Marten Posted May 21, 2018 Share Posted May 21, 2018 As suggested, I'm starting a thread on Dutch football. The line-up for the eredivisie next season is known now the play-offs have finished. Promotion/relegation resulted in some shocks. FC Twente, 2010 Dutch champions and the largest club in terms of support outside of the "big 3" have been automatically relegated by finishing bottom. Roda JC and Sparta Rotterdam are also 2 (in terms of support) big sides who got relegated, both failed to win the play-offs. Meanwhile, teams with the smallest support/budgets in last season's eredivisie like Excelsior (my club) and VVV Venlo stayed up comfortably, Excelsior even for the 4th consecutive season. Promotion from the Eerste Divisie was surprising as well. NEC Nijmegen were in support the biggest team in the division and fully expected to go straight back up after their relegation in 2017. Fortuna Sittard, a team that nobody expected to be amongst the contenders, finished second behind Ajax Colts who can't get promoted. As a result, Fortuna Sittard returned to the Eredivisie for the first time since relegation in 2002. On various occasions since then the club looked like going bust or losing their professional license, but they defied all odds by surviving and are now back in the top flight. De Graafschap got promoted via play-offs and return after their relegation in 2016. FC Emmen also got promoted via play-offs. They were the biggest surprise in the play-offs, defeating NEC and Sparta. They will be in the Eredivisie for the first time ever. Not only that, but it will even be the first time ever that a team from their province Drenthe (the most rural and least densely populated province in the country) will be in the Eredivisie. PSV will be the defending champions. They will also play in the Champions League qualifiers together with runners-up Ajax. Cup winners Feyenoord, 3rd place AZ and play-off winners Vitesse will play in the Europa League qualifiers. The line-up for the eredivisie will be: ADO Den Haag Ajax AZ FC Emmen Excelsior Feyenoord Fortuna Sittard De Graafschap FC Groningen SC Heerenveen Heracles Almelo NAC Breda PEC Zwolle PSV FC Utrecht Vitesse VVV-Venlo Willem II 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ross. Posted May 21, 2018 Share Posted May 21, 2018 What has gone wrong with Twente in the last few years? They were generally a stick on for top 6 and a European place until 3 or 4 seasons back. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GNU_Linux Posted May 21, 2018 Share Posted May 21, 2018 Is it confirmed if relegation/promotion between eerste and tweede divisie is occuring next season? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marten Posted May 21, 2018 Author Share Posted May 21, 2018 15 minutes ago, Ross. said: What has gone wrong with Twente in the last few years? They were generally a stick on for top 6 and a European place until 3 or 4 seasons back. Long story short: financial mismanagement got them into deep trouble. In 2016 they were initially forcibly relegated due to fraud. They got away with it in the end (undeserved in my opinion), but now they did get relegated on the pitch. 2 minutes ago, GNU_Linux said: Is it confirmed if relegation/promotion between eerste and tweede divisie is occuring next season? Not definitely confirmed yet, but it seems like it won't happen... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DutchBorderer Posted May 21, 2018 Share Posted May 21, 2018 14 minutes ago, Ross. said: What has gone wrong with Twente in the last few years? They were generally a stick on for top 6 and a European place until 3 or 4 seasons back. While McLaren was coach, the chairman and board went overboard in spending transfer fees and wages, banking on yearly qualification for the Champions League group stages; unfortunately for them, Ajax pipped them to the title the year after Twente had won, which meant Twente had a big fat gap in its budget. The board kept spending, while the stadium was also being expanded; during construction, a part of the roof collapsed and one or two workers died, which delayed things and cost the club another pretty penny. While all this was happening, Twente had also agreed to some shady deals with an investment group called Doyen, which would invest in players and make its money back plus a profit when players were sold. I believe both Dusan Tadic (Southampton) and Filip Kostic (HSV) were involved. Eventually, word on Twente's financial mismanagement got out, with a debt of some 40 million Euros (335 million GBP or so) to their name. The municipality and investors kept them alive, but the playing budget got slashed (still 4th in the country), and they then appointed one of the worst directors of football in the country (Jan van Halst). He signed a bunch of lightweights this season, fired the coach who was doing okayish with the unbalanced squad, and appointed Gertjan Verbeek, a coach known for being a hardass. 18 matches and one (!) win later, and Verbeek and van Halst were out, but it was too late to save the club from relegation. 