Netherlands Football (Soccer)
Football is the Dutch ‘national sport’ with more players and spectators than any other sport. The KNVB is the Netherlands football association overseeing rules, regulations, training programs, recreational activities, tournaments and the national ‘Oranje’ football teams.
NETHERLANDS FOOTBALL LEAGUES
Starting with the 2016-2017 season, Dutch professional and amateur football was integrated, with new rules that offer teams in lower leagues the opportunity to move up based on their performance. The opposite is also true, with poor performing teams in higher divisions forced to move down.
The top three Dutch football leagues are:
- EREDIVISIE: The premiere Dutch football league is comprised of 18 teams and for the 2025-2026 season top teams include Ajax (Amsterdam), AZ (Alkmaar), FC Utrecht, Feyenoord (Rotterdam), N.E.C. (Nijmegen) and PSV (Eindhoven). View the current season Eredivisie standings.
- EERSTE DIVISIE: The second highest Dutch football league is named after the main sponsor (currently Keuken Kampioen). The league has 20 teams and for the 2025-2026 season these include ADO Den Haag (The Hague), Willem II (Tilburg), MVV (Maastricht) and VVV (Venlo) among others. View the current season Keuken Kampion division standings.
- TWEEDE DIVISIE: The third-level competitive Dutch football league is the ‘Tweede Divisie’. It consists of 18 teams
At the end of each season, the two Eredivisie teams finishing at the bottom of the standings are automatically relegated down to the Eerste Divisie for the following season. They are replaced in the Eredivisie by the two teams finishing at the top of the Eerste Divisie standings.
The Eredivisie team that ends the season in 16th place is forced into playoffs against 6 Eerste Divisie teams. The team winning the playoffs competes in the Eredivisie the following season while those losing in the playoffs compete in the Eerste Divisie.
EREDIVISIE WOMEN: This is the league for top female football teams. There are 12 teams in the division. Among the teams in this league for the 2025-2026 season are Ajax (Amsterdam), Feyenoord and Excelsior (Rotterdam), ADO Den Haag (The Hague), FC Utrecht and PSV (Eindhoven). View the current season Women’s Eredivisie standings.
DUTCH NATIONAL FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION
KNVB (Koningklijk Nederlands Voetball Bond) is the Dutch national football association, with 500 people on staff and over 1.2 million members, making it the largest sports association in Netherlands. It establishes the official rules of play for Holland football, sanctions regional competitions, selects and trains the national men’s and ladies senior and junior ‘Oranje’ teams that represent the Netherlands at international competitions.
The KNVB Campus is located in Zeist and plays a key role in all aspects of Netherlands football.
NATIONAL COMPETITIONS
- TOTO KNVB CUP: The Dutch national football tournament in which teams from all 3 divisions compete. Teams with the most titles: Ajax (Amsterdam) 20, Feyenoord (Rotterdam) 14, PSV (Eindhoven) 11. The title for the 2024-2025 season was won by Go Ahead Eagles (Deventer).
- JOHAN CRUIJFF SHIELD: The team that wins the TOTO KNVB Cup plays the Eredivisie league champions. If the two are the same, the Eredivisie team finishing second plays the TOTO KNVB Cup winner.
NETHERLANDS FOOTBALL FOR YOUTH
Most local football clubs in the Netherlands have junior teams where young children can learn the basics of playing football and develop skills even in their early years. Large clubs that play in the upper level competitive leagues also have youth training programs including AJAX (Amsterdam), Feyenoord (Rotterdam), ADO (The Hague), PSV (Eindhoven), FC Utrecht and FC Twente.
KNVB Youth Football
Pupils
Young football players up to the 13-and-under category are called ‘pupils’. Children can begin playing football at a local club from 4 or 5 years old and typically start with the 2 X 2 format. From there, the pupils move on to 4 X 4, 6 X 6 (8, 9, 10 -and-under), 8 X 8 (11, 12 -and-under) and finally 11 X 11 (13-and-under category).
Juniors
From the age of 14 years, footballers are classified as ‘juniors’ (age groups 14, 15, 16, 17 and 19 -and-under) and can include mixed youth teams and girls teams at the local football associations. In each age category there are teams and competitions for different skill levels.
Seniors
Following juniors, players participate in ‘senior’ leagues. Both highly-skilled competitive players and those whose interest is more recreational can become senior footballers at one of over 3,000 amateur football clubs in the Netherlands. The KNVB organizes various leagues and cup tournaments in cooperation with the local football associations.
KNVB Football Camps
The KNVB hosts youth football camps during the May, Summer and Fall school holidays. The camps take place on the KNVB campus in the city of Zeist. There are day camps, multi-day camps and week-long camps where participants learn more about playing the game from staff and current and/or former professional players. Learn more about KNVB Football Camps
NETHERLANDS FOOTBALL FOR WOMEN
Girl’s and ladies football has grown in Netherlands in recent years. In the 2017-2018 season, there were more than 125,000 football girls and women in Holland, making football the second most popular women’s team sport (behind hockey). More than 2/3 of the 3,000 local football associations have at least one girls or women’s team playing in competition.
NETHERLANDS NATIONAL FOOTBALL TEAMS
The Dutch national men’s and women’s football teams represent the Netherlands at international football competitions such as the Olympics and World Cup. The KNVB is responsible for selecting players for the team and for training prior to events.
The Netherlands football national men’s team (referred to as ‘Oranjemen‘ or ‘Holland‘) has had moderate success on the world stage since first appearing in 1905. The national team has qualified for the World Cup championships 10 times and made the finals on 3 occasions (1974, 1978 and 2010), but has never won the title. The team did win the European Championships in 1988 and has earned 3 Olympic bronze medals (although the last came in 1920). Its best result in recent times was reaching the quarterfinals at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.
The Dutch women’s national football team (referred to as ‘Oranje‘ or ‘Lionesses‘) has garnered international success over the past several years. They won the UEFA European Championships in 2017 (in only their third appearance). The team has competed in the ladies World Cup tournament three times, finishing runners-up in 2019.
At the 2020 Olympic Games (played in 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic), the Lionesses reached the Quarterfinals (losing to USA 4-2 on penalty kicks after a 2-2 draw). Ladies Netherlands football ended the games as the top scoring team (23 goals) while Dutchwoman Vivianne Miedema was the highest individual scorer (10 goals) of the tournament.
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