The Vierde Divisie (; "Fourth Division"), formerly known as Hoofdklasse () is the second-highest league of amateur

football in the Netherlands Football is the most popular sport in the Netherlands. Association football, Football was introduced to the Netherlands by Pim Mulier in the 19th century when in 1879, at the age of 14, he founded Koninklijke HFC, Haarlemsche Football Club. Ov ...

, and the fifth tier in general.

Background

The league was divided into two sections: Saturday and Sunday. This was a result of the traditional

pillarisation Pillarisation (a calque from the ) is the vertical separation of society into groups by religion and associated political beliefs. These societies were (and in some areas, still are) divided into two or more groups known as pillars (). The best-k ...

(), the segregation of Dutch society. The ''Saturday'' clubs are mainly

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

clubs, who were not allowed to play on Sunday. The ''Sunday'' clubs were in general

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

and

working class The working class is a subset of employees who are compensated with wage or salary-based contracts, whose exact membership varies from definition to definition. Members of the working class rely primarily upon earnings from wage labour. Most c ...

clubs, whose players had to work on Saturday and therefore could only play on Sunday. Although the pillarisation ended in the 1960s and 1970s, the clubs and the league maintained this division until 2023. The Saturday Hoofdklasse and the Sunday Hoofdklasse were divided into two leagues each from the 2016–17 to 2022–23 seasons: * Clubs in the Saturday Hoofdklasse A and Sunday Hoofdklasse A were from the central, northern and western parts of the Netherlands. * Clubs in the Saturday Hoofdklasse B and Sunday Hoofdklasse B were from the central, eastern and southern parts of the Netherlands. The champions of the Saturday Hoofdklasse A, B and C played against each other for the national Saturday championship, just like the champions of the Sunday Hoofdklasse A, B and C faced each other for the national Sunday title until 2015. The winners of the Saturday and Sunday championships faced each other for the Hoofdklasse title until 2010, when the Topklasse decided the overall amateur champion, and in 2016 the overall championship was abolished. The transitional 2015–16 season had the period winners contest the 15th placers of the Topklasse and the 12th and 13th placers played the period winners of the ''1e Klasse'', all in play-offs, while the 14th and 15th placers were relegated and the Hoofdklasse contracted to four leagues of 16 clubs each (two each for Saturday and Sunday). Since the 2016–17 season, clubs can be relegated from the Hoofdklasse to the ''1e Klasse'' (First Class) and can be promoted from the ''1e Klasse'' to the Hoofdklasse. The champion and playoff winners of each Hoofdklasse are promoted to the

Derde Divisie The Derde Divisie (; ), formerly known as Topklasse (; ), is the fourth tier of football in the Netherlands, which had its inaugural season as a third tier in 2010–11 and as a fourth tier in 2016–17. The league is placed between the Tweede D ...

(formerly Topklasse), and two to three teams from each Derde Divisie (four to six in total) are relegated to the Hoofdklasse. Before this, it was only possible for Hoofdklasse clubs to be admitted to the

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (; ) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as the Keuken Kampioen Divisie due to sponsorship reasons, while ...

after application and licensing. The last clubs to have done so are FC Omniworld (2005) and

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 men's first squad plays in 2024–25 in the Derde ...

(2003). In 2022, the KNVB made the decision to rename the competition to Vierde Divisie. That year, the separation between Saturday and Sunday football was abolished in the Vierde Divisie before the 2023–24 season. Amateur clubs are asked before the season whether they want to play their home games on Saturday or Sunday. This rule may be deviated from by principled Saturday clubs that retain the right to play on their day.

Background

Hoofdklasse champions since 1975

Saturday titles since 1975

Sunday titles since 1975

National titles 1975–2010

By club

By day

References