# 2011–12 Eredivisie

The 2011–12 Eredivisie is the 56th season of Eredivisie since its establishment in 1955. It began in August 2011 with the first matches of the season and ended in June with the last matches of the European competition and relegation playoffs. AFC Ajax had the highest average attendance, around 49,000.

## Teams

A total of 18 teams are taking part in the league, the best 15 teams from the 2010–11 season, two promotion/relegation playoff winners and the 2010–11 Eerste Divisie champions.
| Club | Location | Venue | Capacity |
| ADO Den Haag | The Hague | Kyocera Stadion | 15,000 |
| AFC Ajax | Amsterdam | Amsterdam ArenA | 52,342 |
| AZ | Alkmaar | AFAS Stadion | 17,000 |
| Excelsior | Rotterdam | Stadion Woudestein | 3,531 |
| Feyenoord | Rotterdam | De Kuip | 51,577 |
| De Graafschap | Doetinchem | De Vijverberg | 12,600 |
| FC Groningen | Groningen | Euroborg | 22,580 |
| SC Heerenveen | Heerenveen | Abe Lenstra Stadion | 26,800 |
| Heracles Almelo | Almelo | Polman Stadion | 8,500 |
| NAC Breda | Breda | Rat Verlegh Stadion | 19,000 |
| NEC | Nijmegen | Stadion de Goffert | 12,470 |
| PSV | Eindhoven | Philips Stadion | 35,000 |
| RKC Waalwijk | Waalwijk | Mandemakers Stadion | 7,500 |
| Roda JC | Kerkrade | Parkstad Limburg Stadion | 19,979 |
| FC Twente | Enschede | De Grolsch Veste | 32,000 |
| FC Utrecht | Utrecht | Stadion Galgenwaard | 24,426 |
| Vitesse Arnhem | Arnhem | GelreDome | 25,000 |
| VVV-Venlo | Venlo | De Koel | 8,000 |

### Managerial changes

| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Position in table | Replaced by | Date of appointment |
| N.E.C. | Wiljan Vloet | Signed by Sparta Rotterdam | 1 July 2011 | Pre-season | Alex Pastoor | 1 July 2011 |
| SBV Excelsior | Alex Pastoor | Signed by NEC | 1 July 2011 | Pre-season | John Lammers | 1 July 2011 |
| FC Utrecht | Ton du Chatinier | Mutual consent | 1 July 2011 | Pre-season | Erwin Koeman | 1 July 2011 |
| De Graafschap | Darije Kalezić | End of contract | 1 July 2011 | Pre-season | Andries Ulderink | 1 July 2011 |
| VVV-Venlo | Wil Boessen | End of interim spell | 1 July 2011 | Pre-season | Glen De Boeck | 15 June 2011 |
| FC Twente | Michel Preud'homme | Signed by Al-Shabab | 1 July 2011 | Pre-season | Co Adriaanse | 1 July 2011 |
| SBV Vitesse | Albert Ferrer | End of contract | 1 July 2011 | Pre-season | John van den Brom | 1 July 2011 |
| ADO Den Haag | John van den Brom | Signed by Vitesse | 1 July 2011 | Pre-season | Maurice Steijn | 1 July 2011 |
| Feyenoord | Mario Been | Resigned | 13 July 2011 | Pre-season | Ronald Koeman | 21 July 2011 |
| FC Utrecht | Erwin Koeman | Resigned | 18 October 2011 | 10th | Jan Wouters | 18 October 2011 |
| VVV-Venlo | Glen De Boeck | Resigned | 6 December 2011 | 17th | Wil Boessen Ben van Dael (joint caretakers) | 8 December 2011 |
| VVV-Venlo | Wil Boessen Ben van Dael | End of caretaker spell | 24 December 2011 | 17th | Ton Lokhoff | 24 December 2011 |
| FC Twente | Co Adriaanse | Dismissed | 3 January 2012 | 3rd | Steve McClaren | 5 January 2012 |
| De Graafschap | Andries Ulderink | Dismissed | 19 February 2012 | 18th | Richard Roelofsen (caretaker) | 20 February 2012 |
| PSV | Fred Rutten | Sacked | 12 March 2012 | 4th | Phillip Cocu (caretaker) | 12 March 2012 |

