The Men's Hoofdklasse Hockey, currently known as the Tulp Hoofdklasse Men for sponsorship reasons, is the men's top division of field hockey in the Netherlands. The league ranks first in the European league ranking table. The league was established in 1973, and before the league existed the champions of the several district played in a championship pool to determine the national champion.

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

are the current champions, having won the 2024–25 season by defeating Kampong in the championship final. Amsterdam and Bloemendaal have the most titles with 22 each.

Format

The season starts in August or September each year and is interrupted by the indoor hockey season from November to February. The outdoor season resumes from March. The league is played by twelve teams who play each other twice, competing for four spots in the championship play-offs. The number one and four and the number two and three play each other in the semi-finals and the winners qualify for the final where the winner will be crowned champion. Each semi-final and the final consist of two-leg matches, with the winner determined by the highest aggregate score over both home and away games. The last placed team is relegated to the second division, the Promotieklasse. The eleventh-placed team plays in a relegation play-off against the runners-up of the Promotieklasse and the tenth-placed team plays a relegation play-off against the third-placed from the Promotieklasse. The winners of these matches will play the next season in the Hoofdklasse.

Teams

Accommodation and locations

List of champions

National champions (1897–1973)

Hoofdklasse era (1973–present)

Champions

By club

By province

Media coverage

Since 2015, almost every Sunday, one match from either the men's or the women's league is broadcast live by either

Ziggo Sport Ziggo Sport is a sports television channel in the Netherlands, operated by Ziggo and owned by VodafoneZiggo. It is only available for Ziggo subscribers and broadcasts a variety of sports with a focus on major sporting events, a weekly talk show ca ...

or the NOS. The 2025 finals were streamed live on th
Tulp Hoofdklasse YouTube channel

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hoofdklasse Hockey Men Field hockey leagues in the Netherlands Sports leagues established in 1973 1973 establishments in the Netherlands Neth Professional sports leagues in the Netherlands