KNCB tweaks its competition plans

Rod Lyall 07/04/2025

Following feedback on its plans from the KNCB Special General Meeting on 13 March, the Board has made a number of adjustments to the reorganisation of the domestic competitions.

The destination – Toplasse and Hoofdklasse divisions of eight teams, two Eerste Klasse divisions, each of eight teams – remains the same, but the path towards it has been changed in order to make it more palatable to those who feel unduly threatened by the possibility of relegation.

The most immediate is that whichever Topklasse team finishes eighth this season, a position which under the original proposal would have led to automatic relegation, will now have a partial reprieve in the form of a play-off against the Hoofdklasse champions.

This is a measure which has been used in the past when there have been reductions in the number of teams in a division, and seems a logical way of ensuring that the eight best-qualified teams take part in the Topklasse in 2026.

A more substantial change, although it will only take effect next year, is that in 2026, for one season only, there will be two eight-team sections in the Hoofdklasse.

The effect of this will be, For One Year Only, to bring four teams up from the Eerste Klasse, giving a total of 16 teams a chance to claim one of the eight places in the 2027 Hoofdklasse.

The other eight will drop down into a two-section Eerste Klasse, settling the total number of teams in the top three divisions at 32, compared with the 30 which have that status at present.

It should be noted that this process will play out independently in the 50-over and T20 competitions, which might well mean that by 2027 there will be greater differentiation between the rankings in the two formats: a strong T20 side could in theory reach the Topklasse in that format while the same club’s 50-over side  was still playing in the Eerste Klasse.

Already, after just two seasons of independent promotion and relegation, eight teams from the top three divisions will be playing at different levels in the two formats, and this can only be expected to develop further over the coming years.