Tweede Divisie

Tweede Divisie
Founded	1956; 68 years ago;; refounded in 2016; 8 years ago
Country	Netherlands
Confederation	UEFA
Number of teams	18
Level on pyramid	3
Promotion to	Eerste Divisie (for reserve teams)
Relegation to	Derde Divisie; U21 Division 1 (for reserve teams)
Domestic cup(s)	KNVB Cup
Current champions	Katwijk (3rd title) ; (2022–23)
	Current: 2024–25 Tweede Divisie

Tweede Divisie (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈtʋeːdə diˈvizi]; English: Second Division) is the highest amateur (and historically the lowest professional) football league in the Netherlands. It was established in 1956, together with the Eredivisie and the Eerste Divisie. Between 1956 and 1960 and between 1962 and 1966, the league consisted of two divisions, Tweede Divisie A and Tweede Divisie B. The league was disbanded in 1971. Six clubs were promoted to the Eerste Divisie (De Volewijckers, FC Eindhoven, FC VVV, Fortuna Vlaardingen, PEC and Roda JC), while the other eleven teams became amateur clubs.

Plans for a new, amateur Tweede Divisie, to be made up of 4 reserve teams and 14 Topklasse clubs, were approved in a KNVB assembly in December 2014. Thus, the Topklasse, renamed the Derde Divisie (English: Third Division), and leagues below decremented by one level, and furthermore, promotion and relegation among the second to fourth divisions were implemented starting in 2016–17.^[1]^[2] Despite its amateurism, the league obliges its clubs to have a minimum number of players under contract.^[3] No first team will be promoted to the Eerste Divisie until after 2022–23, but from the end of 2020–21 at first, the highest-ranked second (i.e., reserve) team gains promotion, while the lowest-ranked reserves are relegated to a new under-21 division. An under-23 competition has been established for the Tweede Divisie's amateur clubs that are not directly eligible for its under-21 equivalent.^[4] Because of the 2020–21 season's cancellation,^[5] promotion or relegation was suspended for five to 10 years in June 2022.^[6]

Champions

1956–57: Leeuwarden & RBC
1957–58: ZFC & Heracles
1958–59: 't Gooi & Go Ahead
1959–60: EDO & Be Quick
1960–61: HFC Haarlem
1961–62: Velox
1962–63: VSV (beat HFC Haarlem in a play-off)
1963–64: NEC (beat Alkmaar '54 in a play-off)
1964–65: SC Cambuur (beat DFC in a play-off)
1965–66: Vitesse Arnhem & FC Den Bosch
1966–67: HFC Haarlem
1967–68: FC Wageningen
1968–69: De Graafschap
1969–70: SC Heerenveen
1970–71: Volewijckers
2016–17: Jong AZ
2017–18: Katwijk
2018–19: AFC
2019–20: No champions^[7]
2020–21: No champions^[5]
2021–22: Katwijk
2022–23: Katwijk

2023–24 teams

Club	City	2022–23 season	Home ground	Capacity
AFC	Amsterdam	3rd	Sportpark Goed Genoeg	03,000
Excelsior Maassluis	Maassluis	14th	Sportpark Dijkpolder	05,000
HHC	Hardenberg	4th	Sportpark De Boshoek	04,500
Koninklijke HFC	Haarlem	7th	Sportpark Spanjaardslaan	01,500
IJsselmeervogels	Spakenburg	16th	Sportpark De Westmaat	06,000
Jong Sparta	Rotterdam	10th	Het Kasteel	11,000
Jong Volendam	Volendam	17th	Kras Stadion	07,384
Katwijk	Katwijk	1st	Sportpark De Krom	06,000
Kozakken Boys	Werkendam	13th	Sportpark De Zwaaier	03,000
Lisse	Lisse	12th	Sportpark Ter Specke	07,000
Noordwijk	Noordwijk	9th	Sportpark Duin Wetering	03,500
OFC	Oostzaan	18th	Sportpark OFC	01,500
Quick Boys	Katwijk aan Zee	6th	Sportpark Nieuw Zuid	08,100
Rijnsburgse Boys	Rijnsburg	2nd	Sportpark Middelmors	06,100
Scheveningen	Scheveningen	8th	Sportpark Houtrust	03,500
Spakenburg	Spakenburg	11th	Sportpark De Westmaat	08,500
TEC	Tiel	15th	Sportpark De Lok	02,500
De Treffers	Groesbeek	5th	Sportpark Zuid	04,000

References

^ "Plans for a new Tweede Divisie starting 2016–17". NOS.nl (in Dutch). 2 December 2014. Retrieved 16 July 2015.
^ "Vanaf seizoen 2016/17: promotie/degradatie tussen amateurvoetbal en betaald voetbal". KNVB.nl (in Dutch). 2 December 2014. Retrieved 16 July 2015.^{[dead link]}
^ "Richtlijn Licentiesysteem tweede en derde divisie seizoen 2019/'20" [Licensing system guidelines - Second and Third Division Season 2019–20] (in Dutch). KNVB. 5 June 2019. Retrieved 1 June 2020.
^ "Bondsvergadering kiest voor nieuwe competitiestructuur in jeugdvoetbal" [Association assembly opts for a new league structure in youth football] (in Dutch). KNVB. 16 December 2019. Retrieved 1 June 2020.
^ ^a ^b "Competities senioren categorie A niet hervat" [Seniors category A competitions not resumed] (in Dutch). KNVB. 24 February 2021. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
^ "6. Agenda bondsvergadering". Agenda (in Dutch). KNVB. 24 June 2023. p. 24.
^ "Competities amateurvoetbal niet hervat" [Amateur competitions not resumed] (in Dutch). KNVB. 31 March 2020. Retrieved 6 April 2020.