Netherlands First Class South Champions 1914-1950

1913/14 Willem II
1914/15   only unofficial competition; Wilhelmina (B) won main group
1915/16 Willem II
1916/17 Willem II    
1917/18 Willem II     
1918/19 N.A.C.    
1919/20 M.V.V.    
1920/21 N.A.C.     
1921/22 N.A.C.      
1922/23 Willem II    
1923/24 N.A.C.   
1924/25 N.A.C.    
1925/26 M.V.V.     
1926/27 N.A.C.      
1927/28 N.O.A.D.     
1928/29 P.S.V.        
1929/30 Willem II      
1930/31 P.S.V.   
1931/32 P.S.V.    
1932/33 P.S.V.     
1933/34 Willem II   
1934/35 P.S.V.       
1935/36 N.A.C.        
1936/37 P.S.V.    
1937/38 P.S.V.     
1938/39 Eindhoven   
1939/40 Juliana      
1940/41 P.S.V.        
1941/42 Eindhoven 
1942/43 Willem II  
1943/44 L.O.N.G.A.  
1944/45   competition not finished
1945/46 N.A.C. and Limburgia
1946/47 B.V.V. and M.V.V.
1947/48 B.V.V. and P.S.V.
1948/49 B.V.V. and N.O.A.D.
1949/50 Limburgia and Maurits

Top Champions (40 titles)

 9 P.S.V. (Eindhoven)

 8 N.A.C. (Breda)
 8 Willem II (Tilburg)

 3 B.V.V. (Den Bosch)
 3 M.V.V. (Maastricht)
 
 2 Eindhoven
 2 Limburgia (Brunssum)
 2 N.O.A.D. (Tilburg)

 1 Juliana (Spekholzerheide)
 1 L.O.N.G.A. (Tilburg)
 1 Maurits (Geleen)

Notes and Trivia:

The only club ever present in all 35 seasons of the Eerste Klasse Zuid is M.V.V. (The last five years had two sections of the eerste klasse zuid.) They are followed by N.A.C. (34 seasons, never relegated), Willem II (33), N.O.A.D. (31, never relegated), B.V.V. (29, never relegated), Eindhoven and P.S.V. (27, Eindhoven never relegated), L.O.N.G.A. (22, never relegated), Wilhelmina (Den Bosch, 17, and before 9 in the Eerste Klasse Oost), Juliana (Spekholzerheide) and Roermond (15). Velocitas (Breda) played 9 seasons in the Eerste Klasse Zuid after having played 13 seasons in the Eerste Klasse West before.

The city of Breda was represented by 5 different teams in the Eerste Klasse (Velocitas, 't Zesde (the only club to have played in 3 different Eerste Klasses: Oost, West and Zuid), N.A.C., Bredania and De Baronie; the last arose from a merger between Bredania and Mastbosch). Other towns with more than one representative were Tilburg (4, apart from those above R.K.T.V.V.), Eindhoven (4, also Picus (later renamed De Spechten) and Brabantia), Den Bosch (B.V.V. and Wilhelmina), Helmond (Helmond and Helmondia), Maastricht (M.S.V. and M.V.V.), Roermond (R.V.V. and Roermond) and Roosendaal (Alliance and R.B.C.) each 2. Roermond and Roosendaal never had two teams in the eerste klasse at the same time, so never saw a derby at this level. Brunssum/Treebeek (with Limburgia and Emma, respectively) and Kerkrade/Bleĳerheide (with Kerkrade and Bleĳerheide) may also be included in the list of towns with derbies.

Willem II, P.S.V. and B.V.V. each won 3 consecutive titles (Willem II 4 if one ignores the unofficial competition of 1914/15). N.A.C. always finished first or second in their initial 10 seasons (1915/16-1924/25), in the top-3 in their first 13 seasons (1915/16-1927/28) and in the top-4 in their first 17 seasons (1915/16-1931/32). The first club from the South to win the national championship, and indeed the first club from outside the West to do so, was Willem II, in 1915/16. It remained their only championship as representatives from the South; they added 2 more in 1951/52 and 1954/55. The other southern clubs to win the national title were P.S.V. (2, at their first try in 1928/29 and in 1934/35; they won 2 more amateur titles in 1950/51 and 1953/54 after the strict regional division had been abandoned), B.V.V. (1, in 1947/48), Limburgia (1, 1949/50) and N.A.C. (1, at their first attempt in 1920/21). Two southern clubs won Eerste Klasse titles before the eerste klasse zuid had been founded: Wilhelmina won the Eerste Klasse Oost in 1908/09, and Velocitas (Breda) one of the two Eerste Klasses West in 1904/05.

Note that during the interbellum a rival, catholic federation existed which was particularly strong in the southern provinces of Noord-Brabant and Limburg (as well as in the eastern region of Twenthe, part of Overĳssel). Among the clubs mentioned above, Brabantia, Bleĳerheide and Kerkrade were all members of that federation for most or all of the inter-war period.

In the four seasons of redistributed eerste klasses before the introduction of professionalism, all traditional southern eerste klasse clubs managed to retain their status (and indeed do well); these were Bleĳerheide, B.V.V., Eindhoven, L.O.N.G.A., M.V.V., N.A.C., N.O.A.D., P.S.V. and Willem II. Moreover, several of the clubs who only gained durable eerste klasse status after the introduction of the second eerste klasse Zuid in 1945 achieved the same: Brabantia, Limburgia, Maurits (Geleen, relegated at the end of 1953/54 however), R.B.C., Sittardia and V.V.V. (Venlo). The agglomeration of Kerkrade earned a 3rd ever eerste klasse team in Chevremont. Moreover, the southern clubs won 3 of the 4 national titles in these seasons, and added 2 more in the transitional years before the introduction of the eredivisie (apart from Willem II in 1954/55, Rapid J.C. won it in 1955/56).

About this document

Prepared and maintained by Karel Stokkermans for the Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation

Author: Karel Stokkermans (karel.rsssf@gmail.com)
Last updated: 10 Oct 2019