Vitesse Arnhem have sold 10,000 season tickets for the new Eerste Divisie season since the crisis-hit club was given a last-minute reprieve by the court of appeal.

The club has had to scramble to sign up out-of-contract players so it can field a first team for its opening match against AZ Alkmaar’s reserves on Friday and the first home game on September 20 against Helmond Sport, which also marks the 81st anniversary of Operation Market Garden.

So far 10 players have signed terms, including veteran Alexander Büttner, who was briefly on Manchester United’s books a decade ago, and former Go Ahead Eagles defender Justin Bakker.

Egyptian-born German defender Moustafa Moustafa was on the verge of signing a lucrative contract to play in Saudi Arabia when he was called by head coach Rüiger Rehm on Wednesday, his agent Maher Nawfal told De Gelderlander.

“There was a lot of interest in Moustafa all month, especially from the Middle East,” Nawfal said. “The coach phoned him directly and said: come back, Arnhem needs you.”

Goalkeeper in sights

The KNVB’s rules require professional clubs to have a minimum squad of 16, but Vitesse are believed to be close to a deal with goalkeeper Jeroen Houwen, previously with RKC Waalwijk, and are hopeful of adding more players this week.

Vitesse had their professional licence revoked in July after repeatedly breaching the football association’s accounting rules after being put up for sale by their Russian owner Valery Oyf in 2022, shortly after the invasion of Ukraine.

But the appeal court ruled last week that the club had acted under “great time pressure” and ordered the KNVB to reinstate Vitesse to the Eerste Divisie.

The club will start the season on minus 12 points, a penalty imposed by the KNVB in April for failing to submit the contract signed by its last set of owners when they took over.

It will also have to make up four matches during the first half of the season, which began for everyone else at the end of July. Vitesse were included in the fixture list because of the ongoing legal action, but not allowed to play until last week.