Dutch football league system

The Dutch football league system consists of two fully professional leagues (Eredivisie and Eerste Divisie) and eight levels of amateur football leagues. The three highest amateur leagues, the Tweede, Derde and Vierde Divisie are semi-professional and play in nationwide leagues and the five levels below are regional leagues.

Promotion and relegation

All the leagues are connected by a promotion and relegation system, but in order to be promoted to the Eerste Divisie a club has to submit a solid business plan to be approved by the Royal Dutch Football Association, as well as meet certain stadium demands, and some other demands that the association stated for all the teams in the top two leagues.

Before 2010 there was no promotion and relegation (based on league result) between the highest amateur level (back then the Hoofdklasse) and the professional leagues. In the 2010–11 season the Topklasse was introduced as an intermediate level between the professional and amateur leagues. Promotion was optional, so it was possible that the IJsselmeervogels who won the 2010–11 Topklasse, was not promoted because they did not want to be bound to the demands for playing in the Eerste Divisie.

In 2016 the Tweede Divisie was (re)introduced between the Topklasse (renamed to Derde Divisie) and Eerste Divisie to further work on stimulating promotion and relegation between the amateur and professional leagues. However, due to resistance from the amateur clubs to meet the demands for the professional leagues and worries from the professional clubs to face bankruptcy after relegation, mandatory promotion and relegation has been postponed until at least the 2022–23 season.[1]

From 2023 to 2024, promotion and relegation between Eerste Divisie and Tweede Divisie has been introduced.

Men

Level	Level Name	League(s)/Division(s)
		Professional football
1	Eredivisie	Eredivisie 18 clubs
2	Eerste Divisie	Eerste Divisie 20 clubs
		Semi-professional/amateur football (nationwide)
3	Tweede Divisie	Tweede Divisie 18 clubs
4	Derde Divisie	Saturday Group 18 clubs					Sunday Group 18 clubs
5	Vierde Divisie	Saturday A 16 clubs		Saturday B 16 clubs			Sunday A 16 clubs		Sunday B 16 clubs
		Amateur football (regional)
		Saturday Groups					Sunday Groups
		West I	West II	South I	East	North	West I	South I	South II	East	North
6	Eerste Klasse	Sat 1A 1 Group	Sat 1B - 1C 2 Groups	Sat 1D 1 Group	Sat 1E 1 Group	Sat 1F 1 Group	Sun 1A 1 Group	Sun 1B 1 Group	Sun 1C 1 Group	Sun 1D 1 Group	Sun 1E 1 Group
7	Tweede Klasse	Sat 2A - 2C 3 Groups	Sat 2D - 2F 3 Groups	Sat 2G - 2H 2 Groups	Sat 2I - 2J 2 Groups	Sat 2K - 2L 2 Groups	Sun 2A - 2B 2 Groups	Sun 2C - 2E 3 Groups	Sun 2F - 2G 2 Groups	Sun 2H - 2I 2 Groups	Sun 2J - 2K 2 Groups
8	Derde Klasse	Sat 3A - 3D 4 Groups	Sat 3A - 3D 4 Groups	Sat 3A - 3E 5 Groups	Sat 3A - 3E 5 Groups	Sat 3A - 3D 4 Groups	Sun 3A - 3D 4 Groups	Sun 3A - 3D 4 Groups	Sun 3A - 3E 5 Groups	Sun 3A - 3D 4 Groups	Sun 3A - 3D 4 Groups
9	Vierde Klasse	Sat 4A - 4F 6 Groups	Sat 4A - 4F 6 Groups	Sat 4A - 4F 6 Groups	Sat 4A - 4H 8 Groups	Sat 4A - 4D 4 Groups	Sun 4A - 4D 4 Groups	Sun 4A - 4G 7 Groups	Sun 4A - 4H 8 Groups	Sun 4A - 4G 7 Groups	Sun 4A - 4D 4 Groups
10	Vijfde Klasse	Sat 5A - 5B 2 Groups	Sat 5A - 5C 3 Groups			Sat 5A - 5G 7 Groups	Sun 5A - 5B 2 Groups	Sun 5A - 5C 3 Groups	Sun 5A - 5E 5 Groups	Sun 5A - 5E 5 Groups	Sun 5A - 5D 4 Groups

[2]

Professional leagues

18 teams in the Eredivisie (English: Honorary Division)
20 teams (of which 4 are reserve teams of Eredivisie teams) in the Eerste Divisie (English: First Division). The champion of the Eerste Divisie is promoted directly to the Eredivisie, the team finishing lowest in the Eredivisie is relegated to the Eerste Divisie. the teams finishing 16th and 17th in the Eredivisie compete in promotion and relegation play-offs with 8 teams from the Eerste Divisie, in which the teams from the Eredivisie and the four best teams from the Eerste Divisie play two rounds, and the other four teams play three rounds.

