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Eredivisie
Eredivisie
Country Netherlands Netherlands
Confederation UEFA
Founded 1956
Number of teams 18
Relegation to Eerste Divisie
Level on pyramid 1
Domestic cup(s) KNVB Cup
Johan Cruijff Schaal
UEFA cup(s) Champions League
Europa League
UEFA Europa Conference League
Current champions Feyenoord (16th title) (2022–23)
Most successful club Ajax (36 titles)
TV Fox Sports Eredivisie
NOS (Highlights)
Website Official website
Football current event 2023–24

The Eredivisie is the highest echelon of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. At the end of the 2015–2016 season it was ranked the 13th best league in Europe by UEFA.

The top division consists of 18 clubs. Each club meets every other club twice during the season, once at home and once away. At the end of each season, the club at the bottom is automatically relegated to the second level of the Dutch league system, the Eerste Divisie (First Division). At the same time, the champion of the Eerste Divisie will be automatically promoted to the Eredivisie. The next two clubs from the bottom of the Eredivisie go to separate promotion/relegation play-offs. The play-offs are played in two groups. Each group has one Eredivisie club and three high-placed clubs from the Eerste Divisie. In both promotion/relegation play-off groups, each club plays a home-and-away series with the other clubs. The winner of each play-off group plays in the following season's Eredivisie, with the other teams going to the Eerste Divisie.

The winner of the Eredivisie claims the Dutch national championship. AFC Ajax has won most titles, 24 (33 national titles). PSV Eindhoven are next with 18 (23), and Feyenoord follow with 9 (14). Since 1965, these three clubs have won all except for three titles (the 1981 and 2009 titles went to AZ and FC Twente won the 2010 title). Ajax, PSV and Feynoord are known as the "Big Three" of Dutch football. They are the only ones in their current forms to have appeared in every edition of the Eredivisie since its formation. A fourth club, FC Utrecht, is the product of a 1970 merger between three of that city's clubs, one of which, VV DOS, had also never been relegated out of the Eredivisie.

From 1990 to 1999, the official name of the league was PTT Telecompetitie (after the sponsor, PTT Telecom), which was changed to KPN Telecompetitie (because PTT Telecom changed its name to KPN Telecom in 1999) and to KPN Eredivisie in 2000. From 2002 to 2005, the league was called the Holland Casino Eredivisie. Since the 2005–06 season, the league has been sponsored by the Sponsorloterij (lottery), but for legal reasons its name could not be attached to the league (the Dutch government was against the name, because the Eredivisie would, after Holland Casino's sponsorship, yet again be sponsored by a company providing games of chance). On 8 August 2012 it was made public that the American-based Australian tycoon Rupert Murdoch had secured the rights to the Eredivisie for 12 years at the expense of 1 billion euros, beginning in the 2013/2014 season. Within this deal the five largest Eredivisie clubs should receive 5 million euros per year for the duration of the contract.

Current teams (2023–24)[]

Club
City Capacity Position
in 2022–23
1st season
in Eredivisie
No. of seasons
in Eredivisie
1st season of
current spell
No. of seasons
of current spell
Eredivisie titles National titles Last title
Ajaxa b Amsterdam 55,865 3rd 1956–57 68 1956–57 68 26 36 2022
Almere City Almere 4,501 promoted* 2023–24 1 2023–24 1 0 0 -
AZ Alkmaar 19,500 4th 1968–69 46 1998–99 23 2 2 2009
Excelsior Rotterdam 4,500 15th 1970–71 24 2022–23 2 0 0 -
Feyenoorda b Rotterdam 51,137 1st 1956–57 68 1956–57 68 10 16 2023
Fortuna Sittard Sittard 12,500 13th 1968–69 25 2018–19 6 0 0 -
Go Ahead Eagles Deventer 10,000 11th 1963–64 34 2021–22 3 0 4 1933
SC Heerenveen Heerenveen 27,224 8th 1990–91 32 1993–94 31 0 0 -
Heracles Almelo Almelo 12,080 promoted* 1962–63 23 2023–24 1 2 2 1941
NEC Nijmegen 12,500 12th 1967–68 43 2021–22 3 0 0 -
PEC Zwolle Zwolle 13,250 promoted* 1978-79 23 2023–24 1 0 0 -
PSVa b Eindhoven 36,500 2nd 1956–57 68 1956–57 68 21 24 2018
RKC Waalwijk Waalwijk 7,508 9th 1988–89 28 2019–20 5 0 0 -
Sparta Rotterdama Rotterdam 11,026 6th 1956–57 58 2019–20 5 1 6 1959
FC Twentec Enschede 30,205 5th 1956–57 65 2019–20 5 1 1 2010
FC Utrechtb d Utrecht 23,750 7th 1970–71 54 1970–71 54 0 0 -
Vitesse Arnhem 21,248 10th 1971–72 39 1989–90 35 0 0 -
FC Volendam Volendam 7,384 14th 1959–60 27 2022–23 2 0 0 -

External links[]

Eredivisie 2023–24
Ajax · Almere City · AZ · Excelsior · Feyenoord · Fortuna Sittard · Go Ahead Eagles · Heerenveen · Heracles Almelo · NEC · PEC Zwolle · PSV · RKC Waalwijk · Sparta Rotterdam · Twente · Utrecht · Vitesse · Volendam
Eredivisie seasons

2009–10 · 2010–11 · 2011–12 · 2012–13 · 2013–14 · 2014–15 · 2015–16 · 2016–17 · 2017–18 · 2018–19 · 2019–20 · 2020–21 · 2021–22 · 2022–23 · 2023–24 ·

Football in the Netherlands
League competitions KNVB Cup competitions
Eredivisie Netherlands KNVB Cup
Eerste Divisie (U-21) (U-19) Johan Cruijff Schaal
Tweede Divisie (from 2016) (U-17) (U-16) KNVB Amateur Cup
Derde Divisie List of Players KNVB District Cup
Vierde Divisie List of clubs
Eerste, Tweede, Derde List of stadiums
Vierde, Vijfde
Top level football leagues of Europe (UEFA)

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