Opening fixtures for the next Eredivisie season announced; first Klassieker in December
Fortuna Sittard and the KNVB Cup holders, Go Ahead Eagles, will kick off the 2025-26 Eredivisie season on Friday, August 8. PSV and Feyenoord have their first games of the season at home against Sparta Rotterdam and NAC Breda a day later. Ajax will face newly promoted Telstar in the Johan Cruijff ArenA on August 10.
Volendam and Excelsior, the other two promoted sides, will also start their campaign with an away game. This gives them more time to get their pitch in order. The two teams will have to switch from astroturf to natural gras as part of their promotion. Excelsior will play against NEC in Nijmegen, and Volendam will start the season in Friesland against SC Heerenveen.
The Eredivisie CV will announce the full schedule on Wednesday. It has been determined that Ajax will face arch-rivals Feyenoord at home on December 14. They will play at home to reigning champions PSV on the 32nd match day and will play FC Utrecht a week later, on the same day that Feyenoord faces AZ in De Kuip in Rotterdam. PSV will close the season with a home game against FC Twente.
"The impossible puzzle with an infinite number of pieces has been completed again," said Jan de Jong, the director of Eredivisie CV and member of the professional football competition board, about compiling the competition schedule.
"We put 25 pages of wishes and demands, possibilities and impossibilities into a computer in Barcelona, which, through AI, came up with something very beautiful. Nowhere in Europe is as complicated as the Netherlands when it comes to the fixate list. Sending a rocket to the moon seems easier,” De Jong added.
“The most important thing is that it is a balanced and even schedule for everyone,” De Jong stated. “But we also facilitate the clubs playing in European competition and have a neat winter break for the necessary rest. All the ingredients are there for another special season. Now it is up to the clubs in the Vriendeloterij Eredivise to make it a great season.”
Reporting by ANP
