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Dutch Eredivisie

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The Dutch Eredivisie, or Honorary Division, is the top association football league in the Netherlands. Currently consisting of 18 clubs this football league has a structure that is very similar to many of the leagues throughout Europe. Each of the eighteen teams plays every team twice during the season, once at home and once away. At the end of the year the bottom placing club is relegated and champion club from the second league is promoted. This is different then most of the other top leagues in Europe where generally two or more teams are relegated at the end of the season. In addition, there is a playoff between the two bottom and two top clubs from more promotion and relegation spots. This playoff is played in a home and away format. The league was founded in 1956 and has been in continuous operation since then. While it is not one of the highest ranked leagues in Europe, there are many good teams and strong history of fan support and quality competition.

Success of the League

Eredivisie Big Three

When one looks at the Dutch Eredivisie there are three teams that immediately stand out – Ajax, PSV, and Feyenoord. These three clubs have dominated play in the top league for many years and it seems they will continue to do so. The best representation of how far ahead these teams are from the rest of the league is to look at their attendance numbers. During the 2006 to 2007 season the leagues average attendance was 17,893. Ajax this same season averaged 48,124 fans per match. Feyenoord was second with 40,184 and PSV third with 33,875. As you can see just in attendance alone these three teams are leaps and bounds ahead of the league overall.

In addition to that when you look at the breakdown of the championships in the league you see again that it is heavily weighted to these top three teams. Standing on top is Ajax with 29 championships followed by PSV with 21. Each of these teams has earned the honour of wearing 2 stars on their jerseys with Ajax closing in on three. Feyenoord is the only other team that can wear a star and they earned this with their 14 championships. The only other team eligible to wear a star is HVV. HVV no longer competes in the top dutch league and is currently a recreational club with nine adult men’s football sides. Their championships were all earned before World War I so it has been some time since they were of any relevance.

Even more telling then the championships is the overall number of wins that these three teams have compiled in the top league. All three of the top teams have more than 1000 wins with Ajax leading the way with 1155 total. In addition all of the top teams have garnered more than 3000 points with Ajax again leading with 3775. The next closest team outside of the top three in points is FC Twente with 2659. While this is a very respectable number, it does not put this team in the class of the top Dutch football clubs.

Those teams numbers come from play before the Eredivisie was formed. Since it was established in 1956 the play has been even more slanted towards Ajax, Feyenoord, and PSV. Of the fifty championships award since the leagues inaugural season one of those three teams have won the trophy forty eight times. That last team that was not among the big three to win the trophy was Alkmaar Zaanstreek in 1980-81. This dominance is rarely seen even in many of the other European football leagues.

Ajax

Understanding that then the best way to really look at the top Dutch league is to take a look at the three teams that have dominated the league. The first one is Ajax. The Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax was founded on March 18th in 1900. This team is one of the few that can wear the European Cup’s badge of honour Their chief rival has been Feyenoord in the past, but recently with the success of PSV those matches have become very heated as well. This rival will probably never be what Klassieker is because this pits the two largest cities in the Netherlands against each other. Much of the rivalry stems from just how different these two cities are, with Amsterdam being a city of artists and tourism with Rotterdam being the home to hard working industrial labour. Each year the rivalry culminates with the big match and has resulted in may infamous clashes. This team has had a storied past and will continue to be one of the most loved and hated teams in all of the Netherlands.

Feyenoord

Ajax’s rival, Feyenoord, has traditionally played second fiddle to the powerhouse. They are not what they once were, yet still maintain a proud tradition that dates back to their founding in 1908. The team generally mimics the personality of the town in which the call home, hardworking, industrious, and often times not pretty. They are the polar opposite of the Ajax squad and it makes for one of the best rivalries in all of association football. Recently though the team has seen some hard times and financial troubles. Attendance is still strong however and there is no doubt that they will once again rise to prominence.

PSV

The wild card among the big three is PSV. They were founded in 1913 and are arguably the most successful, right now, of the big three. Recently they have won the Eredivisie the last four years in a row with championships coming in 2004-05, 2005-06, 2006-07, 2007-08. In addition they also earned championships in 1999-00, 2000-01, and 2002-03. So of the last nine titles they have captured seven. There success is not all recent in addition to their dominance in the Dutch League they have also had success internationally winning the Champions League in 1987-88 and the UEFA Cup in 1977-78. They currently are the team to beat in the top league and as such their rivalry with the other top three teams has increased in recent years.

As you can see the Dutch League has a long history of high quality football that has been dominated by the three powerhouse teams. While other teams throughout the Netherlands are relevant, primarily the Dutch football world revolves around these three.

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