Eredivisie (women)

History

Background

Since the 1970s, amateur women's football competitions have been played in the Netherlands, with the Hoofdklasse being the highest level. During the 1990s, the popularity of women's football rose, with the sport becoming an Olympic event in 1996 and selling hundreds of thousands of tickets for the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup. With the Netherlands women's national team unable to qualify to major tournaments such as the FIFA Women's World Cup, UEFA Women's Championship, or the Olympics, and the most talented female players leaving for other countries with professional leagues, the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) felt compelled to act.

In January 2007, the KNVB presented plans of the Eredivisie Vrouwen, a professional women's league.

According to the league's business plan, initially the national team players were divided amongst the six clubs. Aside from organizing the league, the KNVB provided a start-up subsidy, contribution to the costs, and technical assistance to the professional clubs, which in return would provide technical and medical staff, transport, training, and other facilities to their players. The clubs also had to affiliate an amateur club who would use players coming back from injury or reserve players or young talented players from the professional club. The idea was to expand the league from six clubs to 10–12 clubs in five to eight years.

2007–2012

On 29 August 2007, the opening ceremony for the launch of the Eredivisie Vrouwen took place at the Arke Stadion in Enschede, with the presentation of the six participating teams, ahead of the league's inaugural match played by FC Twente and sc Heerenveen in front of 5.500 spectators. Visitors sc Heerenveen won the match 3–2. scored the first ever Eredivisie goal for FC Twente, 73 seconds into the match. At the end of the 2007–08 season, AZ were crowned the first Eredivisie champions and Karin Stevens the top scorer with 20 goals.

On 15 April 2008, Roda JC was confirmed as the seventh team for the 2008–09 season. AZ won the championship for a second consecutive year, and Sylvia Smit was the top scorer with 14 goals.

On 5 May 2009, financial problems forced Roda JC to announce its withdraw from the Eredivisie. Six teams participated in the 2009–10 season, which AZ won for the third consecutive season. Sylvia Smit, for the second consecutive season, and Chantal de Ridder were top scorers with 11 goals each.

Two new teams, VVV-Venlo and FC Zwolle, joined the league on 10 March 2010, increasing the number of teams to eight for the 2010–11 season. Twente won its first league title, breaking AZ's three-year championship streak. Chantal de Ridder was the top scorer for a second consecutive season with 19 goals.

;2011–12: changing formats and the BeNe League On 22 February 2011, during the second half of the 2010–11 season, a meeting between the league, the KNVB, and clubs was held to discuss improving the league. A statement from the KNVB announced that for the next season, matchdays would move from Thursdays to Fridays, relationship changes between clubs and their affiliated amateur clubs, guideline principles amongst other topics discussed and the financial conditions were to be discussed on a further meeting, as the KNVB was trying to keep the league with eight teams next season. On the same day, following the meeting, three-time league champions AZ announced it would withdraw from the league once the season was completed. On the following day, Willem II announced it was also withdrawing from the league's next season. Financial issues were responsible for both clubs' decision. PSV, working to build a women's team, confirmed on 3 March 2011 it would not participate in the following season. On 8 March 2011, FC Utrecht also announced its withdraw from the next season, also due to financial reasons, but on 6 April 2011 retreated its withdrawal and confirmed it had secured finances for one more season. On 14 April 2011, sc Heerenveen announced its withdraw due to financial issues. Two weeks later, on 26 April 2011, as the club continued working to find sponsors to remain in the league, RBC Roosendaal presented a possibility of entering a team if its male team remained in Jupiler League. The KNVB extension of the clubs' registration deadline allowed sc Heerenveen to secure the funds needed to play another season, and on 28 April 2011, the club confirmed its participation. On 27 May 2011, Telstar was confirmed as the seventh team for the following season.

ADO Den Haag won the 2011–12 season, the club's first league title, and Priscilla de Vos of Telstar was the top scorer with 16 goals. It was the last Eredivisie season for several years: on 30 August 2011, the KNVB and its Belgian counterpart, the KBVB, presented a proposal to merge their women's professional leagues into a combined BeNe League. On 10 December 2010, the KBVB agreed to go ahead with the BeNe League, and two days later the KNVB decided to stop investing in the Eredivisie Vrouwen for the next three years. On 13 February 2012, the KNVB announced it was also going ahead with the BeNe League, and on 23 March 2012, it received approval from UEFA. The new league had its inaugural season in 2012–13.

2015–present: restart and growth

After three seasons, the BeNe League folded at the end of the 2014–15 season. On 2 April 2015, the KNVB confirmed the restart of the Eredivisie Vrouwen with the participation of the seven Dutch clubs that played in the final BeNe League season. Ajax and PSV made their debut in the re-formed Eredivisie , as both clubs established women's teams in 2012. They joined ADO Den Haag, SC Heerenveen, Telstar, FC Twente, and PEC Zwolle, which all returned to the Eredivisie after the 2011–12 season.

FC Twente won its second Eredivisie title in 2015–16, and Jill Roord of FC Twente was the top scorer with 20 goals. The 2016–17 season was played by eight clubs after Achilles '29 was confirmed as newcomers on 16 June 2016. Ajax won the title for the first time, and Telstar's Katja Snoeijs was the top scorer with 21 goals.

