Who Will Secure European Spots in the Premier League? PSV, FC Twente, AZ in the Mix

PSV coach Peter Bosz has smoked his championship cigar and FC Volendam is planning the routes for first division games in Helmond and Leeuwarden. But for eleven of the eighteen clubs something is still at stake in the last two rounds of the Premier League.

Who can still hope for European football or even the Champions League, and how can Excelsior avoid the playoffs? An overview of which clubs are still playing for what.

The new national champion PSV and the pursuit Feyenoord can already look forward to a new adventure in the Champions League, which even promises eight games next season, four of them at home.

A third Dutch club may qualify for the new top tier of the Champions League. FC Twente are in the best position to finish third and thus enter the third qualifying round of the top European club competition.

AZ has come within two points with a win over the Tukkers (2-1). The Alkmaarders have a more difficult program, with Go Ahead Eagles away and FC Utrecht at home than FC Twente, who will be relegated to FC Volendam and will end at the already completed PEC Zwolle.

The format of European club competitions will change next season. See how it works here, with the Champions League as an example:

If FC Twente or AZ survive the opening two rounds after the summer break, three Dutch clubs will be represented in the top competition of the Champions League next season for the first time since 2002.

The Europa League is on the horizon for Premier League number four (AZ or FC Twente). No preliminary round, but straight into the draw for the main stage – also there – renewed with a total of 36 teams.

A second Dutch club can still join them by avoiding the fifth place play-offs and surviving the preliminary rounds of the Europa League. Ajax are currently heading that way, thanks to their cup rival Feyenoord’s victory. Ajax still play at home against Almere City and away at relegated Vitesse,

After a 0-3 win at Excelsior on Monday night, NEC is two points less than the team from Amsterdam. The Nijmegen team will visit Feyenoord on Sunday and finish the season in Almere.

FC Utrecht is also in fifth place, three points behind. That club will meet Sparta (home) and AZ (away).

For numbers six to nine, the season will have dessert in the play-offs, in which they will compete for a ticket to the preliminary rounds of the Conference League.

Go Ahead Eagles and Sparta are aiming for a stunt against one of the highest ranked clubs. The current number ten, SC Heerenveen, theoretically has a chance, but it seems unattainable due to the six-point deficit and a not very promising goal difference (-14) .

The eventual winner will have to return to work quickly after the summer break, as the preliminary rounds of the third European club competition for the Dutch delegation will begin at the end of July.

Behind the top ten there are really three clubs where there are no more sweets or headaches waiting for the rejection of the season. Fortuna Sittard, PEC Zwolle and Almere City, to put it quickly, are ready.

It is also said about Heracles, that club has 32 points after 32 games and looks set for another year at the highest level. But do not say it too loudly in Almelo, thinking about the strange thing exchange rate for 2022when Heracles seemed safe but eventually sank to the first division through the play-off pit.

The number sixteen in the Premier League goes into the play-offs for promotion / relegation. Excelsior is in that place, the deficit to RKC Waalwijk is two points.

Heracles has six more points and is the next opponent of Excelsior, who will finish the season against Feyenoord. RKC will still meet PEC Zwolle and PSV.