KKD club presents new technical staff with former PSV player as assistant

The clubs from the Keuken Kampioen Divisie will also start preparing for the 2026/2027 season soon. For example, provincial rival Helmond Sport has presented its new technical staff, which includes a place for a former PSV player.

No less than Joonas Kolkka, active between 1998 and 2001, has been appointed by the Cat Poppers as assistant coach to the new coach Frédéric Frans. In the past, Fin was also already a youth coach at PSV and will therefore be seen in Helmond next season as the right-hand man at Helmond Sport.

Despite the sky-high ambitions that the board of Kattenmeppers voiced in the summer of 2022, virtually nothing has come of it. Four years ago, Helmond Sport stated its ambition to, within three years, seriously compete for promotion to the Eredivisie through a three-year plan presented by financier Phillipe van Esch.

Over the years, the necessary coaches were worn out, including former PSV player Kevin Hofland, who was presented at Helmond Sport in the summer of 2024 and got off to a strong start in which the Helmond team even held the top spot for a while in the Keuken Kampioen Divisie. However, just before the winter break, there was a major downturn at the Kattenmeppers, causing the cooperation between Helmond Sport and Hofland to be terminated again in early February 2025.

The former defender was subsequently succeeded by Robert Maaskant and in the summer of 2025 Maaskant left again after a disappointing thirteenth place on the league table. The former coach of, among others, Willem II and NAC Breda was subsequently replaced by Jurgen Seegers.

Seegers also could not live up to the high expectations from the Helmond team, prompting the coach to say goodbye at De Braak. Next season, Helmond Sport will open the season with a home match against De Graafschap.