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

football in the Netherlands Football is the most popular sport in the Netherlands. Football was introduced to the Netherlands by Pim Mulier in the 19th century when in 1879, at the age of 14, he founded Haarlemsche Football Club. Over the next 30 years, football gained ...

, and the fifth tier in general.

Background

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

pillarisation Pillarisation (from the nl, verzuiling) is the politico-denominational segregation of a society into groups by religion and associated political beliefs. These societies were (and in some areas, still are) vertically divided into two or more gr ...

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

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

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 largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

and

working class The working class (or labouring class) comprises those engaged in manual-labour occupations or industrial work, who are remunerated via waged or salaried contracts. Working-class occupations (see also " Designation of workers by collar colou ...

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 have maintained this division. The Saturday Hoofdklasse and the Sunday Hoofdklasse are divided into two leagues each since the 2016–17 season: * Clubs in the Saturday Hoofdklasse A and Sunday Hoofdklasse A are from the central, northern and western parts of the Netherlands. * Clubs in the Saturday Hoofdklasse B and Sunday Hoofdklasse B are 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 playouts, 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 (; en, Third Division), formerly known as Topklasse (; en, Top Class), 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 ...

(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 (, en, First Division) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie and with the third-level Tweede Divisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as the ...

after application and licensing. The last clubs to have done so are

FC Omniworld Almere City Football Club is a Dutch professional football club based in Almere, Flevoland. Founded in 2001, plays in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, and hosts home matches at the Yanmar Stadion. The club builds on former c ...

(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 male first squad plays in 2022–23 in the Tweede ...

(2003). In 2022, the KNVB made the decision to rename the competition to Vierde Divisie.

Background

Hoofdklasse champions since 1975

Saturday titles since 1975

Sunday titles since 1975

National titles 1975–2010

By club

By day

References