The 2020–21 Eredivisie was the 65th season of the Eredivisie since its establishment in 1955. The season began on 12 September 2020 and concluded on 16 May 2021.
On 2 February 2021, the KNVB announced that effective immediately clubs would be allowed to make an extra substitution for suspected concussions as part of an IFAB sanctioned trial. This trial will allow teams to make up to six substitutions across four breaks in the match instead of five substitutions across three breaks in the match.
Ajax, having won the title in 2018–19, were the title holders, since the 2019–20 edition was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the Netherlands after 25 matchdays and the title was not awarded.
Ajax successfully defended their title, becoming the champions in round 31 after beating Emmen 4–0 in their own Johan Cruyff Arena in Amsterdam on 2 May 2021.
Teams A total of 18 teams are taking part in the league. There were no changes in the league's makeup due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Stadiums and locations Club Location Venue Capacity ADO Den Haag The Hague Cars Jeans Stadion 15,000 Ajax Amsterdam Johan Cruijff ArenA 55,500 AZ Alkmaar AFAS Stadion 17,023 FC Emmen Emmen De Oude Meerdijk 8,600 Feyenoord Rotterdam De Kuip 52,000 Fortuna Sittard Sittard Fortuna Sittard Stadion 10,300 FC Groningen Groningen Hitachi Capital Mobility Stadion 22,550 sc Heerenveen Heerenveen Abe Lenstra Stadion 27,224 Heracles Almelo Almelo Erve Asito 12,080 PEC Zwolle Zwolle MAC³PARK stadion 14,000 PSV Eindhoven Philips Stadion 36,500 RKC Waalwijk Waalwijk Mandemakers Stadion 7,500 Sparta Rotterdam Rotterdam Spartastadion Het Kasteel 11,000 FC Twente Enschede De Grolsch Veste 30,205 FC Utrecht Utrecht Stadion Galgenwaard 23,750 Vitesse Arnhem GelreDome 21,248 VVV-Venlo Venlo Covebo Stadion – De Koel 8,000 Willem II Tilburg Koning Willem II Stadion 14,500
Personnel and kits
Team Manager Captain Kit manufacturer Shirt sponsor ADO Den Haag Ruud Brood Daryl Janmaat Erreà Cars Jeans Ajax Erik ten Hag Dušan Tadić Adidas Ziggo AZ Pascal Jansen Teun Koopmeiners Nike AFAS Software FC Emmen Dick Lukkien Michael de Leeuw Hummel EasyToys Feyenoord Dick Advocaat Steven Berghuis Adidas Droomparken Fortuna Sittard Sjors Ultee Ben Rienstra Masita Hurkmans Groep FC Groningen Danny Buijs Arjen Robben Puma Office Centre sc Heerenveen Johnny Jansen Henk Veerman Jako Ausnutria Heracles Almelo Frank Wormuth Robin Pröpper Acerbis Asito PEC Zwolle Bert Konterman Bram van Polen Craft Molecaten PSV Roger Schmidt Denzel Dumfries Puma Metropoolregio Brainport Eindhoven RKC Waalwijk Fred Grim Anas Tahiri Stanno Willy Naessens Sparta Rotterdam Henk Fraser Adil Auassar Robey D&S Groep FC Twente Ron Jans Wout Brama Meyba Pure Energie FC Utrecht René Hake Willem Janssen Nike T-Mobile Vitesse Thomas Letsch Remko Pasveer Nike Waterontharder.com VVV-Venlo Jos Luhukay Danny Post Masita Seacon Logistics Willem II Željko Petrović Jordens Peters Robey DESTIL
Managerial changes Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Position in table Replaced by Date of appointment ADO Den Haag Alan Pardew End of contract 30 June 2020 Preseason Aleksandar Ranković 1 July 2020 Fortuna Sittard Sjors Ultee Different role Kevin Hofland PSV Ernest Faber End of interim spell Roger Schmidt FC Twente Gonzalo García García End of contract Ron Jans Vitesse Edward Sturing End of interim spell Thomas Letsch FC Utrecht John van den Brom Signed by Genk 7 November 2020 8th René Hake 7 November 2020 ADO Den Haag Aleksandar Ranković Sacked 8 November 2020 16th Ruud Brood 10 November 2020 Fortuna Sittard Kevin Hofland 11 November 2020 18th Sjors Ultee 2 December 2020 AZ Arne Slot 4 December 2020 7th Pascal Jansen 4 December 2020 Willem II Adrie Koster 26 January 2021 17th Željko Petrović 29 January 2021 PEC Zwolle John Stegeman 20 February 2021 13th Lee-Roy Echteld 24 February 2021 Lee-Roy Echteld End of interim spell 27 February 2021 12th Bert Konterman 27 February 2021 VVV-Venlo Hans de Koning Sacked 16 March 2021 15th Jos Luhukay 17 March 2021
Regular competition Standings
Results
Results by round
Play-offs For both play-offs, who plays who, is not decided based on draws, but the brackets are fully preset based on seeds. The seeds are assigned based on the final ranking after the regular season. The best ranked team will get the highest seed (lowest number). Eredivisie teams are considered to be better ranked than eerste divisie teams.
