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The Eredivisie (; "Honour Division" or "Premier Division"), also known as VriendenLoterij Eredivisie for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in the Netherlands and the highest level of the Dutch football league system. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. As of the 2024–25 season, it is ranked the sixth-best league in Europe by UEFA.
The Eredivisie 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 two clubs at the bottom are relegated to the second level of the Dutch league system, the Eerste Divisie (First Division), while the champion and runner-up of the italic=no are automatically promoted to the Eredivisie. The club finishing third from the bottom of the Eredivisie goes to separate promotion/relegation play-offs with six high-placed clubs from the italic=no.
The winner of the Eredivisie claims the Dutch national championship. AFC Ajax have won the most titles with 36. PSV Eindhoven are next with 26, and Feyenoord follow with 16. Since 1965, these three clubs have won all but three Eredivisie titles (the 1981 and 2009 titles went to AZ Alkmaar and FC Twente won in 2010). Ajax, PSV, and Feyenoord are known as the "Big Three" or "Traditional Top Three" of Dutch football. They are the only clubs in their current form to have never been relegated out of the Eredivisie. 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 Vriendenloterij (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). From the 2025-2026 season the eredivisie will be rebranded to VriendenLoterij Eredivisie.
In August 2012, it was made public that tycoon Rupert Murdoch had secured the rights to the Eredivisie for 12 years at the expense of one billion euros, beginning in the 2013–14 season. Within this deal, the five largest Eredivisie clubs were to receive five million euros per year. In 2020, the Eredivisie was abandoned due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Meanwhile, both the KNVB and the NBVB started their separate competition. The first professional football match was contested between AZ Alkmaar and VVV-Venlo. The leagues went on for eleven rounds, before a merger was negotiated between the two federations in November. Both leagues were cancelled and a new, combined competition emerged immediately. De Graafschap, Amsterdam, Alkmaar and Fortuna Sittard from the NBVB were accepted to the new league. Other clubs merged, which led to new names like Rapid J.C., Holland Sport and Roda Sport. The first (semi-)professional league was won by Willem II. For the 1956–57 season, the KNVB abandoned the regional league system. The Eredivisie was founded, in which the eighteen best clubs nationwide directly played for the league title without play-offs. The inaugural members of the Eredivisie in 1956 were AFC Ajax, AFC DWS, BVV, VV DOS, FC Eindhoven, USV Elinkwijk, SC Enschede, Feyenoord, Fortuna '54, FC Groningen, MVV Maastricht, NAC Breda, TSV NOAD, PSV Eindhoven, Rapid J.C., Sparta Rotterdam, VVV-Venlo and Willem II. Ajax was the first team to claim the title that season. Below is a complete record of how many teams played in each season throughout the league's history;
Since the beginning of the league, there have been three clubs with an attendance much higher than the others: Ajax, PSV and Feyenoord. Clubs like SC Heerenveen, FC Utrecht and FC Groningen also have fairly large fanbases. The regular season average league attendance was just over 7,000 in 1990, but this figure has risen sharply over the years thanks to the opening of new stadiums and the expansion of existing ones nationwide. Average attendance for the 2018–19 season was 18,010, with Ajax having the largest (52,987) and Excelsior having the smallest (4,223). Ajax's figures however differ from those provided by the Johan Cruyff Arena, since the club counts all tickets sold instead of the number of people going through the turnstiles.
The UEFA Super Cup was founded by a Dutch reporter named Anton Witkamp and Ajax's 1973 win was the first time the tournament was contested officially.
Current teams (2024–25)
2022 2009 2023 - 1933 - 1941 - 2024 1959 2010 1955
Maps
Champions
Please note that the table below totals all winners of the Dutch top division, which included the Netherlands Football League Championship that preceded the Eredivisie. The Eredivisie was only founded in 1956 so many of these teams did not win the Eredivisie title.
* As Rapid JC.
