Europa League
AZ qualified for the 3rd qualification round of the Europa League after finishing the league in 3rd position in the previous season. Due to previous runs in the competition, the club had a high coefficient and was seeded for the draw meaning a favourable draw against weaker opposition was likely.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “2015–16 AZ Alkmaar season” is season of football team. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Alkmaar, season and football, not as a finished interpretation.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q19973965. The first chronological checks are 2015.
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