2017–18 Eerste Divisie

The 2017–18 Eerste Divisie, known as Jupiler League for sponsorship reasons, was the sixty-second season of Eerste Divisie since its establishment in 1955. It began in August 2017 with the first matches of the season and ended in May 2018 with the returns of the finals of the promotion/relegation play-offs, involving also the 16th- and 17th-placed teams from the 2017–18 Eredivisie.

Eerste Divisie

Season	2017–18
Champions	Jong Ajax (1st title)
Promoted	Fortuna Sittard De Graafschap FC Emmen
Relegated	No teams relegated.[1]
Matches played	380
Goals scored	1,233 (3.24 per match)
Top goalscorer	Mart Lieder (30 goals)
← 2016–17 2018–19 →

Teams

A total of 20 teams took part in the league. 2016–17 Eerste Divisie champions VVV-Venlo gained promotion to the Eredivisie, and was replaced by Go Ahead Eagles, who finished bottom in the 2016–17 Eredivisie. NAC won the post-season playoff, and were replaced by NEC. Also, Achilles '29 were relegated and replaced by Tweede Divisie champions Jong AZ who became the fifth reserve side to feature in the second tier of Dutch football.

At an extraordinary KNVB federation meeting on 2 October 2017, representatives of amateur and professional football reached an agreement about the route to be taken to renew the football pyramid. Part of the agreement was that no promotion/relegation would take place between the Eerste and Tweede Divisie this season.^[1]

Jong Ajax

Almere City

Jong AZ

Cambuur

De Graafschap

Den Bosch

Dordrecht

FC Eindhoven
Jong PSV

Emmen

Fortuna

Go Ahead Eagles

Helmond Sport

MVV

NEC

Oss

RKC

Telstar

Jong Utrecht

Volendam

Location of teams in the Eerste Divisie 2017–18

Club	Location	Venue	Capacity
Jong Ajax	Amsterdam	Sportpark De Toekomst	4,000
Almere City	Almere	Yanmar Stadion	3,000
Jong AZ	Alkmaar	AZ's Trainingcomplex	1,500
Cambuur	Leeuwarden	Cambuur Stadion	10,500
De Graafschap	Doetinchem	De Vijverberg	12,600
Den Bosch	's-Hertogenbosch	De Vliert	9,000
Dordrecht	Dordrecht	GN Bouw Stadion	4,088
FC Eindhoven	Eindhoven	Jan Louwers Stadion	4,600
Emmen	Emmen	De JENS Vesting	8,600
Fortuna Sittard	Sittard	Fortuna Sittard Stadion	10,300
Go Ahead Eagles	Deventer	Adelaarshorst	10,400
Helmond Sport	Helmond	Lavans Stadion	4,100
MVV	Maastricht	De Geusselt	10,000
NEC	Nijmegen	Stadion de Goffert	12,500
Oss	Oss	Frans Heesenstadion	4,700
Jong PSV	Eindhoven	De Herdgang	2,500
RKC Waalwijk	Waalwijk	Mandemakers Stadion	7,508
Telstar	Velsen	Rabobank IJmond Stadion	3,625
Jong FC Utrecht	Utrecht	variable	unknown
Volendam	Volendam	Kras Stadion	6,260

Personnel and kits

Club	Manager	Kit manufacturer	Sponsors
Jong Ajax	Michael Reiziger	Adidas	Ziggo
Almere City	Jack de Gier	Adidas	Van Wijnen
Jong AZ	Martin Haar	Under Armour	AFAS
Cambuur	Marinus Dijkhuizen	Nike	Bouwgroep Dijkstra Draisma
De Graafschap	Henk de Jong	Nike	flexfactory
Den Bosch	Wil Boessen	Macron	Van Wanrooij
Dordrecht	Gérard de Nooijer	Macron	Riwal Hoogwerkers
Eindhoven	Wilfred van Leeuwen	Joma	VDL Groep
Emmen	Dick Lukkien	Robey [nl]	Q&S Gartendeco
Fortuna Sittard	Cláudio Braga (caretaker)	Givova	Fitland [nl]
Go Ahead Eagles	Leon Vlemmings	Hummel	Drukwerkdeal[2]
Helmond Sport	Roy Hendriksen	Hummel	Vescom[3]
MVV	Ron Elsen [nl]	Masita	Drink Water[4]
NEC	Pepijn Lijnders	Legea	Ouwehands Dierenpark[5]
Oss	Klaas Wels	Erima	NGSN[6]
Jong PSV	Dennis Haar [nl]	Umbro	Philips
RKC Waalwijk	Peter van den Berg [nl]	Hummel	Mandemakers Keukens [nl]
Telstar	Mike Snoei	Hummel	MPM Oil[7]
Jong FC Utrecht	Robin Pronk [nl]	Hummel	Zorg van de Zaak
Volendam	Misha Salden [nl]	Jako	HSB[8]

