Football tickets - Netherlands League - Eredivisie - 2025/2026 season

Where Eredivisie stands this season and why it is once again different from all the others

When the Dutch league begins, you do not get only a schedule of 34 rounds, but also an almost guaranteed surplus of story. In the 2025/2026 season, Eredivisie opened on the weekend from 8 to 10 August 2025, and the final round is played on 24 May 2026. On paper, everything is simple: 18 clubs, everyone against everyone home and away, a total of 34 matches per club. In reality, this is a league in which, on the same evening, Ajax's huge stadium, Feyenoord's raw southern charge and Telstar's return from some old cinematic frame of Dutch football can collide. The system is clean and ruthless. The last two clubs are relegated directly, and the 16th team goes into a relegation playoff. That means that in April and May, not only the title chase is played, but also the fight for air. Eredivisie has long been known for offering goals, young players and open matches, but this very season carries one more tension: the old hierarchy is there, yet underneath it someone is constantly pounding on the door.

Who plays in Eredivisie 2025/2026

This is the complete line-up of the league, without shortcuts and without fog:

• Ajax - Amsterdam
• AZ - Alkmaar
• Excelsior - Rotterdam
• Feyenoord - Rotterdam
• Fortuna Sittard - Sittard
• Go Ahead Eagles - Deventer
• FC Groningen - Groningen
• sc Heerenveen - Heerenveen
• Heracles Almelo - Almelo
• NAC Breda - Breda
• NEC - Nijmegen
• PEC Zwolle - Zwolle
• PSV - Eindhoven
• Sparta Rotterdam - Rotterdam
• Telstar - Velsen-Zuid
• FC Twente - Enschede
• FC Utrecht - Utrecht
• FC Volendam - Volendam

Three new faces gave the season a special tone: FC Volendam, Excelsior and Telstar. Especially Telstar, which returned to Eredivisie for the first time after 47 years. In a league that usually talks about Ajax, PSV and Feyenoord, such a return immediately changes the frame. Suddenly you have both a big stage and a small, almost neighbourhood arena; and football played in front of more than 50 thousand people and football that breathes only a few thousand metres from the touchline.

Stadiums: from the biggest stage to the tightest away trip

This season, Eredivisie is also a journey through Dutch cities and their football habits. The range is enormous:

• Ajax - Johan Cruijff ArenA, Amsterdam - 55,865
• Feyenoord - De Kuip, Rotterdam - 47,500
• PSV - Philips Stadion, Eindhoven - 36,500
• FC Twente - De Grolsch Veste, Enschede - 30,205
• sc Heerenveen - Abe Lenstra Stadion, Heerenveen - 27,224
• FC Utrecht - Stadion Galgenwaard, Utrecht - 23,750
• FC Groningen - Euroborg, Groningen - 22,550
• AZ - AFAS Stadion, Alkmaar - 19,478
• NAC Breda - Rat Verlegh Stadion, Breda - 19,000
• PEC Zwolle - MAC³PARK Stadion, Zwolle - 13,250
• NEC - Goffertstadion, Nijmegen - 12,500
• Heracles Almelo - Asito Stadion, Almelo - 12,080
• Sparta Rotterdam - Spartastadion Het Kasteel, Rotterdam - 11,000
• Fortuna Sittard - Fortuna Sittard Stadion, Sittard - 10,300
• Go Ahead Eagles - De Adelaarshorst, Deventer - 10,000
• FC Volendam - Kras Stadion, Volendam - 7,384
• Telstar - BUKO Stadion - 5,338
• Excelsior - Van Donge & De Roo Stadion, Rotterdam - 4,500

That is one of the reasons why Eredivisie is never just a table. One round can take you to the monumental concrete arch of De Kuip, and the next already into a narrow and unpleasant space where every second ball for the away side looks as if it is flying straight into the stand. Johan Cruijff ArenA remains the league's biggest stage, De Kuip still has that old European weight, Philips Stadion has for years given the feeling that a title can be defended there under floodlights without excess romance, while Het Kasteel, De Adelaarshorst and Kras Stadion preserve the older, rougher handwriting of Dutch football.

What the top of the 2025/2026 season looks like

By 7 April 2026, the picture at the top is no longer speculation. PSV went so far ahead that it secured the title already at the beginning of April, five rounds before the end. It is its 27th league title, and the title defence was carried out at a pace that forced the rest of the league to start looking over their shoulders early. In the current table PSV is at the top, behind it is Feyenoord, and right behind the biggest names NEC pushed itself in, ahead of Twente and Ajax. That detail says enough: this season was not only a story about the champion, but also about who truly used the cracks beneath the summit. In attack, the name Ayase Ueda resonated especially loudly. Feyenoord's striker leads the scorers' chart with 22 goals, and behind him Mika Godts, Ismael Saibari and Troy Parrott were chasing. Among the assist makers, the name Joey Veerman resonated the most, a man who often opened matches for PSV even before the first real shot. Eredivisie again confirms an old pattern in the process: here, you can still break into the top if you have a brave striker, but the title is still most often won in midfield, through rhythm and automatisms.

