| Boxwidth: | 250 |
| Women's football in the Netherlands | |
| Union: | KNVB |
| Country: | Netherlands |
| Sport: | association football |
| Nationalteam: | Women's national team |
| National List: | KNVB Women's Cup |
| Club List: | BeNe League Eredivisie 20 March 2007 2 April 2015 (reestablishment) Topklasse Hoofdklasse |
| Intl List: | Champions League FIFA Women's World Cup (National Team) European Championship(National Team) Olympics(National Team) |
| Match: | 28,182 |
Women's football in the Netherlands has traditionally had a low profile and female players had to play abroad.[1] [2] [3]
Women first started trying playing football in the 1890s but were banned by the KNVB.[4] [5] In 1896 Sparta Rotterdam tried to form a women's football team but were thwarted.[6] [7] In the 1950s the Dutch Ladies Football Association was formed in 1955 and even created a women's football league but was banned by the KNVB.[8] Women's football was played regionally in the Netherlands until the 1970s when UEFA declared all UEFA members must invest in women's football.[9]
See main article: article and Netherlands women's national football team.
See main article: article and Netherlands at the FIFA Women's World Cup.
See main article: article and Netherlands at the UEFA Women's Championship.
On 17 April 1971, the French team played the first women's international football match recognized by FIFA against the Netherlands.[10] The match took place in Hazebrouck, France and resulted in a 4–0 defeat for the Netherlands with Jocelyne Ratignier scoring a hattrick.[11]
The Netherlands has not had a strong tradition in women's international football; they did not qualify for the UEFA Women's Championship until 2009,[12] and did not qualify for their first Women's World Cup until 2015 (the latter occasion being the first Women's World Cup with 24 teams instead of 16).[13] In 2017 the national team won their first prize UEFA Women's Euro 2017.[14] 4 out of 5 Dutch television viewers watched the Netherlands win the championship.[15] 2 years later, in only their second World Cup, the Dutch made it all the way into the final which they lost to the US 0–2.[16]
In 2012, the KNVB and its Belgian counterpart, the KBVB/URBSFA, created a new top league for both countries, the BeNe League. From the Dutch perspective, the move was intended to improve the Netherlands women's national football team.[17] [18] However, the two federations scrapped the BeNe League after the 2014–15 season, with the KNVB choosing to reactivate the women's Eredivisie with the same seven clubs that had formed the Dutch contingent in the final season of the joint league. The Eredivisie has since expanded to twelf teams. UEFA Women's Euro 2017 was hosted in the Netherlands.[19]
| Level | Level Name | League(s)/Division(s) | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Eredivisie | Eredivisie 12 clubs | ||||||||||||||||
| 2 | Topklasse | Topklasse 12 clubs | ||||||||||||||||
| 3 | Hoofdklasse | Hoofdklasse A Saturday 12 clubs | Hoofdklasse B Sunday 12 clubs | |||||||||||||||
| 4 | Eerste Klasse | Eerste Klasse Group A, Saturday12 clubs | Eerste Klasse Group B, Saturday12 clubs | Eerste Klasse Group C, Sunday12 clubs | Eerste Klasse Group D, Sunday12 clubs | |||||||||||||
| 5 | Tweede Klasse | 2 A Saturday, West 1 | 2 B Saturday, West 2 | 2 C Saturday, East 1 | 2 D Saturday, East 2 | 2 E Sunday, West | 2 F Sunday, South 1 | 2 G Sunday, South 2 | 2 H Sunday, South 1 | |||||||||
| 6 | Derde Klasse | Sat 3A West | Sat 3B West | Sat 3C South | Sat 3D West | Sat 3E East | Sat 3F East | Sat 3G East | Sat 3H East | Sun 3A West | Sun 3B West | Sun 3C West | Sun 3D South | Sun 3E South | Sun 3F South | Sun 3G East | Sun 3H East | |