By Samindra Kunti
December 12 – The KNVB, the Dutch FA, has approved a structural reform of its domestic club football. From the 2016/17 season onwards professional and amateur football in the Netherlands will be integrated through a mandatory system of promotion and relegation.
Currently Dutch professional football consists of two top divisions the Eredivisie and the Eerste divisie. Below these Dutch football turns amateur with the Topklasse, Hoofdklasse and Eerste Klasse.
The KNVB has added a new nationwide league, the Landelijke divisie, that will function as a go-between professional and amateur football with a system of promotion and relegation. 18 clubs, 14 Topklasse teams and four professional reserve teams, will make up this hybrid league that is set to kick off in the 2016/17 season.
Bert van Oostveen, the director of professional football at the KNVB said the decision is historic for Dutch football. “For the first time since the introduction of professional football there is a completely open competition structure,” he said.
“The bottom of the Jupiler League [Eerste divisie] and the top of amateur football were stationary, while a healthy breeding ground is needed. This is an important step to further develop football in the Netherlands,” van Oostveen said.
The model alters the pyramid of domestic Dutch football, but is a trade-off between professional football and amateur football. “It is a compromise that meets all sporting principles that weighed heavily throughout the entire process,” explained van Oostveen. “From now on sporting achievements are rewarded. There is more tension in each league and teams play at the level where they really come into their own.”
Hans Spierings, the director of amateur football at the KNVB, echoed the opinion of van Oostveen. “The new league structure ensures that the artificial division between top sport and wider sport disappears,” said Spierings. “The ability to go up but also to be relegated is an added incentive to strive for improvement and that is good for the quality and future of Dutch football.”
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