FC Volendam coach Frans Adelaar believes teamwork will be the key to his side's chances of survival in the Dutch top flight.
Volendam were promoted as champions of the Jupiler League last season to end their four-year exile from Holland's top table, and begin their Eredivisie adventure at home to Heerenveen on Sunday.
New coach Adelaar knows what it is like to battle relegation following former stints at ADO Den Haag and De Graafschap, and is predicting another season of struggle.
"I knew what I was facing when I signed at this club," he said. "I consider it a challenge to keep the club in the Eredivisie.
"We have a good team and we can play football very well. The strength of this team is the unity."
Adelaar concedes his team have been handed a tough fixture to kick-off the season.
"[Heerenveen] are a very strong team," he said. "In the last seasons they managed to qualify for Europe every time.
"They have some very skilled players and I consider them to be the better team."
Gerry Koning (ankle) and Tim Bakens (hamstring) both miss out while Arvid Smit will have to be content with a place on the bench as he is not 100% fit.
A summer of change at Heerenveen means the team might be susceptible to a shock if Volendam can hit the ground running.
Coach Gertjan Verbeek has left after leading the club to top-five finishes in three of the last four seasons, leaving Norwegian Trond Sollied to take up the reins.
The club have lost two of their star players with Miralem Sulejmani joining Ajax and Gianni Zuiverloon switching to West Bromwich Albion.
However, those losses have been offset by the arrivals of defender Goran Popov and strikers Tarik Elyounoussi and Bonaventure Kalou.
Sollied, however, believes the start of the season has come too soon for his new charges.
"Physically we're in good shape, but we've played just one time with the whole group," he said. "The preparation was not ideal, because of the Olympics, injuries and transfers. But we have to deal with that."
Popov (knee) and Kalou (hamstring) miss out on making their debuts this weekend while Danijel Pranjic and Michael Bradley should feature despite both players being linked with moves away from the club.
