Football in the Netherlands


Football is the most popular sport in the Netherlands. To highlight the popularity of the sport, 66% of the Dutch population stated that they planned to follow UEFA Euro 2024.
Football was introduced to the Netherlands by Pim Mulier in the 19th century when in 1879, at the age of 14, he founded Haarlemsche Football Club. Over the next 30 years, football gained popularity in the Netherlands and the late 1890s and early 1900s saw the foundation of many new clubs, notably Sparta Rotterdam in 1888, which is the oldest professional football club in the country, AFC Ajax in 1900, Feyenoord Rotterdam in 1908, and PSV Eindhoven in 1913.
The Royal Dutch Football Association was founded on 8 December 1889 and joined FIFA in 1904 as one of the founding members alongside the Football Associations of Belgium, Denmark, France, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.
Professional football was introduced in 1954, with the establishment of the Dutch Professional Football Association. The first professional game was played on 14 August 1954 between Alkmaar '54 and SC Venlo. The KNVB had opposed professional football for a long time, but eventually submitted to pressure and merged with the NBVB in November 1954 to form a new football association and a new league.
From 1956, the top flight of Dutch football is the Eredivisie. The second level is the Eerste Divisie. The third level is the Tweede Divisie. Below that are two amateur divisions: the fourth level is the Derde Divisie, formerly Topklasse, and the fifth level the Hoofdklasse. The Topklasse was launched in 2010, before that time promotion to or relegation from the Eerste Divisie was not possible. In 2016, the Topklasse was renamed Derde Divisie and the Tweede Divisie was revived.
The Netherlands national men's and women's team are usually dressed in orange and have a historic tradition of aesthetic possession football based around technical ability and attacking flair. They won the European Championship in 1988, and have competed in many European and World Cups. The men's team finished second in the 1974,1978 and 2010 World Cups and third in the UEFA Euro 1976 and 2014 World Cup tournament. They have reached many finals and semi-finals. The women's team also managed to reach the final in its just second FIFA Women's World Cup, where they reached the 2019 Women's World Cup but failed to win. This means the Netherlands is the second country in the world where both men's and women's teams reached the final of respective gender's World Cup yet failed to win both times, the other being Sweden.
The women also won the Women's Euro 2017.
Only the Netherlands and Germany have won both the men's and the women's European Championship.
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Structure of the competition (until the 2015–16 season)

  • Zesde Klasse was abolished in 2015.

Structure of the competition (until the 2009–10 season)

  • Zevende Klasse was abolished in 2010.

Competition finals

The following 25 European finals took place at Dutch venues, or are scheduled to take place at them:

Women's football

More woman play football than any other sport in the Netherlands.

Futsal

The top division for Futsal in the Netherlands are the Futsal Eredivisie and the Futsal Eredivisie (women)

Largest Dutch football stadiums

#StadiumCapacityCityProvinceHome TeamOpenedNotes
1Johan Cruijff ArenA55,600AmsterdamNorth Holland

Attendances

The average attendance per top-flight football league season and the club with the highest average attendance:
SeasonLeague averageBest clubBest club average
2024–2520,037AFC Ajax54,263
2023–2418,397AFC Ajax53,744
2022–2318,394AFC Ajax53,582
2021–22———
2020–21———
2019–2018,229AFC Ajax53,342
2018–1917,998AFC Ajax52,987
2017–1819,082AFC Ajax50,956
2016–1719,086AFC Ajax49,620
2015–1619,387AFC Ajax49,206
2014–1518,770AFC Ajax50,058
2013–1419,504AFC Ajax50,907
2012–1319,619AFC Ajax50,490
2011–1219,466AFC Ajax50,147
2010–1119,296AFC Ajax47,316
2009–1019,608AFC Ajax48,734
2008–0919,789AFC Ajax49,014
2007–0818,732AFC Ajax49,125
2006–0718,078AFC Ajax48,610
2005–0616,805AFC Ajax47,281
2004–0516,238AFC Ajax48,571
2003–0415,985AFC Ajax49,006
2002–0316,255AFC Ajax47,148
2001–0215,529Feyenoord39,903
2000–0115,407Feyenoord37,609
1999–200013,977AFC Ajax39,980
1998–9913,613AFC Ajax42,567
1997–9812,770AFC Ajax47,315
1996–9712,101AFC Ajax45,141
1995–9610,298Feyenoord26,639
1994–9510,277Feyenoord28,249
1993–9410,011PSV25,759
1992–938,564PSV25,306
1991–927,977PSV24,015
1990–918,774PSV24,853
1989–908,027PSV24,344
1988–897,088PSV24,474
1987–886,718PSV21,453
1986–877,107PSV19,618
1985–867,111PSV18,376
1984–857,460Feyenoord17,139
1983–848,369Feyenoord25,696
1982–839,681Feyenoord23,155
1981–828,886AFC Ajax21,535
1980–818,924Feyenoord21,725
1979–809,876Feyenoord26,394
1978–799,848Feyenoord26,952
1977–789,806PSV22,824
1976–7710,766Feyenoord24,991
1975–7610,784Feyenoord29,683
1974–7511,576Feyenoord37,185
1973–7411,832Feyenoord35,569
1972–7311,170Feyenoord34,118
1971–7212,691Feyenoord44,412
1970–7113,699Feyenoord47,824
1969–7012,804Feyenoord42,853
1968–6913,628Feyenoord47,647
1967–6813,993Feyenoord48,088
1966–6711,947Feyenoord33,500
1965–6613,661Feyenoord39,400
1964–6514,510Feyenoord46,833
1963–6413,977Feyenoord35,600
1962–6313,163Feyenoord37,733
1961–6212,117Feyenoord41,882
1960–6112,410Feyenoord40,912
1959–6014,341Feyenoord40,176
1958–5913,914Feyenoord38,753
1957–5814,254Feyenoord39,765
1956–5713,394Feyenoord42,559
1955–569,261Feyenoord35,235
1954–556,114Feyenoord16,231
1953–545,632Feyenoord12,362

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