# 2008–09 Eredivisie

The 2008–09 Eredivisie was the 53rd season of Eredivisie since its establishment in 1955. PSV were the reigning champions. The season began on 29 August 2008 with a game between Vitesse Arnhem and FC Groningen and ended on 10 May 2009. A total of 18 teams take part in the league, consisting of 16 who competed in the previous season and two promoted from the Eerste Divisie. The teams promoted from the Eerste Divisie at the end of the previous season were champions FC Volendam, and play-off winners ADO Den Haag. AZ clinched their second title, their first coming in 1981.

## Overview

| Club | Location | Manager | Previous managers during 2008–09 season | Kit maker | Shirt sponsor |
| ADO Den Haag | The Hague | Raymond Atteveld | André Wetzel | Hummel | Fit For Free |
| Ajax | Amsterdam | John van 't Schip | Marco van Basten | Adidas | Aegon |
| AZ | Alkmaar | Louis van Gaal | | Canterbury of New Zealand | DSB Bank |
| Feyenoord | Rotterdam | Leon Vlemmings | Gertjan Verbeek | Kappa | Fortis |
| De Graafschap | Doetinchem | Darije Kalezić | Henk van Stee | kwd | Centric |
| FC Groningen | Groningen | Ron Jans | | Klupp | Noord Lease |
| SC Heerenveen | Heerenveen | Trond Sollied | | Jako | Univé |
| Heracles Almelo | Almelo | Gert Heerkes | | Jako | Koninklijke Ten Cate |
| NAC Breda | Breda | Robert Maaskant | | Klupp | Sunweb |
| NEC | Nijmegen | Mario Been | | Nike | Curaçao |
| PSV | Eindhoven | Dwight Lodeweges | Huub Stevens | Nike | Philips |
| Roda JC | Kerkrade | / Harm van Veldhoven | Martin Koopman, Raymond Atteveld | Diadora | Aevitae |
| Sparta Rotterdam | Rotterdam | Foeke Booy | | Patrick | Graydon |
| FC Twente | Enschede | Steve McClaren | | Diadora | Arke |
| FC Utrecht | Utrecht | Ton du Chatinier | Willem van Hanegem | Puma | Phanos |
| Vitesse Arnhem | Arnhem | Theo Bos | Hans Westerhof | Legea | AFAB |
| FC Volendam | Volendam | Frans Adelaar | | Jako | Café Bar |
| Willem II | Tilburg | Alfons Groenendijk | Andries Jonker | Masita | Destil |

## League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | AZ (C) | 34 | 25 | 5 | 4 | 66 | 22 | +44 | 80 | Qualification to Champions League group stage |
| 2 | Twente | 34 | 20 | 9 | 5 | 62 | 31 | +31 | 69 | Qualification to Champions League third qualifying round |
| 3 | Ajax | 34 | 21 | 5 | 8 | 74 | 41 | +33 | 68 | Qualification to Europa League play-off round |
| 4 | PSV | 34 | 19 | 8 | 7 | 71 | 33 | +38 | 65 | Qualification to Europa League third qualifying round |
| 5 | Heerenveen | 34 | 17 | 9 | 8 | 66 | 57 | +9 | 60 | Qualification to Europa League play-off round |
| 6 | Groningen | 34 | 17 | 5 | 12 | 53 | 36 | +17 | 56 | Qualification to European competition play-offs |
| 7 | Feyenoord | 34 | 12 | 9 | 13 | 54 | 46 | +8 | 45 | Qualification to European competition play-offs |
| 8 | NAC Breda (O) | 34 | 13 | 6 | 15 | 44 | 54 | −10 | 45 | Qualification to European competition play-offs |
| 9 | Utrecht | 34 | 11 | 11 | 12 | 41 | 44 | −3 | 44 | Qualification to European competition play-offs |
| 10 | Vitesse Arnhem | 34 | 11 | 10 | 13 | 41 | 48 | −7 | 43 | |
| 11 | NEC | 34 | 9 | 15 | 10 | 41 | 40 | +1 | 42 | |
| 12 | Willem II | 34 | 10 | 7 | 17 | 35 | 58 | −23 | 37 | |
| 13 | Sparta Rotterdam | 34 | 9 | 8 | 17 | 46 | 66 | −20 | 35 | |
| 14 | ADO Den Haag | 34 | 8 | 8 | 18 | 41 | 58 | −17 | 32 | |
| 15 | Heracles | 34 | 7 | 11 | 16 | 35 | 53 | −18 | 32 | |
| 16 | Roda JC | 34 | 7 | 9 | 18 | 38 | 58 | −20 | 30 | Qualification to relegation play-offs |
| 17 | De Graafschap (R) | 34 | 7 | 9 | 18 | 24 | 58 | −34 | 30 | Qualification to relegation play-offs |
| 18 | Volendam (R) | 34 | 7 | 8 | 19 | 38 | 67 | −29 | 29 | Relegation to the Eerste Divisie |
* ↑ Heerenveen qualified for the play-off round of the UEFA Europa League 2009–10 by winning the 2008–09 KNVB Cup.