8 minutes ago, GNU_Linux said: Is it confirmed if relegation/promotion between eerste and tweede divisie is occuring next season? Not happening; Tweede Divisie teams have to upgrade their stadiums AND have 16 full time players in order to be allowed into the Eerste Divisie. None of the clubs, which aren't even semi-pro but fully amateur, have the slightest interest in committing this kind of financial seppuku, so don't expect any relegation/promotion unless a Colt team wins the Tweede Divisie (Vitesse will be in with a shout). 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Herman Hessian Posted May 21, 2018 Share Posted May 21, 2018 excellent stuff ! I'll nail my colours to the mast from the off and come out as a De Graafschap Doetinchem fan - simply because they're known as the SuperBoeren - or Super Farmers - and I'm an idiot bumpkin, brought up in the countryside for my entire life; also, for the the most part, they're shite and I have a curious affinity with shite teams ! only been over to see them once (a 0-1 home defeat to Excelsior), which was part of a five matches in three days drinking/football binge with other games in Kerkrade, Spakenburg, Volendam and Roosendaal; suppose I've been following them for about 25 years, which has seen three second division championships, four promotions via the playoffs - and the corresponding six relegations - never a dull moment ! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marten Posted May 21, 2018 Author Share Posted May 21, 2018 (edited) Let's also mention the Eerste Divisie. In "other leagues" I posted the following: "The Eerste Divisie (2nd tier) is going to be a hell of a league next season. In terms of support, they got the 4th biggest team in the country (Twente) in there and 3 other massive clubs in Roda JC, NEC and Sparta. Also Go Ahead Eagles, Cambuur Leeuwarden and MVV are in size of support clubs that could easily be eredivisie. Comparable to Hearts, Hibs and Rangers all being in the Championship over here...". It's going to be an interesting season for sure. Only the champions get promoted, if a colt team win the league (like Ajax in 2018), the highest eligible team will get promoted. A further 8 teams enter the play-offs. A complicated system is used, but basically the season is split in 4 periods of 9 games each, with the first 2 games not counting towards any period. Each game from round 3 on counts for both that period and the total standings. The champions of each period qualify for the play-offs. If a colt team or a team that won a previous period wins one, the second placed team qualify for the play-offs. If the runners up are also a colt team or a team that have won a previous period, the play-off ticket will not be given out for that period. At the end of the season, the amount of vacant spots in the play-offs (at least 4, can be more if the champions have a PO ticket and/or period PO tickets haven't been given out as explained) will be filled using the final league table, so there are 8 teams in total. Teams finishing 2nd - 5th (again, ignoring colt teams) get a bye in the first PO round, just like the numbers 16 and 17 in the Eredivisie. The 2 winners of the 3rd round qualify for the next season in the Eredivisie. As said above, it is unlikely that the bottom team will get relegated. So it is in theory possible to finish bottom and get promoted if you do win a period. This system also means that 8 out of the 16 teams eligible for promotion will be in the play-offs at the end of the season. The following teams will take part: Almere City Cambuur Leeuwarden FC Den Bosch FC Dordrecht FC Eindhoven Go Ahead Eagles Helmond Sport MVV Maastricht NEC Nijmegen RKC Waalwijk Roda JC Sparta Rotterdam Telstar TOP Oss FC Twente FC Volendam Ajax Colts AZ Colts PSV Colts FC Utrecht Colts Edited May 21, 2018 by Marten 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
highlandcowden Posted May 21, 2018 Share Posted May 21, 2018 11 hours ago, Marten said: As suggested, I'm starting a thread on Dutch football. whats your connection with dutch footy? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marten Posted May 21, 2018 Author Share Posted May 21, 2018 8 minutes ago, highlandcowden said: whats your connection with dutch footy? I'm Dutch. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
highlandcowden Posted May 21, 2018 Share Posted May 21, 2018 5 minutes ago, Marten said: I'm Dutch. ,aye that would do it right enough 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevieKTID Posted May 21, 2018 Share Posted May 21, 2018 1 hour ago, highlandcowden said: whats your connection with dutch footy? Mods alstublieft 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nightmare Posted May 21, 2018 Share Posted May 21, 2018 1 hour ago, Marten said: I'm Dutch. Good answer. Whats your connection with Scottish football then? I like the Eerste Divisie. Always taken an interest in Go Ahead Eagles due to the bizarre name plus them being red & yellow - they seem to be pretty shite these days though. It’s also a great league to bet on for unders betting... it’s a high scoring league so the odds are always over inflated by people betting on lots of goals. