In sports , a division is a group of teams who compete against each other for a championship.
23-597: The Eerste Divisie ( Dutch pronunciation: [ˈeːrstə diˈvizi] ; English: First Division ) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as the Keuken Kampioen Divisie due to sponsorship reasons, while previously it was known as Jupiler League for the same reason. The Eerste Divisie consists of 20 clubs, who play each other in
46-464: A double round-robin league, with each club playing the other club home and away. Each club plays every other club once in the first half of the season before the league takes a winter break around the Christmas and New Year's holiday season. The second half of the season sees the same fixtures as the first half, with the stadiums changed, although the two halves are not played in the same order. At
69-592: A previous period, its place is filled by the next-best club in that period that has not already qualified. Usually, the clubs that qualify for the Nacompetitie turn out to be the 3rd- through 9th-placed clubs in the final table. Clubs in the Nacompetitie face each other in a knock-out system with the number 16 of the Eredivisie for one place in next season's Eredivisie. Since the KNVB decided to seek sponsors for
92-519: A professional license. However, only a club going bankrupt or losing its license could result in clubs leaving professional football. The last clubs leaving professional football in that way were FC Wageningen and VCV Zeeland in 1992, and more recently HFC Haarlem and RBC Roosendaal , who went bankrupt in January 2010 and June 2011 respectively. The most recent additions to the league were AGOVV Apeldoorn in 2003 and FC Omniworld in 2005, expanding
115-427: A pyramid structure), a division consists of a group of teams who play a sport at a similar competitive level. Teams can move up to a higher division of play or drop down to a lower one via the process of promotion and relegation , based on their performance in the standings at the end of the season. The existence of divisions based on level of competition ensures that teams at one competitive level can play other teams at
138-403: A similar competitive level, thus creating parity and more exciting matches. In North America , where sports usually operate on a franchise system rather than a league system, a division is a group of teams within a league which is organized along geographical lines rather than competitive success. Teams based in cities that are in a particular region of the continent are grouped together in
161-627: Is located in the south-central United States, the Cowboys are a member of the NFC East division due to their long-standing rivalries with the New York Giants , Philadelphia Eagles , and Washington Commanders , all of whom are located on the Eastern seaboard . In U.S. college sports , a "division" has a meaning different from either sense listed above, although somewhat closer to that of
184-485: Is the winner of Round 1 against the number 16th of the Eredivisie. Match B is against two highly ranked clubs, with the winners of Match A and Match B will go to the finals. Both pools have their own finals, the finals are played against the winner of Match A and Match B of the semi-finals. The winner of the finals will go to the Eredivisie . Division (sport) In sports using a league system (also known as
207-542: The 2019–20 season was cancelled amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic , thus there were no promotions or relegations. Before the cancellation, the KNVB met in December 2019 and ruled that promotion to the second division and relegation to the third were suspended until 2022–23, and that the lowest-ranked Eerste Divisie Jong team will exchange places with its highest-ranked Tweede Divisie counterpart. In June 2022,
230-566: The Eerste Divisie. From the 2009–10 season onwards, one team has been relegated from the Eerste Divisie to the Hoofdklasse (then the main amateur league of Dutch football). From the 2010–11 to 2015–16 seasons, the KNVB introduced a third and highest amateur tier called Topklasse , and Hoofdklasse clubs have been able to get promoted to that new division. Before the 2008–09 season, Hoofdklasse clubs could be promoted by obtaining
253-884: The KNVB decided that relegation from the Eerste Divisie will stay absent for an extended period of 5 to 10 years. Clubs with larger fanbases suffered relegation in the 2000s, with Roda JC setting the Eerste Divisie attendance record at 16,150 during their home game against NEC Nijmegen in the 2014–15 season. NAC Breda bettered it a season later in their home match against Go Ahead Eagles , which had an attendance of 17,800 people. Blauw Wit , De Volewijckers and DWS merged into FC Amsterdam , which folded in 1982. Reformed as Blauw-Wit Amsterdam , defunct in 2015. Fortuna 54 merged with Sittardia to form FSC, later renamed Fortuna Sittard . ADO merged with Holland Sport into FC Den Haag, later renamed ADO Den Haag SV SVV (SVV) and Drecht Steden 79 (DS '79) merged into SVV/Dordrecht'90. Now FC Dordrecht . A Jong (reserve) team can become
SECTION 10
