Football is the most popular sport in the Netherlands. Football was introduced to the Netherlands by Pim Mulier in the 19th century when in 1879, at the age of 14, he founded Haarlemsche Football Club. Over the next 30 years, football gained popularity in the Netherlands and the late 1890s and early 1900s saw the foundation of many new clubs, notably Sparta Rotterdam in 1888, which is the oldest professional football club in the country, AFC Ajax in 1900, Feyenoord Rotterdam in 1908, and PSV Eindhoven in 1913. The Royal Dutch Football Association was founded on December 8, 1889 and joined FIFA in 1904 as one of the founding members alongside the Football Associations of France, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. Professional football was introduced in 1954, with the establishment of the Dutch Professional Football Association. The first professional game was played on August 14, 1954, between Alkmaar '54 and SC Venlo. The KNVB had opposed professional football for a long time, but eventually submitted to pressure and merged with the NBVB in November 1954 to form a new football association and a new league. Since 1956, the Dutch football is now known as the Eredivisie. The second level became the Eerste Divisie. The third level is the Tweede Divisie. Below that are two amateur divisions: the fourth level is the Derde Divisie, formerly Topklasse, and the fifth level the Hoofdklasse. The Topklasse was launched in 2010, before that time promotion to or relegation from the Eerste Divisie was not possible. In 2016, the Topklasse was renamed Derde Divisie and the Tweede Divisie was revived. The Netherlands is unique, for its well known men's and women's team are usually dressed in orange. They won the European Championship in 1988, and have competed in many European and World Cups. They finished second in the 1974,1978 and 2010 World Cups and third in the UEFA Euro 1976 and 2014 World Cup tournament. They have reached many finals and semi-finals. The women's team also managed to reach the final in its just second FIFA Women's World Cup, where they reached the 2019 Women's World Cup but failed to win. This means the Netherlands is the first country in the world where both men's and women's teams reached the final of respective gender's World Cup yet failed to win both times. The women won also the Women's Euro 2017. Only the Netherlands and Germany have won both the men's and the women's European Championship.
Structure of the competition (from the 2016–17 season)
Structure of the competition (until the 2015–16 season)
Zesde Klasse was abolished in 2015.
Structure of the competition (until the 2009–10 season)
Zevende Klasse was abolished in 2010.
Women's football
More woman play football than any other sport in the Netherlands.