AFC Ajax 1917–18, 1918–19, 1930–31, 1931–32, 1933–34, 1936–37, 1938–39, 1946–47, 1956–57, 1959–60, 1965–66, 1966–67, 1967–68, 1969–70, 1971–72, 1972–73, 1976–77, 1978–79, 1979–80, 1981–82, 1982–83, 1984–85, 1989–90, 1993–94, 1994–95, 1995–96, 1997–98, 2001–02, 2003–04, 2010–11, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2018–19, 2020–21, 2021–22 1928–29, 1934–35, 1950–51, 1962–63, 1974–75, 1975–76, 1977–78, 1985–86, 1986–87, 1987–88, 1988–89, 1990–91, 1991–92, 1996–97, 1999–00, 2000–01, 2002–03, 2004–05, 2005–06, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2017–18, 2023–24, 2024–25 1923–24, 1927–28, 1935–36, 1937–38, 1939–40, 1960–61, 1961–62, 1964–65, 1968–69, 1970–71, 1973–74, 1983–84, 1992–93, 1998–99, 2016–17, 2022–23 1890–91, 1895–96, 1899–1900, 1900–01, 1901–02, 1902–03, 1904–05, 1906–07, 1909–10, 1913–14 1908–09, 1910–11, 1911–12, 1912–13, 1914–15, 1958–59 1891–92, 1893–94, 1896–97, 1897–98, 1898–99 1916–17, 1921–22, 1929–30, 1932–33 1889–90, 1892–93, 1894–95 1915–16, 1951–52, 1954–55 1903–04, 1905–06, 1924–25 1980–81, 2008–09 1926–27, 1940–41 1941–42, 1942–43 1922–23, 1952–53 1920–21 2009–10 1963–64 1955–56 1919–20 1953–54 1925–26 1957–58 1947–48 1943–44 1945–46 1949–50 1948–49 1907–08 1888–89
Playoffs
European competition
Champions League League Stage Champions League League stage Champions League third qualifying round of the League Path. Europa League second qualifying round 5th vs 8th and 6th vs 7th; the two winners play each other to qualify for:
Europa Conference League second qualifying roundEuropa League League stage
Relegation
The 3rd to 8th placed teams in the Eerste Divisie compete against each other for a spot in the semi finals. The remaining 3 teams and the 16th placed team from the Eredivisie then face off in a double legged knock out system for the final place in the Eredivisie.
Direct relegation to the Eerste Divisie
Attendance
+2018–19 Attendance AFC Ajax 52,987 Feyenoord 42,065 PSV Eindhoven 34,071 FC Utrecht 18,846 SC Heerenveen 18,743 NAC Breda 18,262 FC Groningen 18,025 Vitesse Arnhem 15,422 AZ Alkmaar 15,027 PEC Zwolle 13,478 Willem II 12,998 ADO Den Haag 12,561 De Graafschap 12,321 Heracles Almelo 10,993 Fortuna Sittard 9,100 FC Emmen 8,238 VVV Venlo 6,828 Excelsior 4,223 Average 18,010
All-time ranking (since 1956)
Playing in the Eredivisie 2025/26 Playing in the Eerste Divisie 2025/26 Playing in the amateur leagues 2025/26 Club has been disestablished or merged into another club +3518 +2990 +2340 +648 –124 –22 +594 +52 –597 –240 –390 +118 –653 –562 +60 –465 –324 –383 –400 –602 –388 –382 –474 –631 –283 –600 –58 –56 –65 –224 –62 –265 +75 –239 –43 –177 –58 –67 –111 –255 –194 –124 –104 –108 –3 –102 –27 –46 –53 –65 –67 –90 –69 –80 –22
Player records
Appearances
1 1986–87 2 1985–86 3 1984–85
Goals
1 1981–82 2 1983–84 3 1983–84 4 1983–84 5 1966–67
Top scorers
The top goalscorer of the league season is awarded the Willy van der Kuijlen Trophy.
Eredivisie teams and major UEFA and FIFA competitions
The following sixteen international tournaments were won by Eredivisie teams:
Sponsorship names for seasons
See also
External links
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