The Eerste Divisie (; ), officially known as the Keuken Kampioen Divisie due to sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie via promotion/relegation systems.

History The Eerste Divisie consists of 20 clubs, who play each other in a double round-robin league, with each club playing the other club home and away. Each club plays every other club once in the first half of the season before the league takes a winter break around the Christmas and New Year's holiday season. The second half of the season sees the same fixtures as the first half, with the stadiums changed, although the two halves are not played in the same order.

At the end of each season, the champions and the runners-up of the Eerste Divisie are automatically promoted to the Eredivisie. Six other clubs enter the Nacompetitie , a promotion/relegation playoff that includes the 16th-placed club in the Eredivisie. The six clubs from the Eerste Divisie include the four 'period champions', or best-performing teams from each quarter of the regular season, along with the two best-placed teams who are not period champions.

If the club that wins a period has qualified for the Nacompetitie by winning a previous period, its place is filled by the next-best club in that period that has not already qualified; in addition, reserve teams are not eligible for promotion to the Eredivisie. Usually, the clubs that qualify for the Nacompetitie turn out to be the 3rd- through 9th-placed clubs in the final table. Clubs in the Nacompetitie face each other in a knock-out system with the number 16 of the Eredivisie for one place in next season's Eredivisie.

Since the KNVB decided to seek sponsors for the divisions in 1990, the league was called the Toto-Divisie. Between September 2001 and June 2006, that was with introduction of the then sponsor Gouden Gids Divisie. Between July 2006 and June 2018, with the introduction of the sponsor, that had become the Jupiler League. Since July 2018, with the introduction of the new sponsor, that has become the Keuken Kampioen Divisie.

Between seasons 1971–72 and 2008–09 teams could not relegate from the Eerste Divisie. From the 2009–10 season onwards, one team has been relegated from the Eerste Divisie to the Hoofdklasse (then the main amateur league of Dutch football). From the 2010–11 to 2015–16 seasons, the KNVB introduced a third and highest amateur tier called Topklasse, and Hoofdklasse clubs have been able to get promoted to that new division.

Before the 2008–09 season, Hoofdklasse clubs could be promoted by obtaining a professional license. However, only a club going bankrupt or losing its license could result in clubs leaving professional football. The last clubs leaving professional football in that way were FC Wageningen and VCV Zeeland in 1992, and more recently HFC Haarlem and RBC Roosendaal, who went bankrupt in January 2010 and June 2011 respectively. The most recent additions to the league were AGOVV Apeldoorn in 2003 and FC Omniworld in 2005, expanding the league to 19 and later 20 clubs. However, for the 2010–11 season, the league returned to 18 clubs, as HFC Haarlem went bankrupt and FC Oss was relegated to the newly formed Topklasse. The 2012–13 season ended with 16 teams after AGOVV and SC Veendam went bankrupt. Four teams have been added to bring the division back up to 20 teams in 2013. Achilles '29 has been promoted from the Topklasse with the reserve teams of Ajax, FC Twente and PSV being added as well.

Since the 2016–17 season there is optional relegation to the third-tier, amateur Tweede Divisie. Clubs in the Tweede Divisie had to announce in mid-season if they want to be eligible for promotion. Only if one of those clubs won the Tweede Divisie championship is a team relegated from the Eerste Divisie.

The remainder of the 2019–20 season was cancelled amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, thus there were no promotions or relegations. Before the cancellation, the KNVB met in December 2019 and ruled that promotion to the second division and relegation to the third were suspended until 2022–23, and that the lowest-ranked Eerste Divisie Jong team will exchange places with its highest-ranked Tweede Divisie counterpart. In June 2022, the KNVB decided that relegation from the Eerste Divisie will stay absent for an extended period of 5 to 10 years.

Clubs

2024–25 members

Club Location Venue Capacity ADO Den Haag The Hague ADO Den Haag Stadium 15,000 SC Cambuur Leeuwarden Kooi Stadion 15,000 FC Den Bosch 's-Hertogenbosch Stadion De Vliert 8,713 FC Dordrecht Dordrecht Stadion Krommedijk 4,235 FC Eindhoven Eindhoven Jan Louwers Stadion 4,600 FC Emmen Emmen De Oude Meerdijk 8,600 Excelsior Rotterdam Rotterdam Van Donge & De Roo Stadion 4,500 De Graafschap Doetinchem Stadion De Vijverberg 12,600 Helmond Sport Helmond GS Staalwerken Stadion 4,142 Jong Ajax Amsterdam Sportpark De Toekomst 2,050 Jong AZ Alkmaar 200 Jong PSV Eindhoven De Herdgang 2,500 Jong FC Utrecht Utrecht Sportcomplex Zoudenbalch 550 MVV Maastricht Maastricht Stadion De Geusselt 10,000 Roda JC Kerkrade Kerkrade Parkstad Limburg Stadion 19,979 Telstar Velsen 711 Stadion 3,060 TOP Oss Oss Frans Heesen Stadion 4,560 SBV Vitesse Arnhem Gelredome 21,248 VVV-Venlo Venlo De Koel 8,000 FC Volendam Volendam Kras Stadion 6,984

Attendance record Clubs with larger fanbases suffered relegation in the 2000s, with Roda JC setting the Eerste Divisie attendance record at 16,150 during their home game against NEC Nijmegen in the 2014–15 season. NAC Breda bettered it a season later in their home match against Go Ahead Eagles, which had an attendance of 17,800 people.