Contrary to previous years, all rounds are no longer two legs (home and away) but a single leg. The team with the best seed will get the home advantage.
If a match is leveled at the end of the normal playing time, extra time will be played (two periods of 15 minutes each) and followed, if necessary, by a penalty shoot-out to determine the winners.
European competition play-offs The four best ranked teams without a European tournament ticket will play for one spot in the 2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League second qualifying round. The highest seeded team will always play at home.
Teams Team Rank seed Feyenoord 5 1 Utrecht 6 2 Groningen 7 3 Sparta Rotterdam 8 4
Bracket
Semifinals
Final
Promotion/relegation play-offs Seven teams, six from the 2020–21 Eerste Divisie and one from the Eredivisie, will play for a spot in the 2021–22 Eredivisie. The remaining six teams will play in the 2021–22 Eerste Divisie. The highest seeded team or the team from the Eredivisie will always play at home.
Teams Team Rank seed Emmen 16 1 De Graafschap 3 2 Almere City 4 3 NAC Breda 5 4 Volendam 6 5 N.E.C. 7 6 Roda JC 8 7
Bracket
First round
Semifinals
Final
Statistics Top scorers
Rank Player Club Games Goals Penalties Avg. 1 Giorgos Giakoumakis VVV-Venlo 30 26 8 2 Donyell Malen PSV Eindhoven 32 19 0 3 Steven Berghuis Feyenoord 31 18 8 4 Danilo Twente 33 17 5 5 Rai Vloet Heracles Almelo 33 16 3 6 Myron Boadu AZ 31 15 0 Teun Koopmeiners AZ 31 7 8 Henk Veerman Heerenveen 31 14 1 Lennart Thy Sparta Rotterdam 34 4 Dušan Tadić Ajax 34 7
Hat-tricks
Rnd Player Club Goals Date Home Score Away 1 Giorgos Giakoumakis VVV-Venlo 50', 65' (p), 72' 13 September 2020 Emmen 3–5 VVV-Venlo 6 Lassina Traoré Ajax 17', 32', 54', 65', 87' 24 October 2020 VVV-Venlo 0–13 Ajax 7 Rai Vloet Heracles Almelo 2', 63', 71' 1 November 2020 Heracles Almelo 4–1 Utrecht 14 Bryan Linssen Feyenoord 48', 58', 90+1' 23 December 2020 Feyenoord 3–0 Heerenveen 16 Giorgos Giakoumakis VVV-Venlo 6' (p), 58', 68', 86' (p) ADO Den Haag 1–4 VVV-Venlo 16 Sinan Bakış Heracles Almelo 26', 44', 64' 12 January 2021 Heracles Almelo 4–0 Emmen 18 Reza Ghoochannejhad PEC Zwolle 58', 62', 70' (p) 22 January 2021 Willem II 1–3 PEC Zwolle 19 Giorgos Giakoumakis VVV-Venlo 16', 28', 43', 79' 27 January 2021 VVV-Venlo 4–1 Vitesse 24 Myron Boadu AZ 22', 41', 64' 28 February 2021 AZ 4–2 Feyenoord 30 Michael de Leeuw Emmen 58' (p), 89', 90+1' 25 April 2021 Emmen 3–1 Heracles Almelo 31 Sinan Bakış Heracles Almelo 35', 55', 83' (p) 1 May 2021 Heracles Almelo 4–0 VVV-Venlo
Top assists
Rank Player Club Games Assists Avg. 1 Dušan Tadić Ajax 34 17 2 Steven Berghuis Feyenoord 31 13 3 Mike Trésor Willem II 34 11 4 Joey Veerman Heerenveen 31 10 5 Oussama Tannane Vitesse 29 9 Jesper Karlsson AZ 32 7 Vito van Crooij VVV-Venlo 31 8 Philipp Max PSV Eindhoven 31 Antony Ajax 32 Donyell Malen PSV Eindhoven 32
Clean sheets
RankPlayerClubCleansheets1 Remko PasveerVitesse12 Sergio PadtFC Groningen3 Yvon MvogoPSV114 Maduka OkoyeSparta Rotterdam10 Erwin Muldersc Heerenveen Marco BizotAZ7 André OnanaAjax9 Janis BlaswichHeracles Almelo Nick MarsmanFeyenoord10 Eric OelschlägelFC Utrecht7
