Note that until 1896 this was the only first class competition in the
country, and it was not restricted to western clubs per se; all
N.V.A.B. members had the opportunity to qualify for it.
The 1890/91 season was the first official one; while there
was ample activity in the seasons prior to that, and unofficial
standings for matches between western clubs were published in both
1888/89 and 1889/90, with first class status being defined by
the N.V.A.B. (founded in December 1889) in the beginning of 1890, towards
the end of the 1889/90 season, there was no organised competition.
1885/86 no competition 1886/87 no competition 1887/88 no competition 1888/89 no competition 1889/90 no competition 1890/91 H.V.V. 1891/92 R.A.P. 1892/93 championship not awarded 1893/94 R.A.P. 1894/95 H.F.C. 1895/96 H.V.V. 1896/97 R.A.P. 1897/98 R.A.P. 1898/99 R.A.P. 1899/00 H.V.V. 1900/01 H.V.V. 1901/02 H.V.V. 1902/03 H.V.V. and Volharding (A) 1903/04 H.B.S. and Velocitas (B) 1904/05 H.V.V. 1905/06 H.B.S. 1906/07 H.V.V. 1907/08 Quick (H) 1908/09 Sparta 1909/10 H.V.V. 1910/11 Sparta 1911/12 Sparta 1912/13 Sparta 1913/14 H.V.V. 1914/15 Sparta 1915/16 Sparta 1916/17 U.V.V. 1917/18 Ajax (and A.F.C.) 1918/19 Ajax (and A.F.C.) 1919/20 V.O.C. 1920/21 Ajax 1921/22 Blauw-Wit 1922/23 R.C.H. 1923/24 Stormvogels and Feijenoord 1924/25 Sparta and H.B.S. 1925/26 Stormvogels and Feijenoord 1926/27 Ajax and Feijenoord 1927/28 Ajax and Feijenoord 1928/29 Sparta and Feijenoord 1929/30 Ajax and Blauw-Wit 1930/31 Ajax and Feijenoord 1931/32 Ajax and Feijenoord 1932/33 Feijenoord and Stormvogels 1933/34 Ajax and K.F.C. 1934/35 Ajax and D.W.S. 1935/36 Ajax and Feijenoord 1936/37 Ajax and Feijenoord 1937/38 D.W.S. and Feijenoord 1938/39 D.W.S. and Ajax 1939/40 Blauw-Wit and Feijenoord 1940/41 A.D.O. and V.S.V. 1941/42 A.D.O. and Blauw-Wit 1942/43 Feijenoord and A.D.O. 1943/44 De Volewijckers and V.U.C. 1944/45 no competition 1945/46 Haarlem and Ajax 1946/47 Ajax and Blauw-Wit 1947/48 E.D.O. and Haarlem 1948/49 V.S.V. and S.V.V. 1949/50 Ajax and Blauw-Wit Top Champions (86 titles) 16 Ajax (Amsterdam) 13 Feijenoord (Rotterdam) 10 H.V.V. (Den Haag) 8 Sparta (Rotterdam) 6 Blauw-Wit (Amsterdam) 5 R.A.P. (Amsterdam) 3 A.D.O. (Den Haag) 3 D.W.S. (Amsterdam) 3 H.B.S. (Den Haag) 3 Stormvogels (IJmuiden) 2 Haarlem 2 V.S.V. (Velsen) 1 E.D.O. (Haarlem) 1 H.F.C. (Haarlem) 1 K.F.C. (Koog aan de Zaan) 1 Quick (Den Haag) 1 R.C.H. (Haarlem) 1 S.V.V. (Schiedam) 1 U.V.V. (Utrecht) 1 Velocitas (Breda) 1 V.O.C. (Rotterdam) 1 De Volewijckers (Amsterdam) 1 Volharding (Amsterdam) 1 V.U.C. (Den Haag)
There have been 58 years in which a competition of the Eerste Klasse West was finished, 59 in which it was started. In 28 of those, two separate sections were in operation; this does not include the "Margarine Eerste Klasse" of 1917/18 and 1918/19, twice won by A.F.C., as this consisted of Tweede Klasse clubs of 1916/17 only, which all (except for A.F.C., who were promoted) went back to the "intermediate class" of 1919/20.