Champions

Season Winner Runner-up 1956–57 ADO / Blauw Wit Alkmaar '54 / Stormvogels 1957–58 Willem II / SHS DFC / Stormvogels 1958–59 FC Volendam / Sittardia Leeuwarden / Stormvogels 1959–60 GVAV / Alkmaar '54 Vitesse / DFC 1960–61 FC Volendam / Blauw Wit De Volewijckers / DHC 1961–62 Heracles / Fortuna Vlaardingen Excelsior / DHC 1962–63 DWS Go Ahead 1963–64 Sittardia Telstar 1964–65 Willem II USV Elinkwijk 1965–66 Sittardia Xerxes 1966–67 FC Volendam NEC 1967–68 Holland Sport AZ '67 1968–69 SVV HFC Haarlem 1969–70 FC Volendam Excelsior 1970–71 FC Den Bosch GVAV 1971–72 HFC Haarlem AZ '67 1972–73 Roda JC PEC Zwolle 1973–74 Excelsior Vitesse 1974–75 NEC FC Groningen 1975–76 HFC Haarlem FC VVV 1976–77 Vitesse PEC Zwolle 1977–78 PEC Zwolle MVV Maastricht 1978–79 Excelsior FC Groningen 1979–80 FC Groningen FC Volendam 1980–81 HFC Haarlem SC Heerenveen 1981–82 Helmond Sport Fortuna Sittard 1982–83 DS '79 FC Volendam 1983–84 MVV Maastricht FC Twente 1984–85 SC Heracles FC VVV 1985–86 FC Den Haag PEC Zwolle 1986–87 FC Volendam Willem II 1987–88 RKC Waalwijk SC Veendam 1988–89 Vitesse FC Den Haag 1989–90 SVV NAC Breda 1990–91 De Graafschap NAC Breda 1991–92 SC Cambuur BVV Den Bosch 1992–93 VVV-Venlo SC Heerenveen 1993–94 Dordrecht '90 NEC 1994–95 Fortuna Sittard De Graafschap 1995–96 AZ FC Emmen 1996–97 MVV Maastricht SC Cambuur 1997–98 AZ SC Cambuur 1998–99 FC Den Bosch FC Groningen 1999–2000 NAC Breda FC Zwolle 2000–01 FC Den Bosch Excelsior 2001–02 FC Zwolle Excelsior 2002–03 ADO Den Haag FC Emmen 2003–04 FC Den Bosch Excelsior 2004–05 Heracles Almelo Sparta Rotterdam 2005–06 Excelsior VVV-Venlo 2006–07 De Graafschap VVV-Venlo 2007–08 FC Volendam RKC Waalwijk 2008–09 VVV-Venlo RKC Waalwijk 2009–10 De Graafschap SC Cambuur 2010–11 RKC Waalwijk FC Zwolle 2011–12 FC Zwolle Sparta Rotterdam 2012–13 SC Cambuur FC Volendam 2013–14 Willem II FC Dordrecht 2014–15 NEC FC Eindhoven 2015–16 Sparta VVV-Venlo 2016–17 VVV-Venlo Jong Ajax 2017–18 Jong Ajax Fortuna Sittard 2018–19 FC Twente Sparta Rotterdam 2019–20No champion and runner-up 2020–21 SC Cambuur Go Ahead Eagles 2021–22 FC Emmen FC Volendam2022–23Heracles AlmeloPEC Zwolle2023–24Willem IIGroningen2024–25FC VolendamExcelsior2025–26ADO Den HaagCambuur

1 Blauw Wit, De Volewijckers and DWS merged into FC Amsterdam, which folded in 1982. Reformed as Blauw-Wit Amsterdam, defunct in 2015. 2 Fortuna 54 merged with Sittardia to form FSC, later renamed Fortuna Sittard. 3 ADO merged with Holland Sport into FC Den Haag, later renamed ADO Den Haag 4 SV SVV (SVV) and Drecht Steden 79 (DS '79) merged into SVV/Dordrecht'90. Now FC Dordrecht.

Playoffs

Promotion Position Playoff Following season1 & 2 Direct promotion EredivisieaPeriod champion Round 1 if it is a low ranked club, semi-finals if it is a highly ranked club. Eredivisie or Eerste Divisie depends on whether the team wins the pools final.High-ranked clubs Playoff Semi-finals Eredivisie or Eerste Divisie depends on whether the team wins the pools final.Lower-ranked club Playoff Round 1 Eredivisie or Eerste Divisie depends on whether the team wins the pools final.

aA Jong (reserve) team can become the champion, but they cannot be promoted; the direct promotion or the play-off ticket will then be given to the next highest non-Jong team in the table.

Round 1 Round 1 will be played against lower-ranked teams, in both pools (Pool A or Pool B). The Round 1 winners will compete in the semi-finals against the number 16th from the Eredivisie.

Semi-finals In both pools of the semi-finals, there are two matches played (Match A and Match B). Match A is the winner of Round 1 against the number 16th of the Eredivisie. Match B is against two highly ranked clubs, with the winners of Match A and Match B will go to the finals.

Finals Both pools have their own finals, the finals are played against the winner of Match A and Match B of the semi-finals. The winner of the finals will go to the Eredivisie.

See also Eredivisie KNVB Cup Johan Cruijff Shield Football in the Netherlands Sports league attendances

References

External links KeukenKampioenDivisie.nl – official website Eerste Divisie KNVB.nl – official website KNVB League321.com – Dutch football league tables, records & statistics database