Discipline
Player Most yellow cards: 9 Vito van Crooij (VVV-Venlo) Vurnon Anita (RKC Waalwijk) Most red cards: 2 Riechedly Bazoer (Vitesse) Edson Álvarez (Ajax) Thomas Lam (PEC Zwolle) Christian Kum (VVV-Venlo)
Club Most yellow cards: 54 Vitesse ADO Den Haag Most red cards: 7 AZ
Awards
Monthly awards Month Player of the Month Talent of the Month Team of the Month Player Club Player Club September Clint Leemans PEC Zwolle Lutsharel Geertruida Feyenoord Mulder (SC Heerenveen); Geertruida (Feyenoord), Bazoer (Vitesse), Bochniewicz (SC Heerenveen), Max (PSV); Sağlam (Willem II), Kudus (Ajax), Leemans (PEC Zwolle); Antony (Ajax), Giakoumakis (VVV-Venlo), Gakpo (PSV). October Lassina TraoréAjax Danilo FC Twente Lamprou (RKC Waalwijk); Ebuehi (FC Twente), Bazoer (Vitesse), Van Hecke (SC Heerenveen), Haps (Feyenoord); Vloet (Heracles Almelo), Klaassen (Ajax); Openda (Vitesse), Veerman (SC Heerenveen), Danilo (FC Twente), Traoré (Ajax). November Davy KlaassenOwen Wijndal AZ Lamprou (RKC Waalwijk); Abels (Sparta Rotterdam), Teze (PSV), Senesi (Feyenoord), Wijndal (AZ); Harroui (Sparta Rotterdam), Labyad (Ajax), Klaassen (Ajax); Danilo (FC Twente), Thy (Sparta Rotterdam), Malen (PSV). December Antony Marsman (Feyenoord); Klaiber (Ajax), Araujo (FC Emmen), Janssen (Fortuna Sittard), Wijndal (AZ); Ihattaren (PSV), Koopmeiners (AZ), Gravenberch (Ajax); Antony (Ajax), Huntelaar (Ajax), Thy (Sparta Rotterdam). January Giorgos Giakoumakis VVV-Venlo Lutsharel Geertruida Feyenoord Drommel (FC Twente); Geertruida (Feyenoord), Bazoer (Vitesse), Kemper (ADO Den Haag), Max (PSV); Van de Streek (FC Utrecht), Koopmeiners (AZ), Flemming (Fortuna Sittard); Antony (Ajax), Giakoumakis (VVV-Venlo), Tadić (Ajax) February Donyell Malen PSV Myron Boadu AZ Lamprou (RKC Waalwijk); Sugawara (AZ), Meulensteen (RKC Waalwijk), Touba (RKC Waalwijk), Wijndal (AZ); Toornstra (Feyenoord), Klaassen (Ajax), Kökçü (Feyenoord); Malen (PSV), Haller (Ajax), Boadu (AZ) March Ryan Gravenberch Ajax Orkun Kökçü Feyenoord Marsman (Feyenoord); Beugelsdijk (Sparta Rotterdam), Botteghin (Feyenoord), Bijl (FC Emmen); Gravenberch (Ajax), Kökçü (Feyenoord), Duarte (Sparta Rotterdam), De la Torre (Heracles Almelo); Karlsson (AZ), Zahavi (PSV), Neres (Ajax) April Justin Bijlow Feyenoord Jurriën TimberAjax Bijlow (Feyenoord); Max (PSV), Martinez (Ajax), Bazoer (Vitesse); Timber (Ajax), Peña (FC Emmen), Klaassen (Ajax), Álvarez (Ajax); Kerk (FC Utrecht), De Leeuw (FC Emmen), Berghuis (Feyenoord) May Owen Wijndal AZ Mohammed Kudus Stekelenburg (Ajax); Wijndal (AZ), Martinez (Ajax), Timber (Ajax), Svensson (AZ); Kökçü (Feyenoord), Kudus (Ajax), Peña (FC Emmen), Flemming (Fortuna Sittard); Pavlidis (Willem II), Bakış (Heracles Almelo)
Annual awards Award Player Club Ref. Player of the Season Dušan TadićAjax Talent of the Season Ryan Gravenberch Goal of the Season Marcos Senesi Feyenoord
References
External links