Of those 59 seasons, Sparta participated in most: 54. They are followed by H.B.S. (53, and never relegated), Haarlem (47), D.F.C. (Dordrecht, 44), H.V.V. (42), H.F.C. (40), Ajax (35), Blauw-Wit (31), Feijenoord (28, never relegated), Stormvogels (25), 't Gooi (Hilversum, 23), A.D.O. (22, never relegated), Hermes/D.V.S. (Schiedam) and V.S.V. (both 21 and never relegated), Quick and V.U.C. (19), V.O.C. and Xerxes (Rotterdam, 18, Xerxes never relegated), Hercules (Utrecht) and R.C.H. (17), D.H.C. (Delft) and U.V.V. (16), and D.W.S., E.D.O. and Excelsior (Rotterdam, all 15, D.W.S. never relegated). Also, Ajax (Leiden) and its successor A.S.C. (after merger with Sportman) played 15 seasons in the Eerste Klasse.
Rotterdam, Den Haag and Haarlem are the only cities to have had eerste klasse teams in every season since 1890/91, 59 seasons in all. Of those, Rotterdam had most different ones: 16 (Celeritas, Concordia, C.V.V., D.V.S, Excelsior, Feijenoord, Neptunus, Olympia, Overmaas, Rapiditas, R.C. & V.V., R.F.C., Sparta, Victoria, V.O.C., and Xerxes). Amsterdam, who were without representation in the Eerste Klasse for 8 seasons, had 11 (A.F.C., Ajax, Blauw-Wit, D.E.C., D.W.S., R.A.P., De Spartaan, De Volewijckers, Volharding, V.V.A., Zeeburgia), Den Haag 5 (all mentioned above, as all won championships), and Haarlem 4 (also all having won championships). Dordrecht (D.F.C, Emma, and O.D.S.) and Utrecht (D.O.S., Hercules and U.V.V.) each had 3 different clubs at the highest level, Breda (Velocitas and 't Zesde), Hilversum ('t Gooi and Hilversum) and Schiedam (Hermes/D.V.S. and S.V.V.) each had 2. (Breda had more in the Eerste Klasse Zuid set up later.) Of those, Dordrecht and Hilversum never saw a derby at the highest level, despite having two teams at the highest level at once (8 consecutive seasons for 't Gooi and Hilversum for instance), as the clubs were always kept apart and assigned to different groups.
Ajax, Feijenoord and H.V.V. each won 4 consecutive titles; R.A.P. and Sparta won 3 consecutive titles in the years of a solitary Eerste Klasse West. Feijenoord never finished outside the top-3 in their class during their first 19 seasons after promotion to it (from 1921/22 to 1939/40). The clubs from the Eerste Klasse West were the most frequent winners of the national championship; until 1914/15 a club from the West won the Dutch title every season; the first to miss out was Sparta in 1915/16 when they finished third behind Willem II and Go Ahead. The western clubs to win the title until 1949/50 were: Ajax and H.V.V. (8), Feijenoord and Sparta (5), H.B.S. (3), A.D.O. and R.A.P. (2), Haarlem, Quick, R.C.H., S.V.V. and De Volewijckers (1).
In the four years of redistributed eerste klasses, only R.C.H. (now playing in Heemstede) won the national title as a team from the former Eerste Klasse West; the other 3 (and the 2 in the years of professional football before introduction of the eredivisie) all went to the South. Amsterdam got a 12th Eerste Klasse team (D.W.V.), Dordrecht and Utrecht a 4th (E.B.O.H. and Elinkwijk, respectively), and Amersfoort earned the 2nd Eerste Klasse team (H.V.C., who got promoted in 1953/54 and played in the first professional season, 50 years after Quick had been moved to the Eerste Klasse Oost (where they only played 3 more seasons). The clubs from the West to retain Eerste Klasse status in all four seasons were: A.D.O., Ajax, Blauw-Wit, D.O.S., D.W.S., E.D.O., Emma, Feijenoord, 't Gooi (relegated in 1953/54), Haarlem, H.B.S. (relegated for the first time in their history and after an unbroken sequence of 57 years in Eerste Klasse the year before the introduction of professionalism in 1953/54), Hermes/D.V.S., R.C.H. (relegated in 1953/54), Sparta, S.V.V., De Volewijckers, V.S.V., and Xerxes.
Prepared and maintained by Karel Stokkermans for the Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation
Author: Karel Stokkermans
(karel.rsssf@gmail.com)
Last updated: 15 Oct 2024
(C) Copyright Karel Stokkermans and RSSSF 1999/2024
You are free to copy this document in whole or part provided that proper
acknowledgement is given to the author. All rights reserved.