#1732772304314276-436: The champion, but they cannot be promoted; the direct promotion or the play-off ticket will then be given to the next highest non-Jong team in the table. Round 1 will be played against lower-ranked teams, in both pools (Pool A or Pool B). The Round 1 winners will compete in the semi-finals against the number 16th from the Eredivisie . In both pools of the semi-finals, there are two matches played (Match A and Match B). Match A
299-401: The division. Moreover, the top teams in a division qualify for the postseason playoff tournament that crowns the league champion, which heightens the rivalries between the teams in a division. Geographically-based divisions can become skewed if an expansion team joins the league or if one of the franchises within a division moves to another city, necessitating a shuffling or realignment of
322-578: The divisions in 1990, the league was called the Toto-Divisie . Between September 2001 and June 2006, that was with introduction of the then sponsor Gouden Gids Divisie . Between July 2006 and June 2018, with the introduction of the sponsor, that had become the Jupiler League . Since July 2018, with the introduction of the new sponsor, that has become the Keuken Kampioen Divisie . Between seasons 1971–72 and 2008–09 teams could not relegate from
345-405: The divisions of the league) are at the same competitive level and remain so year after year. North American professional sports leagues often construct their season schedules in a way such that teams in a division play matches against each other more often than other teams in the league. This not only has the effect of reducing travel costs, but also creates exciting rivalries between the teams in
368-539: The end of each season, the champion and the runner-up of the Eerste Divisie are automatically promoted to the Eredivisie . Six other clubs enter the Nacompetitie [ˈnaːkɔmpəˌti(t)si] , a promotion/relegation playoff that includes the 16th-placed club in the Eredivisie. The following teams qualify for the Nacompetitie: If the club that wins a period has qualified for the Nacompetitie by winning
391-511: The exception of schools in the highest level of NCAA (American) football , which have never had an NCAA-recognized national championship ). As an example, the NCAA is split into three divisions: The term division is also used in US college sports to indicate the groupings of members of a given conference . However, this usage is more recent. The first conference to divide its teams into divisions
414-602: The league system. The major governing bodies for college sports, the NCAA and NAIA , divide their member schools into large competitive groups. These groups are much larger than divisions in either the league or franchise system—for example, the NCAA's highest competitive level, Division I , has more than 300 member schools. The vast majority of teams are members of conferences , smaller groupings that usually have between 6 and 14 members. Conference champions, plus selected other teams, compete in national championship tournaments (with
437-465: The league to 19 and later 20 clubs. However, for the 2010–11 season, the league returned to 18 clubs, as HFC Haarlem went bankrupt and FC Oss was relegated to the newly formed Topklasse. The 2012–13 season ended with 16 teams after AGOVV and SC Veendam went bankrupt. Four teams have been added to bring the division back up to 20 teams in 2013. Achilles '29 has been promoted from the Topklasse with
460-464: The reserve teams of Ajax , FC Twente and PSV being added as well. Since the 2016–17 season there is optional relegation to the third-tier, amateur Tweede Divisie . Clubs in the Tweede Divisie had to announce in mid-season if they want to be eligible for promotion. Only if one of those clubs won the Tweede Divisie championship is a team relegated from the Eerste Divisie. The remainder of
483-545: The same division. For instance, in Major League Baseball , both the American and National Leagues have East, Central, and West divisions; the teams in each division are mostly (but not always) located in the eastern, central, and western sections of North America respectively. In a franchise system, teams are not promoted or relegated as are teams in a league system. All teams in the league (and by extension,
SECTION 20
#1732772304314506-743: The teams in a division. Furthermore, the results of the realignment may not always reflect geographical realities. For instance, in 1995, the Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League (NFL) moved to St. Louis, Missouri and became the St. Louis Rams . The team retained its place in the NFC West division despite the fact that St. Louis is further east than Dallas, Texas , home of the Dallas Cowboys . Although Dallas
529-701: Was the Southeastern Conference which, upon expanding to 12 members in 1992, divided into Eastern and Western divisions. Other conferences have undergone similar expansion and division. The usage in the section above is still maintained. For example, the Georgia Bulldogs are in Division I, but are also in the Eastern Division of the Southeastern Conference. Roda JC Kerkrade Too Many Requests If you report this error to
#313686