## League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Ajax (C) | 34 | 23 | 7 | 4 | 93 | 36 | +57 | 76 | Qualification to Champions League group stage |
| 2 | Feyenoord | 34 | 21 | 7 | 6 | 70 | 37 | +33 | 70 | Qualification to Champions League third qualifying round |
| 3 | PSV | 34 | 21 | 6 | 7 | 87 | 47 | +40 | 69 | Qualification to Europa League play-off round |
| 4 | AZ | 34 | 19 | 8 | 7 | 64 | 35 | +29 | 65 | Qualification to Europa League play-off round |
| 5 | Heerenveen | 34 | 18 | 10 | 6 | 79 | 59 | +20 | 64 | Qualification to Europa League third qualifying round |
| 6 | Twente | 34 | 17 | 9 | 8 | 82 | 46 | +36 | 60 | Qualification to European competition play-offs and Europa League first qualifying round |
| 7 | Vitesse Arnhem (O) | 34 | 15 | 8 | 11 | 48 | 43 | +5 | 53 | Qualification to European competition play-offs |
| 8 | NEC | 34 | 13 | 6 | 15 | 42 | 45 | −3 | 45 | Qualification to European competition play-offs |
| 9 | RKC Waalwijk | 34 | 13 | 6 | 15 | 40 | 49 | −9 | 45 | Qualification to European competition play-offs |
| 10 | Roda JC | 34 | 14 | 2 | 18 | 55 | 70 | −15 | 44 | |
| 11 | Utrecht | 34 | 11 | 10 | 13 | 55 | 58 | −3 | 43 | |
| 12 | Heracles | 34 | 11 | 7 | 16 | 52 | 62 | −10 | 40 | |
| 13 | NAC Breda | 34 | 10 | 8 | 16 | 45 | 54 | −9 | 38 | |
| 14 | Groningen | 34 | 10 | 7 | 17 | 41 | 61 | −20 | 37 | |
| 15 | ADO Den Haag | 34 | 8 | 8 | 18 | 38 | 67 | −29 | 32 | |
| 16 | VVV-Venlo (O) | 34 | 9 | 4 | 21 | 42 | 78 | −36 | 31 | Qualification to relegation play-offs |
| 17 | De Graafschap (R) | 34 | 6 | 6 | 22 | 36 | 74 | −38 | 24 | Qualification to relegation play-offs |
| 18 | Excelsior (R) | 34 | 4 | 7 | 23 | 28 | 76 | −48 | 19 | Relegation to the Eerste Divisie |
* 1 2 3 PSV qualified for the play-off round of the 2012–13 UEFA Europa League after winning the 2011–12 KNVB Cup. As they finished third in the league, all Europa League berths and play-off places were moved down one spot from the original scheme.
* ↑ Twente qualified for the first qualifying round of the 2012–13 UEFA Europa League based on the 2011–12 UEFA Respect Fair Play ranking, which awarded one extra qualifying spot to the Netherlands. This allowed qualification for Twente despite their loss in the European competition Playoffs.