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7-2 Posted May 21, 2018 Share Posted May 21, 2018 2 hours ago, highlandcowden said: whats your connection with dutch footy? 2 hours ago, Marten said: I'm Dutch. This has to go down as one of the all time great P&B discussions. Kudos to all of those involved. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marten Posted May 22, 2018 Author Share Posted May 22, 2018 7 hours ago, Nightmare said: Good answer. Whats your connection with Scottish football then? I like the Eerste Divisie. Always taken an interest in Go Ahead Eagles due to the bizarre name plus them being red & yellow - they seem to be pretty shite these days though. It’s also a great league to bet on for unders betting... it’s a high scoring league so the odds are always over inflated by people betting on lots of goals. I live in Scotland and closely follow football here. I don't really have a favourite (yet), but I just like groundhopping and go to games all over the country. GAE had a pretty rubbish season, but they're so inconsistent, they could soon be challenging promotion again... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
highlandcowden Posted May 22, 2018 Share Posted May 22, 2018 3 hours ago, Marten said: I live in Scotland and closely follow football here. I don't really have a favourite (yet), but I just like groundhopping and go to games all over the country. GAE had a pretty rubbish season, but they're so inconsistent, they could soon be challenging promotion again... makes you much more of a Scottish footy fan than most scots then,fair play to you looking forward to this thread , easy place to get to from Scotland though only game ive ever been to there was a uefa cup game between Vitesse Arnhem and AEK Athens back in the late 90s, inexcusable really. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marten Posted May 22, 2018 Author Share Posted May 22, 2018 6 minutes ago, highlandcowden said: makes you much more of a Scottish footy fan than most scots then,fair play to you looking forward to this thread , easy place to get to from Scotland though only game ive ever been to there was a uefa cup game between Vitesse Arnhem and AEK Athens back in the late 90s, inexcusable really. Thanks! I'm watching football at all levels and have been to a nice mix of grounds, from Pittodrie & Hampden to tiny junior grounds. I've also been to Cowdenbeath. I must admit that I even haven't been to any Dutch games in a while myself. I'm planning to go to at least one Excelsior game next season though. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brummie Clyde Posted May 23, 2018 Share Posted May 23, 2018 Kind of support Sparta Rotterdam, so typically they’ve been relegated. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Le Tout P'ti FC Posted May 23, 2018 Share Posted May 23, 2018 Hallo Marten, I'm back in Amsterdam in the Autumn. Where would be a good trip to watch a game within an hour or so by train? Quite fancy a lower league trip with the prospect of a decent beer or two. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marten Posted May 23, 2018 Author Share Posted May 23, 2018 (edited) 1 hour ago, Le Tout P'ti FC said: Hallo Marten, I'm back in Amsterdam in the Autumn. Where would be a good trip to watch a game within an hour or so by train? Quite fancy a lower league trip with the prospect of a decent beer or two. You could go to FC Volendam, 2nd tier, decent trip out. Nice seaside town and some good pubs. No railway station but about 30 minutes north of Amsterdam by bus. Telstar (2nd tier as well) is also not a bad trip, in the seaside town of IJmuiden. Again no railway station, but a train to Haarlem and then a short bus ride gets you there, total travel time about 50 minutes. In the semi-professional leagues, Katwijk is also a nice seaside town. They have 2 teams: Katwijk (3rd tier) and Quick Boys (4th tier). Both good grounds & both clubs are amongst the largest non-league clubs in the country. Train to Leiden then a short bus ride to Katwijk, total travel time around an hour. Just let me know if you need more detailed travel advise on any of those. Edited May 23, 2018 by Marten 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Le Tout P'ti FC Posted May 23, 2018 Share Posted May 23, 2018 You could go to FC Volendam, 2nd tier, decent trip out. Nice seaside town and some good pubs. No railway station but about 30 minutes north of Amsterdam by bus. Telstar (2nd tier as well) is also not a bad trip, in the seaside town of IJmuiden. Again no railway station, but a train to Haarlem and then a short bus ride gets you there, total travel time about 50 minutes. In the semi-professional leagues, Katwijk is also a nice seaside town. They have 2 teams: Katwijk (3rd tier) and Quick Boys (4th tier). Both good grounds & both clubs are amongst the largest non-league clubs in the country. Train to Leiden then a short bus ride to Katwijk, total travel time around an hour. Just let me know if you need more detailed travel advise on any of those. [emoji4] Google images brings me to this from your suggestions. I'm in! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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