Eredivisie play-offs

[Amol]

so im a bit hazy on the purpose of the playoff system.
its good for the lower division teams to try to get promoted.
but for ajax, who is already in the eredivisie, whats the point?
do the playoff group winners get automatic bids to the champions league?

Yes they do. There are 3 sets of play-offs.
One(2nd through 5th) for CL & UEFA cup. Another one(6th through 9th) for one slot in the UEFA cup. The last one is for staying in the eredivisie.

The winners of the first kind get into the 3rd round of the CL qualifiers.

[Daniel]

It's stupid, because Heerenveen got 5th in the last two matches of the season. Ajax is almost the whole season 2nd. So if Ajax doesn't have their day, and Heerenveen is in topform those 4 matches they can win the play-offs and get the CL tickets. But everyone knows that Heerenveen is not strong enough to maintain in the CL, what is bad for Dutch football. So it is their own grave that the KNVB is digging. You can't decide who can play CL over 4 matches. Over a whole season give's a better picture because it is a longer and more reliable period.

[foxflyer5]

i think someone mentioned it before,
but it would make sense for the cup winner to go to CL 3rd round qualifiers.

[DanK]

i think someone mentioned it before,
but it would make sense for the cup winner to go to CL 3rd round qualifiers.

The CL is a joke these days anyone, so including the cup winners isn't that big a deal.

One benefit would be that it would add interest back into the cup fixtures...

Sorry about the short reply...better get back to work :)

[Frans]

i think someone mentioned it before,
but it would make sense for the cup winner to go to CL 3rd round qualifiers.

I disagree. A team only has to win 6 games to win the cup. That hardly compares to a 34 game eredivisie season.

[DanK]

i think someone mentioned it before,
but it would make sense for the cup winner to go to CL 3rd round qualifiers.

I disagree. A team only has to win 6 games to win the cup. That hardly compares to a 34 game eredivisie season.

Thats a fair point, but as I have stated numerous times before. The CL is a joke. It has been a long, long time since only the champions qualify. The minute UEFA did this to the tournament, and especially since they let 4 teams qualify from some leagues, adding the Cup winners really makes no difference imo.

UEFA need to get some balls back and let only the champions qualify, but i fear this will never be the case again.

Maybe its about time I let this go and learned to accept that football is about the richer clubs getting richer and the poorer ones dying off slowly.

[Philippe]

according to the Dutch press, the Arena was half-empty for Ajax Heerenveen;

fans hate the play-offs system

[Cedric]

29 000 is a little bit more than half-full, but 18 000 is indeed lower than half 45 000 (De Kuip). But for KNVB, "this is not worrying"...
I still wonder what was their idea behind this stupid sytem.

But as much as I hate this system, I will still try to go at the ArenA. (Hoping we won't be too much)

[Philippe]

by the way, what happened to fey@drre ? it's so sad : no European competition next season !

[SPL]

We probably all agree that playoffs are shit if your team is 2nd but great if you finish 3-5!!

I can just about cope with losing to AZ as I said yesterday but the prospects of
Heerenveen beating us did not bear thinking about!!

[mkkid]

by the way, what happened to fey@drre ? it's so sad : no European competition next season !

Got to laugh

[Cedric]

We probably all agree that playoffs are shit if your team is 2nd but great if you finish 3-5!!

I strongly disagree on the second part... btw, we saw how good was the #4 of the Eredivisie against the #1 of Denmark.
When you finish 3 to 18, you have to accept that you're not good enough to play the Champion's League.

[paladinby]

Just a rhetorical question. What shall happen to playoffs for CL spots if Holland reclaims 3rd CL spot??? :00000598.gif:

[aveslacker]

by the way, what happened to fey@drre ? it's so sad : no European competition next season !

Got to laugh

How did you get your avatar to be so big?

[ZoefdeHaas]

Just a rhetorical question. What shall happen to playoffs for CL spots if Holland reclaims 3rd CL spot??? :00000598.gif:

1st and 2nd guaranteed spot, then 3rd and others will fight for the 3rd prem round? just a guess/

[666]

Reclaiming the third CL spot? That should give a pretty good return at the bookies.

If we don't squeeze past portugal next year we're likely to lose our direct entry into the CL group stage and the russians will run off with half of our UEFA cup tickets. With the champions in the CL pre-season qualifiers and a UC spot for the cup winner there won't be much left to fight for in the playoffs.

[Kowalczyk]

This really freaks me out...

This is pure KNVB propaganda and UEFA.com dig it and put it on their website...

http://www.uefa.com/magazine/news/kind= ... 45452.html

Bollocks to that.

K.

[Daniel]

''Dutch play-offs prove a hit''??

What? Whole Holland despise it, KNVB looks like they are the only one who don't. Filthy KNVB, to say against the Uefa that it is a hit..

[LucaS]

Not everybody hates it. I kind of enjoy it! There's nothing better than a footballgame with everything at stake between more or less evenly balanced teams!

[Daniel]

Not everybody hates it. I kind of enjoy it! There's nothing better than a footballgame with everything at stake between more or less evenly balanced teams!

That's like cursing in the church.

[LucaS]

I am an atheist!

[Daniel]

I am an atheist!

Me too, but it was just an comparison.

[LucaS]

I love the play-offs! Especially when Ajax wins them!

[Daniel]

But it isn't a real picture if a club is worthy to play CL round in 4 matches? You better can see that over a whole season, if a club who ended 2nd in the league (wich normally earnes the CL qualification round) is in a total form crisis and a club who ended fifth is in the form of their live wins the play-offs because of that isn't really able to play CL do you think? 34 matches gives you a better picture than 4.

[LucaS]

I don't think that's a valid argument. In the first place European football (at least de qualifying round) is a knock out system. The best clubs/sporters can give their best at the moment it counts; that's what play offs and CL is all about. In that respect play-offs might even be considered a plus.
In the second place, nowadays, sadly enough a team is changed a lot in the summerbreak. In that respect the Champions leaque is never between the champions; if we want that, the way it is done with hockey is much better. Immediately after the competitions end, a tournement between the champions decide on who is Europe's best!