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 men's and women ...

(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 Greek ...

(35), PSV (23) and

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional 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 before settling on being called after its ...

(15). Important teams of the past are

HVV The Hamburger Verkehrsverbund (HVV) ( en, "Hamburg Transport Association") is a transport association coordinating public transport in and around Hamburg, Germany. Its main objectives are to provide a unified fare system, requiring only a single ...

(10 titles),

Sparta Rotterdam Sparta Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club based in Rotterdam. Established on 1 April 1888, Sparta Rotterdam is the oldest professional football team in the Netherlands. Sparta currently compete in the Eredivisie, the top flight ...

(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 Koninklijke Haarlemsche Football Club (Royal Haarlem Football Club) is a football club based in Haarlem, Netherlands. It is the oldest existing club in Dutch football, founded by Pim Mulier in 1879. During the club's early years the team only ...

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 of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

) 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 striki ...

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

Geleen Geleen (; li, Gelaen ) is a city in the southern part of the province of Limburg (Netherlands), Limburg in the Netherlands. With 31,670 inhabitants in 2020, it is part of the municipality of Sittard-Geleen. Geleen is situated along the river Gele ...

) 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, 1 ...

(of

Sittard Sittard (; ) is a city in the Netherlands, situated in the southernmost province of Limburg. The town is part of the municipality of Sittard-Geleen and has almost 37.500 inhabitants in 2016. In its east, Sittard borders the German municipali ...

) 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 ASC De Volewijckers is a Dutch football club that plays in the Vierde Klasse. It is a continuation of ASV–DWV and AVV De Volewijckers. History ASV–DWV ASV-DWV or Door Wilskracht Verkregen was founded on 12 May 1912 in present-day Amster ...

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 association football, football club based in Zwolle, Netherlands. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football league system, Dutch football, following relegation from the Eredivisie in the 2021–22 Ere ...

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 total ...

in 1990. *

Sportclub Enschede Sportclub Enschede is a football club from Enschede, Netherlands. ''SC Enschede'' was established in 1910. The club won the national championship in 1926. In 1965 ''SC Enschede'' merged with their rivals Enschedese Boys to form FC Twente (both cl ...

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 ''Enschedese ...

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 Bo ...

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 communicatio ...

, Elinkwijk and Velox merged to form

FC Utrecht Football Club Utrecht () is a Dutch professional football club based in Utrecht. The club competes in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football, and plays its home matches at the Stadion Galgenwaard. The club was formed in 1970 as a merge ...

in 1970. *

GVAV GVAV-Rapiditas are a Dutch multi-sport club based in Groningen, Netherlands. Its first association football team competes in the seventh-tier Tweede Klasse since 2015, when it relegated from the Eerste Klasse. From 1954 to 1971, the club featured ...

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 Divisie. ...

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 Alles Door Oefening Den Haag (), commonly known by the abbreviated name ADO Den Haag (), is a Dutch association football club from the city of The Hague. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, following relegation ...

, and became

ADO Den Haag Alles Door Oefening Den Haag (), commonly known by the abbreviated name ADO Den Haag (), is a Dutch association football club from the city of The Hague. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, following relegation f ...

in 1996. * SVV and Dordrecht '90 merged to form SVV/Dordrecht '90 in 1991. The club has since been renamed

FC Dordrecht Football Club Dordrecht, or simply FC Dordrecht () is a professional Dutch association football club based in Dordrecht, a city in the Western Netherlands, located in the province of South Holland. They currently compete in the Eerste Divisie, ...

. *

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 include ...

(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 ** Flushing ...

) 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 FC Wageningen (before 1978 ''Wageningen'' and ''WVV Wageningen'') was a Dutch football club which was founded on 27 August 1911., The club played its matches in the Wageningse Berg stadium. Its first success came on 18 June 1939, when the team w ...

(founded in 1911) won the

Dutch cup The KNVB Beker (; en, KNVB Cup), branded as the TOTO KNVB Beker for sponsorship reasons, is a competition in the Netherlands organized by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. Ou ...

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 Sportclub Amersfoort was a Dutch football club based in Amersfoort, Utrecht. It was founded on July 30, 1973, and played in the Dutch second league of professional football, Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (, en, First Division) is the seco ...

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 HFC Haarlem was a Dutch football club from the city of Haarlem, established in 1889 and dissolved in 2010. The club won the Eredivisie in 1946 and reached five Cup finals, winning in 1902 and 1912. Haarlem reached the second round of the 1982 ...

(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 Kl ...

(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 Club may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Club'' (magazine) * Club, a ''Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character * Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards * Club music * "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album ''kelsea'' Brands and enterprises ...

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-s ...

ja:エールディヴィジ

Dutch professional clubs

Former Dutch league teams

See also

References

External links