Bergwijn hat-trick sends Ajax to Europa League; FC Utrecht & NEC to fight in play-offs

A quick hat trick from Steven Bergwijn in under ten minutes of play helped the Ajax men's team to an easy win over Almere City (3-0) on Sunday, securing fifth place in the Eredivisie for the Amsterdam football club. The fifth place finish means Ajax is entitled to play in the second qualifying round for the Europa League, while NEC, FC Utrecht, Sparta Rotterdam and Go Ahead Eagles will head to a playoff to determine who will get the ticket to the second qualifying round of the Conference League.

"We're going to Europe," the Ajax fans sang with some self-irony after a season marked by disaster on the pitch and chaos in the back offices. FC Utrecht and NEC had been battling with Ajax for the last guaranteed spot in European football, but both teams suffered losses on Sunday with one match left to play. PSV and Feyenoord already guaranteed their position in the Champions League as the number one and two on the Eredivisie table.

Before halftime, the Ajax captain had already played a major role in a victory in front of the home crowd at the Johan Cruijff ArenA by scoring three goals within nine minutes. It was Bergwijn's first hat-trick since August 2022, when the attacker scored three times against FC Groningen.

This time, the captain scored in the 29th minute on a pass from Brian Brobbey and volleyed Chuba Akpom's cross into the goal in the 34th minute. Bergwijn scored unassisted by breaking through the visitors' defense for a third goal in the 38th minute.

With the European Championship in Germany approaching, Bergwijn once again showed why Ajax spent more than 31 million euros to sign him from Tottenham Hotspur two years ago. The 26-year-old attacker was sidelined for more than three months this season with various injuries.

Ajax not only had to miss Bergwijn for a long time this season. Steven Berghuis was sidelined for more than four months with various injuries. He was allowed to come on after the break and played his 500th professional match for the Amsterdammers.

Feyenoord knocks NEC into the European play-off spots

Feyenoord has definitively pushed NEC out of a guaranteed spot in European football, and into the Dutch play-offs between the sixth- through ninth-ranked teams. European football. Arne Slot's squad won the match in Nijmegen 3-2, meaning the Nijmegen team can no longer catch up to Ajax on points.

NEC played almost the entire second half with ten men after a red card was given to Bram Nuytinck. He was sent off with for an aggressive foul to prevent Feyenoord from a scoring chance.

The match between NEC and Feyenoord was a repeat of last month's Cup final. The Rotterdam team won the final battle 1-0, but NEC was not focused on trying to avenge the defeat. Rogier Meijer's squad wanted one thing only: to keep the battle for fifth place alive with a win, but they came up short.

NEC was threatening in the first half with a breakout chance from Rober González, and a try by Kodai Sano, but the home team was unable to get the ball between the goalposts. On the other side of the field, a Calvin Stengs attempt saw center-back Nuytinck save the day at the goal line, and Yankuba Minteh was also close to scoring.

Stengs made it 1-0 in the last minute of the first half with a tidy shot into the corner. NEC responded two minutes after halftime via Sano, who found the far corner against Justin Bijlow to make it 1-1. Not much later, Nuytinck was sent off for a foul on Ayase Ueda who had broken through.

Minteh then scored to make it 2-1 by shooting from close range. Sontje Hansen brought it level for NEC 10 minutes before the final whistle after a quick attack, but Ueda made it 3-2 on a pass from Alireza Jahanbakhsh.

Fifth place out of sight for FC Utrecht after defeat against Sparta

With that, NEC saw the gap between them and Ajax grow to 5 points with one match left to go. FC Utrecht saw the gap with Ajax grow to 6 points after losing 0-1 at home against Sparta Rotterdam.

Utrecht and Sparta may fight each other one more time later this month. Both teams will be focusing on the upcoming play-offs later this month.

Utrecht substitute Ole Romeny hit the post with a surprising effort from a difficult angle, before Sparta striker Camiel Neghli hit the target with a shot from long range. His left-footed shot into the far top corner was unstoppable, and goalkeeper Vasilis Barkas didn't have a chance to prevent it.

NEC, FC Utrecht, Sparta, and Go Ahead Eagles to fight it out for the Conference League

With one round to go, Utrecht is 1 point behind number 6 NEC. Sparta is again 3 points behind Utrecht in eighth place. Go Ahead Eagles lost at home to AZ by a score of 0-3, but they held on to ninth place thanks to Vitesse. Despite having already been relegated, they beat Heerenveen away with a 1-3 victory.

Feyenoord also won the Dutch Cup, meaning the third place team will go to the third qualifying round of the Champions League, and the fourth place team will enter the Europa League group stage. After Sunday's matches, Twente and AZ will go Twente is in third with 66 points and a +32 goal differential, followed by AZ with 64 points and a +31 differential.

Ajax will avoid the play-offs for European football with their fifth place finish. This will also save the club from having to compete in the mini tournament, but also saves them from organizational problems. Ajax would have been unable to play the home play-off matches in the Johan Cruijff ArenA due to planned concerts by De Toppers.