The Dutch Eredivisie; the highest tier in Dutch professional football ever since the introduction of professional football in the Netherlands. Traditionally dominated by three teams: Ajax, Feyenoord and PSV Eindhoven. All three teams won the Champions League (or its predecessor, the EC1) and the UEFA Cup. Both Ajax and Feyenoord also won the ol' Cup Winners' Cup.
Feyenoord was the first Dutch team to be crowned best team of Europe (and the world) in 1970, but it was Ajax who would go on to dominate Europe for three successive seasons, winning the EC1 three times between 1971 and 1973. PSV won the EC1 in 1998, while Ajax last won it in 1995 under the guidance of the enigmatic Louis van Gaal. Feyenoord was the first, and the last Dutch team to taste European glory; winning the now-defunct UEFA Cup in 2002 in their own stadium.
The Dutch Eredivisie is generally considered to be a second tier league, and the Dutch (cynical as they are) generally refer to their own league as a "Mickey Mouse Competition", which is "not very good, but extremely entertaining."
In recent years, the domination of Ajax, Feyenoord and PSV has been challenged by AZ Alkmaar, FC Twente from Enschede and Chelsea subsidiary Vitesse Arnhem. AZ Alkmaar was the first team in decades to break the hegemony of the Top Three by winning the league in 2009. FC Twente took the glory the next year, in 2010. Of these challengers, AZ more or less slipped after its owner went bankrupt following the crisis, but the team managed to survive because of solid policy at club level. Twente seems to have nestled itself among the greats, consistently playing for the top places the last few years.
The Eredivisie is an interesting league, although to the connoisseur it might seem as if Dutch teams ar eplaying in slow-motion. Nevertheless, the technical and tactical ability of the better Dutch teams (Ajax, PSV, Feyenoord, Twente, Vitesse, AZ and even the daring minnows of Heracles Almelo) is very good. The Eredivisie is a great jumping board for a career in the big leagues.
As of this moment (13-2-2013), the top six looks like this:
1 PSV 22 15 2 5 47 75 24
2 Ajax 22 12 8 2 44 51 24
3 Feyenoord 22 13 5 4 44 43 28
4 FC Twente 22 12 7 3 43 38 19
5 Vitesse 22 11 6 5 39 41 28
6 FC Utrecht 22 11 6 5 39 33 25
FC Twente, under management by the Master of Disaster/Wally with the Brolly had pole position for much of the first half of the season, but they have yet to win in 2013. Ajax and especially Feyenoord are the surprises of the season, managing to stun the competition with a seemingly endless supply of top talent from their own youth academies. FC Utrecht is surprising, as its a charming but very average team, nevertheless; they are emerging as "giant killers". Vitesse is the product of shady money, who look to buy success. Basically, everybody hopes that Vitesse crashes and burns once again; like they did at the end of the last century. PSV is probably going to end up champions. Although they are very unstable, their tactic of simply buying the best players from rivals using public funds is bound to pay off at some point.
In any case, it's once again being a crazy season, and it's hard to say who will be King of the Hill at the end of the season.