Brynjólfur Willumsson named Player of the Month for August 2025

Brynjólfur Willumsson has made a flying start to the new season. The Icelandic striker has registered 13 shots in four matches, nine of them on target, and created four chances. He has already scored five goals from just 1.99 Expected Goals (xG): the highest overperformance of any player in the Eredivisie. With five goals, Willumsson currently leads the scoring charts.

Known in Groningen as Binni, he follows in the footsteps of Mariano Bombarda. Bombarda was the last FC Groningen player to reach five goals in the opening four matchweeks of a season, all the way back in 1995/96.

Compared to last season, his strike rate is exceptional. Willumsson has already outscored his entire tally from last term (4 goals in 944 minutes) in just 352 minutes this campaign. He is also level with Groningen’s top scorers from last season, Jorg Schreuders, Stije Resink and Thom van Bergen, with 30 matchweeks still to play.

Willumsson was the star of the show in the Derby of the North. After drawing his side level in the 29th minute, Binni struck again deep into stoppage time, firing home the decisive 2-1 winner in the 94th minute.

He also found the net in the 4-2 defeat to PSV, before bagging a brace in the 4-0 win over Heracles Almelo, once again proving to be the match-winner. Thanks to his goals, FC Groningen sit eighth in the table after four matchweeks, firmly in the top half.

For Brynjólfur Willumsson, this is his first Player of the Month award and it also marks a historic milestone for FC Groningen. The Icelandic forward is the club’s first-ever winner of the league’s Player of the Month accolade. Until now, Groningen’s only monthly award had come in August 2024, when Jorg Schreuders was named Johan Cruyff Talent of the Month.

The Player of the Month and Johan Cruyff Talent of the Month are decided using Opta statistics, with more than 60 different metrics taken into account. These same stats also help determine the Eredivisie Player of the Year and Johan Cruyff Talent of the Year, which are presented at the end of the season during the Eredivisie Awards.

The monthly awards are an initiative of the Eredivisie CV in partnership with ESPN, VriendenLoterij and the Johan Cruyff Foundation.