Big matches that carry the season

From the start, the 2025/2026 schedule offered several dates that Dutch supporters circle without looking at the table. The first Klassieker between Ajax and Feyenoord was set for 14 December 2025 at Johan Cruijff ArenA. When that match arrives, there is no calm ball and no calm stand; it is not just a derby but also a cultural clash of two cities and two football temperaments. The end of the season was arranged so that in the final rounds there are more major direct clashes than in earlier years, so the league deliberately left room for a late break. There is also De Topper, the duel between Ajax and PSV, a match that in the Netherlands almost always carries the scent of the title, crisis or a change in mood. Feyenoord against PSV has long not been only a meeting of tradition, but also a test of how ready Rotterdam is to strike at Eindhoven's efficiency. And when Twente, AZ, Utrecht or this season's very serious NEC are added to the story, you get a league in which the top is not locked for only three addresses.

History that still walks alongside the current round

Eredivisie has existed since 1956, and since the 1966/1967 season it has been played with 18 clubs. In that history, one number keeps standing out first: Ajax has the most titles, 36 in total. Behind it is now PSV with 27, while Feyenoord remains on 16. These are the numbers that explain why people in the Netherlands often speak of the big three, but also why every season in which someone else pushes their head near the top immediately matters. It is especially interesting that since 1965 only a few have interrupted the dominance of that trio. AZ took the title in 1981 and 2009, and Twente in 2010. That is all. That is why every season in which someone like NEC, Utrecht or Twente keeps pace for a long time automatically gets an extra charge: it is not only about placement, but about an attempt to disrupt, at least for a few months, an order that has lasted for decades.

The last winners and what they say about the current league

Before the current season, PSV won Eredivisie in 2024/2025, and did so as the club's 26th title. Therefore, the 2025/2026 season began with a title holder that did not hide behind the transfer window, but immediately kept on winning. Now the same club has also reached its 27th crown, so it is clear that this is a period in which Eindhoven has created continuity, not just a good team. That does not mean the league was monotonous. On the contrary. Feyenoord had its leading scorer, Ajax again attracted the biggest stadium figures, NEC was pushing toward the top, and several returnees from the lower tier constantly brought nervousness into the lower house. It is exactly that combination of the familiar and the unstable that makes Eredivisie attractive: your champion can be predictable, but the story around it almost never is.

Attendance figures and what is heard when the match starts

For years, the Dutch league has maintained a very healthy relationship with the public, and UEFA's reviews of European football confirm that the country is among the stronger ones in attendance relative to population. In the current season the biggest average home figures belong to Ajax, followed by Feyenoord and PSV. One of the strongest individual attendances of the season was the match Ajax - NAC Breda with more than 55 thousand spectators. On the other side of the spectrum stand compact stadiums like those of Excelsior and Telstar, where the number is not huge, but the noise is often more unpleasant for the visitor than on a bigger stage. That is also the best description of Eredivisie: not every stand is big, but almost every stand has character. In Rotterdam, a match can be played like industrial labour under high pressure, in Amsterdam like a performance under the floodlights, in Deventer like an old local ritual, and in Volendam like football on the edge of the sea and nervousness. When you add to that the fact that the league constantly pushes young players into starting line-ups, you get a competition that looks both raw and modern at the same time.

Clubs that give this season its colour

PSV is the face of the title and the team of rhythm. When it catches a streak, it does not give you much time to respond. Feyenoord has Ueda and the weight of De Kuip, so it is always capable of turning one good evening into a wave that lasts for weeks. Ajax remains the league's biggest name in trophy memory and stadium, even when the table is not perfect. Twente and AZ are regularly serious, often European-relevant and strong enough to beat anyone. NEC is one of this season's most interesting plots, because in the middle of spring it stood where bigger and richer sides are usually expected. Utrecht, Heerenveen, Groningen and Go Ahead Eagles represent that other Netherlands, the one that does not come only for the scenery but also for the points. At the bottom, every point is dramatic because the relegation system does not leave much room for a retake.

Interesting facts worth knowing before watching or travelling

• Telstar entered Eredivisie for the first time after 47 years, which is one of the most unusual returns of the season.
• Four clubs from North Holland are playing in the top flight this season, which is a rare regional distribution.
• Ajax - Feyenoord is not only the biggest Dutch derby but also a meeting of two completely different football cultures.
• PSV secured the 2025/2026 title as early as five rounds before the end, which says enough about the team's strength and stability.
• Ayase Ueda enters April as the league's top scorer, so Feyenoord's attacking story this season is tied precisely to his name.
• Eredivisie still counts as a league in which young players quickly become the main topics, not footnotes next to veterans.

Why the 2025/2026 season is worth attention

Because at the same time it offers both order and disorder. The order lies in the fact that you know the system by heart: 18 clubs, 34 rounds, top, Europe, relegation. The disorder begins the moment you see how different the grounds, cities, rhythms and destinies are. On one side you have PSV grinding toward the title and statistically looking like a machine. On the other you have Telstar's return, NEC's rise, Feyenoord's top scorer, Ajax's constant weight and a whole line of stadiums where a match looks unlike any other from the same round. And that is exactly the charm of Eredivisie. It is not a league that hides behind reputation, but a competition that produces a new frame every season: one big floodlit stadium, one old history-filled derby, one small club escaping logic, one striker breaking through the ceiling and one finale in which both the top and bottom of the table breathe in the same accelerated way.