## Results

| Home \ Away | ADO | AJX | AZ | FEY | GRA | GRO | HEE | HER | NAC | NEC | PSV | RJC | SPA | TWE | UTR | VIT | VOL | WIL |
| ADO Den Haag | | 1–1 | 3–0 | 2–3 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 3–1 | 2–0 | 0–1 |
| Ajax | 3–0 | | 1–1 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 2–2 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 4–1 | 1–0 | 5–2 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 7–0 |
| AZ | 4–1 | 2–0 | | 0–0 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 3–1 | 2–0 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 6–0 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 1–2 | 3–0 | 3–1 |
| Feyenoord | 3–1 | 2–2 | 0–1 | | 1–3 | 0–0 | 2–2 | 5–1 | 3–1 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 2–3 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 5–2 | 2–2 | 5–0 | 1–1 |
| De Graafschap | 2–0 | 0–6 | 0–2 | 0–2 | | 0–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 2–2 | 0–3 | 1–1 | 3–3 | 2–2 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 1–0 |
| Groningen | 3–0 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 3–1 | 3–0 | | 2–3 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 1–4 | 2–0 | 2–3 | 5–0 | 0–0 |
| Heerenveen | 2–2 | 5–2 | 3–3 | 3–1 | 2–0 | 2–1 | | 2–2 | 3–1 | 2–1 | 2–2 | 2–0 | 5–1 | 1–1 | 3–2 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 3–1 |
| Heracles | 3–1 | 1–3 | 0–2 | 3–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | | 4–0 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 |
| NAC Breda | 0–4 | 0–3 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 4–2 | 3–0 | | 1–1 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 1–3 |
| NEC | 0–0 | 2–4 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2–3 | | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 3–1 | 6–1 | 0–0 |
| PSV Eindhoven | 6–0 | 6–2 | 2–2 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 4–2 | 2–3 | 4–0 | 2–2 | 1–1 | | 2–3 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 |
| Roda JC | 2–0 | 1–2 | 0–2 | 0–4 | 3–1 | 2–5 | 2–2 | 3–1 | 0–3 | 3–0 | 1–1 | | 0–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 0–1 |
| Sparta Rotterdam | 2–5 | 4–0 | 0–2 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 4–1 | 1–0 | 4–0 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 2–2 | | 1–2 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 4–0 | 0–1 |
| Twente | 1–0 | 0–2 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 6–0 | 2–0 | 4–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 4–2 | 6–2 | | 0–0 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 2–0 |
| Utrecht | 3–1 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 2–2 | 3–0 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 1–5 | 3–1 | 3–3 | 3–0 | | 4–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 |
| Vitesse Arnhem | 3–1 | 4–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–4 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–3 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 6–1 | | 3–1 | 2–2 |
| Volendam | 0–1 | 1–2 | 0–2 | 2–1 | 3–1 | 0–1 | 2–3 | 3–1 | 2–4 | 1–1 | 3–5 | 3–1 | 3–0 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 1–0 | | 2–2 |
| Willem II | 3–3 | 2–1 | 2–5 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 1–3 | 0–3 | 2–0 | 1–2 | 0–3 | 2–1 | 3–2 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 1–2 | |