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion, qualification or relegation
1	Jong Ajax[a] (C)	38	25	4	9	89	54	+35	79
2	Fortuna Sittard[b] (P)	38	24	6	8	81	41	+40	78	Promotion to the Eredivisie
3	NEC[c]	38	22	8	8	82	46	+36	74	Qualification to promotion play-offs Second round
4	De Graafschap (O, P)	38	18	11	9	78	47	+31	65
5	Jong PSV[a]	38	19	7	12	76	54	+22	64
6	Telstar	38	16	13	9	66	63	+3	61	Qualification to promotion play-offs Second round
7	Emmen (O, P)	38	14	16	8	58	50	+8	58
8	Cambuur	38	16	10	12	58	53	+5	58	Qualification to promotion play-offs First round
9	Almere City	38	15	7	16	70	76	−6	52
10	MVV	38	14	8	16	57	56	+1	50
11	Den Bosch	38	12	11	15	59	55	+4	47
12	Eindhoven	38	14	5	19	61	83	−22	47
13	Dordrecht[d]	38	14	5	19	57	81	−24	47	Qualification to promotion play-offs First round
14	Volendam	38	13	7	18	59	67	−8	46
15	Oss	38	12	10	16	53	65	−12	46
16	Jong AZ[a]	38	14	4	20	57	70	−13	46
17	Go Ahead Eagles	38	9	10	19	48	68	−20	37
18	RKC Waalwijk	38	8	13	17	37	61	−24	37
19	Helmond Sport	38	9	9	20	50	67	−17	36
20	Jong FC Utrecht[a] (R)	38	7	6	25	37	76	−39	27	Relegation to the Tweede Divisie

Source: Soccerway, Jupiler League (in Dutch)
Rules for classification: Season in progress: 1) Most points won; 2) Less points lost; 3) Goal difference; 4) Goals scored; 5) Alphabetical order. End of season: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) Head-to-head points; 5) Head-to-head goal difference; 6) Head-to-head away goals scored; 7) Play-off if relevant for deciding champion, relegation, international competitions and play-offs qualification, otherwise by draw. 8) Penalty shoot-out (only after a play-off) ^[9]
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Reserves teams aren't eligible to be promoted to the Eredivisie.
2. Winner of the Second and Fourth Period (games 12-20 and 30-38).
3. Winner of the First Period (games 3-11).
4. Winner of the Third Period (games 21-29).

Period tables

Period 1

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Jong Ajax	9	6	2	1	21	10	+11	20	Reserves teams cannot participate in the promotion play-offs
2	NEC	9	6	2	1	19	11	+8	20	Qualification to promotion play-offs
3	Telstar	9	5	3	1	22	18	+4	18
4	Fortuna Sittard	9	5	2	2	19	9	+10	17
5	Go Ahead Eagles	9	4	4	1	18	10	+8	16
6	Den Bosch	9	4	3	2	16	10	+6	15
7	De Graafschap	9	3	5	1	13	7	+6	14
8	Oss	9	3	4	2	16	19	−3	13
9	Emmen	9	2	6	1	12	9	+3	12
10	MVV	9	3	2	4	13	14	−1	11
11	Jong PSV	9	3	2	4	11	19	−8	11	Reserves teams cannot participate in the promotion play-offs
12	Eindhoven	9	3	1	5	13	15	−2	10
13	Cambuur	9	2	4	3	10	12	−2	10
14	Dordrecht	9	2	4	3	13	17	−4	10
15	Jong FC Utrecht	9	2	3	4	10	15	−5	9	Reserves teams cannot participate in the promotion play-offs
16	Almere City	9	2	3	4	12	18	−6	9
17	RKC Waalwijk	9	1	5	3	8	11	−3	8
18	Jong AZ	9	2	1	6	11	19	−8	7	Reserves teams cannot participate in the promotion play-offs
19	Helmond Sport	9	1	3	5	10	17	−7	6
20	Volendam	9	0	3	6	7	14	−7	3

Source: Jupiler League (in Dutch)
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored

Period 2

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Fortuna Sittard	9	8	0	1	27	9	+18	24	Qualification to promotion play-offs
2	Almere City	9	6	2	1	25	15	+10	20
3	NEC	9	6	1	2	29	13	+16	19	Period 1 winner
4	Jong PSV	9	5	1	3	21	11	+10	16	Reserves teams cannot participate in the promotion play-offs
5	Cambuur	9	5	1	3	14	13	+1	16
6	Volendam	9	5	1	3	15	17	−2	16
7	Eindhoven	9	5	1	3	14	19	−5	16
8	RKC Waalwijk	9	4	2	3	11	14	−3	14
9	Telstar	9	4	2	3	12	17	−5	14
10	Jong Ajax	9	4	1	4	21	15	+6	13	Reserves teams cannot participate in the promotion play-offs
11	Emmen	9	3	4	2	15	15	0	13
12	Den Bosch	9	3	3	3	17	14	+3	12
13	Helmond Sport	9	3	3	3	11	10	+1	12
14	De Graafschap	9	3	2	4	18	13	+5	11
15	MVV	9	3	2	4	13	13	0	11
16	Oss	9	3	2	4	10	14	−4	11
17	Dordrecht	9	3	0	6	12	24	−12	9
18	Jong AZ	9	1	0	8	10	23	−13	3	Reserves teams cannot participate in the promotion play-offs
19	Go Ahead Eagles	9	0	3	6	6	20	−14	3
20	Jong FC Utrecht	9	0	1	8	6	18	−12	1	Reserves teams cannot participate in the promotion play-offs

