The Dutch Football League is organized by the

Royal Dutch Football Association The Royal Dutch Football Association (, ; KNVB ) is the governing body of football in the Netherlands. It organises the main Dutch football leagues (Eredivisie and Eerste Divisie), the amateur leagues, the KNVB Cup, and the Dutch Netherlands nati ...

(KNVB, Koninklijke Nederlandse Voetbalbond).The most successful teams are

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * ''Ajax'' (play), by the ancient Gree ...

(35), PSV (23) and

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club (association football), football club in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the club changed to various names bef ...

(15). Important teams of the past are HVV (10 titles), Sparta Rotterdam (6 titles) and Willem II (3 titles). The annual match that marks the beginning of the season is called the Johan Cruijff Schaal (Johan Cruyff Shield). Contenders are the champions and the cup winners of the previous season.

Dutch professional clubs

Former Dutch league teams

* Koninklijke HFC *

AVV RAP AVV RAP, in the long form Amsterdamsche Voetbalvereeniging RUN, Amstels, Progress, was a Dutch association football, football club based in Amsterdam, who played in the Eredivisie, Netherlands Football League Championship. The club existed from 188 ...

(of

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

) were the first official champions of the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

in 1899. The club however became a

Cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

club in 1916 following a total of 5 national football titles. * Fortuna 54 (of Geleen) and

Sittardia HV Sittardia is a Dutch handball club in Sittard. The club was founded in 1949. Sittardia is one of the most successful handball teams in Dutch handball history. They won the Dutch National Championship in 1966, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, ...

(of Sittard) merged to form

Fortuna Sittard Fortuna Sittard (; li, Fortuna Zitterd ) is a football club in Sittard, Netherlands. The club currently plays its football in the 12,500 capacity Fortuna Sittard Stadion and features in the Eredivisie. The club was established through a merger ...

in 1968. * Blauw Wit, DWS and De Volewijckers merged to form

FC Amsterdam FC Amsterdam was a Dutch football club which was founded on 20 June 1972, from the merger of the Amsterdam football clubs Blauw Wit and DWS. The club Volewijckers joined the side for the 1973–1974 season, in which season FC Amsterdam finished ...

in 1972, which ceased to exist in 1982. * PEC and the

Zwolsche Boys PEC Zwolle is a Dutch football club based in Zwolle, Netherlands. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, following relegation from the Eredivisie in the 2021–22 season. They have played in the Eredivisie for a total ...

merged to form

PEC Zwolle PEC Zwolle is a Dutch football club based in Zwolle, Netherlands. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, following relegation from the Eredivisie in the 2021–22 season. They have played in the Eredivisie for a total ...

in 1971, which became

FC Zwolle PEC Zwolle is a Dutch football club based in Zwolle, Netherlands. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, following relegation from the Eredivisie in the 2021–22 season. They have played in the Eredivisie for a tot ...

in 1990. * Sportclub Enschede and the

Enschedese Boys Enschedese Boys is a non-league football club from the Dutch city Enschede. In 1965 the professional team of ''De Boys'' merged with their rivals Sportclub Enschede to FC Twente (both clubs continued in non-league football). Currently ''Enschede ...

merged to form

FC Twente Football Club Twente () is a Dutch professional football club from the city of Enschede, sometimes known internationally as Twente Enschede. The club was formed in 1965 by the merger of 1926 Dutch champions Sportclub Enschede with Enschedese ...

in 1965. *

DOS DOS is shorthand for the MS-DOS and IBM PC DOS family of operating systems. DOS may also refer to: Computing * Data over signalling (DoS), multiplexing data onto a signalling channel * Denial-of-service attack (DoS), an attack on a communicat ...

, Elinkwijk and Velox merged to form FC Utrecht in 1970. * GVAV became FC Groningen in 1971. * Alkmaar 54 and FC Zaanstreek merged to form AZ in 1967. * Roda Sport and Rapid JC merged to form

Roda JC Sportvereniging Roda Juliana Combinatie Kerkrade (; Ripuarian: ), also known as Roda JC Kerkrade () or commonly Roda JC or Roda, is a Dutch professional football club based in Kerkrade, Netherlands. Roda JC Kerkrade plays in the Eerste Divisi ...

in 1962. * BVC Rotterdam and BVC Flamingos merged to form Scheveningen Holland Sport in 1954, which merged with ADO in 1971 to form FC Den Haag, and became ADO Den Haag in 1996. * SVV and Dordrecht '90 merged to form SVV/Dordrecht '90 in 1991. The club has since been renamed FC Dordrecht. *

VC Vlissingen VC Vlissingen is a Dutch football team based in Vlissingen, playing in the Hoofdklasse. During the two seasons it spent as a professional team in the Eerste Divisie, the team was known as VCV Zeeland. Players during the professional years inclu ...