## Top goalscorers

| Pos. | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Mounir El Hamdaoui | AZ | 23 |
| 2 | Luis Suárez | Ajax | 22 |
| 3 | Marcus Berg | Groningen | 17 |
| 4 | Roy Makaay | Feyenoord | 16 |
| 4 | Danijel Pranjić | Heerenveen | 16 |
| 4 | Blaise N'Kufo | Twente | 16 |
| 7 | Frank Demouge | Willem II | 14 |
| 8 | Ibrahim Afellay | PSV | 13 |
| 9 | Matthew Amoah | NAC Breda | 12 |
| 9 | Marko Arnautović | Twente | 12 |
| Total: | Total: | Total: | 870 |
| Games: | Games: | Games: | 306 |
| Average: | Average: | Average: | 2.84 |
Last updated: 11 May 2009 Source: ESPN Top Scorers

## Play-offs
### European competition (best of 3)

Contrary to the play-offs of previous years, only teams placed 6th through 9th compete in a play-off tournament for one spot in the second qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League 2009–10.

#### Semi-finals

| Team 1 | Pts | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg | 3rd leg |
| Utrecht | 3–7 | Groningen | 3–3 | 0–4 | not played |
| NAC Breda | 7–2 | Feyenoord | 3–2 | 4–0 | not played |

#### Final

| Team 1 | Pts | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg | 3rd leg |
| NAC Breda | 3–1 | Groningen | 1–1 | 2–0 | not played |

### Relegation

The 16th and 17th placed teams, along with the teams from Eerste Divisie, participate in a play-off for two spots in 2009–10 Eredivisie.

#### Round 1

| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| Telstar | 0–1 | MVV | 0–0 | 0–1 |
| TOP Oss | 0–3 | Dordrecht | 0–2 | 0–1 |

#### Round 2 (best of 3)

| Team 1 | Pts | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg | 3rd leg |
| MVV | 1–4 | De Graafschap | 2–3 | 2–2 | not played |
| Excelsior | 1–4 | RKC Waalwijk | 1–2 | 1–1 | not played |
| FC Zwolle | 3–6 | Cambuur | 2–1 | 1–3 | 0–2 |
| Dordrecht | 1–4 | Roda JC | 1–1 | 0–1 | not played |

#### Round 3 (best of 3)

| Team 1 | Pts | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg | 3rd leg |
| RKC Waalwijk | 6–3 | De Graafschap | 2–0 | 1–2 | 1–0 |
| Cambuur | 3–3 (p. 1–3) | Roda JC | 0–0 | 1–1 | 2–2 (aet) |
RKC Waalwijk and Roda JC will play in Eredivisie 2009–10.

## Facts and statistics

* Ajax lost the opening match 2–1 away at Willem II. This was Ajax' first opening round defeat since the 1988–89 season.
* Ajax and Feyenoord both lost their opening matches. The last times this happened was in the 1965–66 season.
* ADO Den Haag topped the league table after two matches. The last time ADO was in first place was on 16 January 1971.
* NAC Breda led the Eredivisie after round six. This was the first time in club history that NAC were in first place of the Eredivisie.
* A record 6,067,288 spectators passed through the turnstiles, an average of 19,827 per match.

## Television rights

The Dutch public broadcaster NOS broadcast the match highlights after beating rival broadcaster RTL for the contract. The new pay-per-view channel Eredivisie Live broadcast the live matches.
In Australia the Eredivisie was broadcast live and exclusive by Setanta Sports.