Amateur leagues

The highest league is called Tweede Divisie (English: Second Division). Until 1971, when the division was discontinued, it was comparable to the former Topklasse. The Tweede Divisie was reintroduced in 2016, decrementing the Topklasse and lower leagues by a level in the pyramid.[3]

The second highest is the Derde Divisie (English: Third Division), formerly Topklasse (Top Class). Since the 2017–18 season, 36 teams compete in the Derde Divisie, divided into Saturday and Sunday leagues, each containing 18 teams. After the season the Saturday and Sunday champions compete for the overall championship. The Derde Divisie champion promotes to the Tweede Divisie (Eerste Divisie until 2016); if they refuse promotion or don't meet necessary criteria, the runners-up will replace them. If also the runners-up refuse promotion or don't meet necessary criteria, no team is relegated from the Tweede Divisie.
The third league is called Vierde Divisie (English: Fourth Division), formerly Hoofdklasse (Main Class), which is then followed by six numbered amateur leagues. It is divided into two divisions each of Saturday and Sunday clubs, with 16 clubs in each division.
The next league is called Eerste Klasse (English: First Class), with five Saturday league divisions and six Sunday league divisions, with 14 clubs each.
Tweede Klasse (English: Second Class), with ten Saturday league divisions and twelve Sunday league divisions, with 14 clubs each.
The next level, Derde Klasse (English: Third Class), is additionally divided into regional groups. The Saturday league is divided into five regional groups with four divisions each, and the Sunday league is divided into six regional groups, again with four divisions each. Each division has between 11 and 14 clubs.
In the Vierde Klasse (English: Fourth Class), the number of divisions varies from four to nine. Again, each division contains between 11 and 14 clubs. This is the lowest amateur league in the West 2 region.
The lowest amateur league overall, in all regions except for the West 2 region, is the Vijfde Klasse (English: Fifth Class). The Saturday league has one regional group and the Sunday league is divided into the same six regions. The number of divisions varies from four to nine, with each division having between 11 and 14 clubs.
Until 2015, Zesde Klasse (English: Sixth Class) had no regional groupings for the Saturday league (all teams were from the North-region), but four for the Sunday league. The number of divisions was between three and seven, with 10 to 14 clubs participating in each division.
Until 2010, Zevende Klasse (English: Seventh Class) only existed in Sunday football in the North region. There was a total of three divisions, with 10 to 14 clubs participating in each division.
Until 2001, Achtste Klasse (English: Eighth Class) only existed in Sunday football in the West 1 region. There was only one division.

Beginning in 2020–21, under-19 teams of professional or amateur clubs in the Tweede Divisie or higher no longer participate in the Derde Divisie, as they have been placed in the newly formed under-21 league. The new under-23 competition is for Tweede or Derde amateur clubs that are not directly eligible for under-21.[4]

Women

Until 2007 the Hoofdklasse was the top division. From 2007 the Eredivisie was the top division until 2011 when the BeNe League was created. In 2011–12 the Topklasse was created above the Hoofklasse. Since 2015 the Eredivisie again is the top-level league, as the BeNe League was ended. The Hoofdklasse plays its matches on two different days per division.

Level	Level Name	League(s)/Division(s)
1	Eredivisie	Eredivisie 9 clubs
2	Topklasse	Topklasse 12 clubs
3	Hoofdklasse	Hoofdklasse A Saturday 12 clubs								Hoofdklasse B Sunday 12 clubs
4	Eerste Klasse	Eerste Klasse Group A, Saturday 12 clubs				Eerste Klasse Group B, Saturday 12 clubs				Eerste Klasse Group C, Sunday 12 clubs				Eerste Klasse Group D, Sunday 12 clubs
5	Tweede Klasse	2 A Saturday, West 1		2 B Saturday, West 2		2 C Saturday, East 1		2 D Saturday, East 2		2 E Sunday, West		2 F Sunday, South 1		2 G Sunday, South 2		2 H Sunday, South 1
6	Derde Klasse	Sat 3A West	Sat 3B West	Sat 3C South	Sat 3D West	Sat 3E East	Sat 3F East	Sat 3G East	Sat 3H East	Sun 3A West	Sun 3B West	Sun 3C West	Sun 3D South	Sun 3E South	Sun 3F South	Sun 3G East	Sun 3H East

References

"Optimaliseren voetbalpiramide" [Optimizing the football system]. KNVB.nl (in Dutch). 16 December 2019. Retrieved 27 December 2022.
"Competitie-indelingen categorie A seizoen 2022/'23 bekend| knvb". www.knvb.nl. Retrieved 8 July 2022.
"Plannen tweede divisie gaan door" [Plans for a new Tweede Divisie starting 2016/2017]. NOS.nl (in Dutch). 2 December 2014. Retrieved 16 July 2015.
"Bondsvergadering kiest voor nieuwe competitiestructuur in jeugdvoetbal" [Association assembly opts for a new league structure in youth football] (in Dutch). KNVB. 16 December 2019. Retrieved 6 June 2020.

External links

League321.com - Dutch football league tables, records & statistics database. (in English)

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[1] "Optimaliseren voetbalpiramide" [Optimizing the football system]. KNVB.nl (in Dutch). 16 December 2019. Retrieved 27 December 2022.

[2] "Competitie-indelingen categorie A seizoen 2022/'23 bekend| knvb". www.knvb.nl. Retrieved 8 July 2022.

[3] "Plannen tweede divisie gaan door" [Plans for a new Tweede Divisie starting 2016/2017]. NOS.nl (in Dutch). 2 December 2014. Retrieved 16 July 2015.

[4] "Bondsvergadering kiest voor nieuwe competitiestructuur in jeugdvoetbal" [Association assembly opts for a new league structure in youth football] (in Dutch). KNVB. 16 December 2019. Retrieved 6 June 2020.

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