On 1 March 2017, Telstar announced it was being replaced by a new club, VV Alkmaar. VV officially formed on 21 April. On 10 April 2017, Excelsior Barendrecht became the ninth team in the Eredivisie.

On 19 April 2019, Achilles '29 announced it was ending its participation in the league. The club had poor finances and poor performances, finishing above last place once in its three years in the Eredivisie. One week later, on 26 April, sc Heerenveen also announced it would cease competing. However, on 19 June, the club reversed course and announced it would continue its women's team.

Due to COVID-19, the 2019–20 season ended early, with the final match played on 18 February 2020. No champion was named, with PSV having the most points when the season was halted. Joëlle Smits of PSV was the leading scorer with 16 goals.

2020–present: new name, more teams

In August 2020, the league was re-branded as Vrouwen Eredivisie and given a new logo with a stylized lioness. On 31 March 2021, Feyenoord announced that the club would join the Eredivisie in the 2021–22 season. In January 2022, Dutch media reported that Fortuna Sittard and Telstar would compete in the Eredivisie the following season, taking the league to 11 clubs. Telstar returned to the league after five years, while Fortuna was a newcomer. Both sought to capitalise on the growing domestic popularity of the women's game. FC Utrecht rejoined the Eredivisie in the 2023–24 season, bringing the league to 12 clubs. That season, AZ Alkmaar replaced VV Alkmaar in the league.

In April 2025, Fortuna Sittard announced it would dissolve its women's team at the end of the 2024–25 season. On 16 June 2025, NAC Breda announced that its women's team, which began competing in a lower division the previous September, would take Fortuna Sittard's place in the league. The next day, the league announced a re-structuring, with the Eredivisie contracting to 10 teams beginning in the 2026–27 season and a formal promotion and relegation system, with the second-tier splitting into an Eerste Divisie and Tweede Divisie, creating a pyramid structure. In September 2025, the KNVB agreed to transfer Telstar's license to Hera United, a new, women's-only club in Amsterdam.

Format

The Eredivisie plays in a double round-robin format, with all 12 teams playing each other once at home and once on the road.

Due to the varying number of teams in the league, its schedule has had several different formats. From its inception until 2009–10, the Eredivisie played in a quadruple round-robin format, with teams playing each other four times a season. The following two season, 2010–11 and 2011–12, the schedule was changed to a triple round-robin, with teams playing each other three times, once at home, once away, and the host of the third match determined by lottery before the season. When the Eredivisie returned in 2015–16, so did the original quadruple round-robin schedule.

From 2016 to 2020, the season was split in two parts, a regular season, where all clubs play a triple round-robin format, and a playoff, where the top four teams, based on points, form a champions group and the remaining teams form a placement group. Each group then played a double round-robin schedule. Points won in the regular season were halved and added to the points of the playoff stage rounds to determine final rankings. In the 2021–22 season, the league returned to a triple round-robin system, eliminating the playoff groups. In the 2022–23 season, the league adopted its current double round-robin format.

There has not been relegation from the Eredivisie, but the league announced in March 2024 that there would be a promotion and relegation system beginning during the 2024–25 season. Promotion and relegation had been planned since 2008. Teams may be promoted from the lower . The last placed Eredivisie team can be relegated if a club's first team wins the Eerste Divisie. That season, there was no relegation due to Fortuna Sittard's dissolution, but the league announced that three clubs would be demoted in the 2025–26 season with one team promoted to form a ten-team league.

Other club tournaments run during or adjacent to the Eredivise season. Prior to the season, the previous season's league champion and cup champion play in the . During the season, Eredivisie club and lower-level women's clubs compete in the KNVB Women's Cup. Since 2019, the top champion and the leaders during each of the first three quarters of the season compete in the , held after the regular season.

Teams

Current season

Twelve teams will compete in the 2025–26 season.

*=return after previously playing in the Eredivisie

Overview

Clubs performance by season:

Note: Eredivisie did not take place between 2012 and 2015 (see BeNe League).

Champions

Titles by club

Includes titles won as the best Dutch club in the BeNe League.

Top scorers

Player of the Year

From 2007 to 2012, the yearly Golden Shoe (Dutch: Gouden Schoen) was awarded to the league's best player. "Vrouw & Voetbal" magazine started the prizes in 2007. The winner received a golden shoe-shaped trophy. In the 2009–10 season, the awards process was taken over by "Vrouwenvoetbal Nederland," which added an award for the best goalkeeper. In the 2010–11 season, an award for the most talented player was created.

In 2022, the Eredivisie began giving official awards for the Player of the Year and the Johan Cruyff Talent of the Year, awarded to the best player under the age of 21. The first three winners of the Player of the Year award were also the top goal scorers in the league.

Naming rights

In February 2021, Pure Energie signed a contract with the KNVB for naming rights to the Vrouwen Eredivisie. Prior to the 2022–23 season, Azerion became the named sponsor on a deal lasting three seasons. In June 2025, Eurojackpot became the main sponsor for the league as well as the women's and men's national cup competitions.

Broadcasting

All league matches are broadcast on ESPN in the Netherlands, . National broadcaster NOS has also broadcast some matches.

References

References

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91. (7 June 2024). "Red Flame Tessa Wullaert maakt toptransfer naar Inter".
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