(from

Flushing Flushing may refer to: Places * Flushing, Cornwall, a village in the United Kingdom * Flushing, Queens, New York City ** Flushing Bay, a bay off the north shore of Queens ** Flushing Chinatown (法拉盛華埠), a community in Queens ** Flushin ...

) became a professional club in 1990, changed its name to

VCV Zeeland VC Vlissingen is a Dutch football team based in Vlissingen, playing in the Hoofdklasse. During the two seasons it spent as a professional team in the Eerste Divisie, the team was known as VCV Zeeland. Players during the professional years incl ...

a year later, and became an amateur club again in 1992. * FC Wageningen (founded in 1911) won the Dutch cup in 1939 and 1948, joined the Dutch professional league when it was formed in 1954, and remained professional until the club went bankrupt in 1992. * HVC of

Amersfoort Amersfoort () is a city and municipality in the province of Utrecht, Netherlands, about 20 km from the city of Utrecht and 40 km south east of Amsterdam. As of 1 December 2021, the municipality had a population of 158,531, making it the second- ...

was formed in 1905, joined the league in 1954, was renamed to SC Amersfoort in 1973 and went bankrupt in 1982. *

Fortuna Vlaardingen Fortuna Vlaardingen was a Dutch football club which was founded in 1904 in Vlaardingen. The club played its matches in the Floreslaan stadium. History The club entered the Eerste Divisie in 1956. Fortuna never made it towards the Eredivisie and co ...

(formed in 1904) joined the professional league in 1955, was renamed to

FC Vlaardingen Fortuna Vlaardingen was a Dutch football club which was founded in 1904 in Vlaardingen. The club played its matches in the Floreslaan stadium. History The club entered the Eerste Divisie in 1956. Fortuna never made it towards the Eredivisie and co ...

in 1974 and went bankrupt in 1981. * HFC Haarlem (formed in 1889) joined the professional league in 1954 and remained professional until the club went bankrupt in 2010. *

RBC Roosendaal RBC, commonly known under its previous official name RBC Roosendaal, is a football club based in Roosendaal, Netherlands. RBC currently plays in the seventh-tier Tweede Klasse after a bankruptcy in 2011, restarting the club in tenth tier Vijfde ...

(formed in 1927) joined the professional league in 1955 till 1971 and 1983 and remained professional until the club went bankrupt in 2011. *

AGOVV Apeldoorn AGOVV () is a Dutch association football club based in Apeldoorn. It was established on 25 February 1913. The club played in professional football from 1954 to 1971 and from 2003 to 2013. AGOVV's male first squad plays in 2022–23 in the Tweede ...

(formed in 1913) joined the professional league in 1954 till 1971, returned to professional soccer on 1 July 2003, and went bankrupt in 2013. *

SC Veendam Sportclub Veendam () was a Dutch professional association football club based in Veendam, province of Groningen. Founded on 4 September 1894 as Look-Out, it became P.J. Veendam in 1909, Veendam in 1910, SC Veendam in 1974, BV Veendam in 1997 an ...

(formed in 1894) joined the professional league in 1954, and went bankrupt in 2013. * Zwart-Wit '28 won the national amateur championship in 1971 and the national cup for women in 2000. Went bankrupt in 2004.

References

External links

Midfield Dynamo's list of the Dutch football league's 'Big 3' and 'Best of the Rest' of the other clubs
midfielddynamo.com *
Orange Football Blog - Weekly summaries from the Eredivisie and other articles
nlplanet.com *
Official Eredivisie site
*
Official Eerste Divisie website

- Club stats records. {{List of football clubs in Europe

Clubs

Football clubs A football team is a group of players selected to play together in the various team sports known as football. Such teams could be selected to play in a match against an opposing team, to represent a football club, group, state or nation, an all- ...

ja:エールディヴィジ

Dutch professional clubs

Former Dutch league teams

See also

References

External links