eredivisie

eredivisie

eredivisie

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For the Eredivisie for female football, see Eredivisie (women).

For sports leagues other than football, see Eredivisie (disambiguation).

Eredivisie

Countries Netherlands

Confederation UEFA

Founded 1956

Number of teams 18

Levels on pyramid 1

Relegation to Eerste Divisie

Domestic cup(s) KNVB Cup

Johan Cruijff Shield

International cup(s) Champions League

Europa League

Current champions AFC Ajax

(2010–11)

Most championships AFC Ajax (30)

TV partners Eredivisie Live

NOS

Website Eredivisie.nl

2011–12 Eredivisie

The Eredivisie (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈeːrə.di.ˌvi.zi]; Honorary Division) is the highest football league in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956 two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is currently ranked the ninth best league in Europe by UEFA.

The top division consists of 18 clubs. Each club faces every other club twice during the season, once at home and once away. At the end of each season, the bottom club is automatically relegated to the second level of the Dutch league system, the Eerste Divisie (First Division), with the champion of the Eerste Divisie automatically promoted to the Eredivisie. The next two clubs from the bottom of the Eredivisie go to separate promotion/relegation playoffs. The playoffs are played in two groups. Each group has one Eredivisie club and three high-placed clubs from the Eerste Divisie. In both promotion/relegation playoff groups, each club plays a home-and-away series with the other clubs. The winner of each playoff group plays in the following season's Eredivisie, with the other teams going to the Eerste Divisie.

The winner of the Eredivisie claims the Dutch national championship. AFC Ajax has won the most titles, 22 (30 national titles). PSV Eindhoven is next with 18 (21), and Feyenoord follows with 9 (14). Since 1965, these three clubs have won all except for three titles (the 1981 and 2009 titles went to AZ and FC Twente won the 2010 title).

From 1990 to 1999, the official name of the league was PTT Telecompetitie (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈpeː ˈteː ˈteː ˈteː.lə.kɔm.pə.ˌti.(t)si]) (after the sponsor, PTT Telecom), which was changed to KPN Telecompetitie (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈkaː ˈpeː ˈɛn ˈteː.lə.kɔm.pə.ˌti.(t)si]) in 1999 and to KPN Eredivisie (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈkaː ˈpeː ˈɛn ˈerə.di.ˌvi.zi]) in 2000. From 2002 to 2005, the league was called the Holland Casino Eredivisie (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈɦɔ.lɑnt ˈkaː.sɪ.no ˈerə.di.ˌvi.zi]). Since the 2005–06 season, the league has been sponsored by the Sponsorloterij lottery, but for legal reasons, its name is not attached to the league