## Results

| Home \ Away | ADO | AJX | AZ | EXC | FEY | GRA | GRO | HEE | HER | NAC | NEC | PSV | RKC | RJC | TWE | UTR | VIT | VVV |
| ADO Den Haag | | 0–2 | 0–6 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 3–5 | 3–0 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 0–3 | 0–1 | 3–3 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 0–0 | 2–0 |
| Ajax | 4–0 | | 2–2 | 4–1 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 2–0 | 5–1 | 6–0 | 2–2 | 4–1 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 4–1 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 4–1 | 2–0 |
| AZ | 3–0 | 1–1 | | 2–0 | 2–1 | 4–0 | 1–0 | 3–3 | 3–1 | 0–0 | 4–0 | 3–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 2–0 | 4–0 | 2–1 |
| Excelsior | 1–1 | 1–4 | 0–0 | | 0–2 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 0–5 | 0–2 | 3–0 | 0–2 | 1–3 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 2–3 | 0–2 | 3–1 |
| Feyenoord | 0–3 | 4–2 | 1–0 | 3–0 | | 4–0 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 4–1 | 3–1 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 3–2 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 4–0 |
| De Graafschap | 0–3 | 1–4 | 0–2 | 2–2 | 0–3 | | 2–3 | 0–2 | 2–3 | 3–1 | 1–0 | 1–3 | 1–3 | 1–2 | 1–2 | 3–0 | 0–1 | 1–4 |
| Groningen | 4–2 | 1–0 | 0–3 | 2–0 | 6–0 | 1–1 | | 1–3 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 3–3 | 3–0 | 0–3 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–3 | 2–1 |
| Heerenveen | 4–0 | 0–5 | 5–1 | 4–2 | 2–3 | 1–1 | 3–0 | | 1–1 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 1–5 | 1–1 | 4–3 | 1–5 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 4–1 |
| Heracles | 0–2 | 2–3 | 0–1 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 2–4 | | 2–1 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 0–1 | 7–0 |
| NAC Breda | 4–0 | 0–2 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 1–3 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 2–2 | 1–2 | | 1–1 | 3–1 | 3–2 | 0–3 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 3–1 |
| N.E.C. | 2–0 | 0–3 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 0–2 | 2–0 | 4–0 | 2–4 | 2–1 | 1–2 | | 0–2 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 3–1 | 3–1 | 0–1 | 2–0 |
| PSV Eindhoven | 5–0 | 2–2 | 3–2 | 6–1 | 3–2 | 4–1 | 6–1 | 5–1 | 4–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | | 1–0 | 7–1 | 2–6 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 2–0 |
| RKC Waalwijk | 1–0 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 2–2 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 2–1 | | 5–2 | 0–4 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 4–0 |
| Roda JC | 4–1 | 0–4 | 2–0 | 7–0 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 3–1 | 4–3 | 1–0 | 1–3 | 0–2 | | 2–1 | 1–3 | 3–1 | 3–1 |
| Twente | 5–2 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 2–2 | 0–2 | 4–0 | 4–1 | 3–4 | 2–3 | 2–2 | 2–0 | 2–2 | 5–0 | 2–0 | | 1–0 | 0–0 | 4–1 |
| Utrecht | 1–1 | 6–4 | 3–0 | 3–2 | 2–2 | 2–2 | 3–1 | 1–4 | 2–2 | 1–3 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 3–1 | 2–6 | | 2–2 | 4–2 |
| Vitesse Arnhem | 1–0 | 1–3 | 2–2 | 3–2 | 0–4 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 4–0 | 5–0 | 1–4 | 2–1 | | 4–0 |
| VVV-Venlo | 2–1 | 2–2 | 1–3 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 0–3 | 3–1 | 2–1 | 0–2 | 3–3 | 4–1 | 2–0 | 4–2 | 0–0 | 1–3 | |

## Play-offs
### European competition

The teams placed sixth through ninth compete in a play-off tournament for one spot in the second qualifying round of the 2012–13 UEFA Europa League. Teams on the left played the first leg at home.

#### Semi-finals

The first legs were played on 10 May 2012, while the return legs were competed on 13 May 2012.
| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| NEC | 3–4 | Vitesse Arnhem | 3–2 | 0–2 |
| RKC Waalwijk | 2–1 | Twente | 1–1 | 1–0 |

#### Finals

The first leg was played on 17 May 2012, while the return leg was competed on 20 May 2012.
| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| RKC Waalwijk | 2–5 | Vitesse Arnhem | 1–3 | 1–2 |

### Relegation

VVV-Venlo and De Graafschap joined the Eerste Divisie-teams for the playoffs, after finishing 16th and 17th in the Eredivisie. Teams on the left played the first leg at home.

#### Round 1

The first legs were played on 1 May 2012, while the return legs were competed on 5 May 2012.
| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| Go Ahead Eagles | 1–3 | Den Bosch | 1–1 | 0–2 |
| MVV | 1–2 | Cambuur | 0–2 | 1–0 |

#### Round 2

The first legs were played on 10 May 2012, with the return legs were competed on 13 May 2012.
| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| Den Bosch | 1–1 | De Graafschap | 0–0 | 1–1 |
| Willem II | 3–2 | Sparta Rotterdam | 2–1 | 1–1 |
| Helmond Sport | 3–0 | Eindhoven | 1–0 | 2–0 |
| Cambuur | 3–4 | VVV-Venlo | 0–0 | 3–4 |

#### Round 3

| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| Den Bosch | 1–2 | Willem II | 0−0 | 1–2 |
| Helmond Sport | 3–4 | VVV-Venlo | 1−2 | 2–2 |

## Top goalscorers

Source: Eredivisie (official site) (in Dutch), Soccerway
| Pos. | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Bas Dost | Heerenveen | 32 |
| 2 | Luuk de Jong | Twente | 25 |
| 2 | Sanharib Malki | Roda | 25 |
| 4 | Dries Mertens | PSV | 21 |
| 5 | John Guidetti | Feyenoord | 20 |
| 6 | Ola Toivonen | PSV | 18 |
| 7 | Jozy Altidore | AZ Alkmaar | 15 |
| 8 | Tim Matavž | Groningen / PSV | 14 |
| 9 | Siem de Jong | Ajax | 13 |
| 10 | Glynor Plet | Heracles / Twente | 12 |
| 10 | Wilfried Bony | Vitesse Arnhem | 12 |
Updated to games played on 6 May 2012 (end of competition)