Source: Jupiler League (in Dutch)
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored

Period 3

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Dordrecht	9	7	0	2	16	10	+6	21	Qualification to promotion play-offs
2	Emmen	9	6	2	1	16	10	+6	20
3	Jong Ajax	9	6	1	2	21	12	+9	19	Reserves teams cannot participate in the promotion play-offs
4	Telstar	9	5	2	2	25	18	+7	17
5	Jong AZ	9	5	2	2	14	9	+5	17	Reserves teams cannot participate in the promotion play-offs
6	De Graafschap	9	5	1	3	22	12	+10	16
7	NEC	9	5	1	3	14	9	+5	16	Period 1 winner
8	Volendam	9	5	1	3	22	19	+3	16
9	Jong PSV	9	4	2	3	15	13	+2	14	Reserves teams cannot participate in the promotion play-offs
10	MVV	9	4	1	4	16	14	+2	13
11	Helmond Sport	9	4	0	5	15	15	0	12
12	Cambuur	9	3	3	3	12	12	0	12
13	Den Bosch	9	2	4	3	11	10	+1	10
14	Oss	9	3	1	5	13	14	−1	10
15	Go Ahead Eagles	9	3	1	5	11	15	−4	10
16	Fortuna Sittard	9	2	3	4	10	13	−3	9	Period 2 winner
17	Almere City	9	3	0	6	13	20	−7	9
18	Jong FC Utrecht	9	2	1	6	10	23	−13	7	Reserves teams cannot participate in the promotion play-offs
19	RKC Waalwijk	9	1	2	6	9	19	−10	5
20	Eindhoven	9	1	0	8	9	27	−18	3

Source: Jupiler League (in Dutch)
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored

Period 4

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Fortuna Sittard	9	8	1	0	18	5	+13	25	Period 2 winner
2	Jong Ajax	9	7	0	2	20	14	+6	21	Reserves teams cannot participate in the promotion play-offs
3	Cambuur	9	6	2	1	21	12	+9	20
4	De Graafschap	9	6	2	1	21	13	+8	20
5	Jong PSV	9	6	1	2	25	8	+17	19	Reserves teams cannot participate in the promotion play-offs
6	Eindhoven	9	5	1	3	22	19	+3	16
7	NEC	9	4	3	2	16	11	+5	15	Period 1 winner
8	Jong AZ	9	4	1	4	17	17	0	13	Reserves teams cannot participate in the promotion play-offs
9	Almere City	9	4	1	4	18	19	−1	13
10	MVV	9	3	2	4	11	12	−1	11
11	Volendam	9	3	1	5	13	14	−1	10
12	Telstar	9	2	4	3	5	8	−3	10
13	Jong FC Utrecht	9	3	1	5	10	15	−5	10	Reserves teams cannot participate in the promotion play-offs
14	RKC Waalwijk	9	2	4	3	8	13	−5	10
15	Emmen	9	2	3	4	12	15	−3	9
16	Den Bosch	9	3	0	6	13	17	−4	9
17	Go Ahead Eagles	9	2	1	6	9	18	−9	7
18	Oss	9	1	3	5	10	18	−8	6
19	Helmond Sport	9	1	2	6	11	21	−10	5
20	Dordrecht	9	1	1	7	13	24	−11	4	Period 3 winner

Source: Jupiler League (in Dutch)
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored

Results

Home \ Away	ALM	CAM	DBO	DOR	EIN	EMM	FOR	GAE	GRA	HEL	JAJ	JAZ	JPS	JUT	MVV	NEC	OSS	RKC	TEL	VOL
Almere City		1–1	1–1	1–2	5–1	2–2	1–4	2–0	2–1	3–1	1–2	3–2	2–1	2–1	3–2	3–2	2–2	3–2	2–3	2–0
Cambuur	2–1		2–2	3–0	3–2	1–1	1–0	2–1	3–2	4–1	1–2	3–2	0–1	2–2	0–2	1–1	1–3	1–1	2–1	2–2
Den Bosch	1–3	1–2		4–1	4–0	1–2	2–4	3–0	1–1	2–2	2–5	1–3	5–0	1–0	2–1	3–0	0–0	0–0	3–2	3–1
Dordrecht	1–1	0–3	0–3		4–3	2–2	3–0	1–2	1–1	3–2	2–3	3–2	2–3	2–1	2–4	3–3	2–0	1–0	2–3	2–2
Eindhoven	3–2	2–1	0–1	0–1		2–1	1–3	3–2	2–4	3–2	2–3	1–3	1–2	5–2	3–2	3–2	1–3	3–1	2–2	1–0
Emmen	2–2	2–0	2–2	1–3	1–1		0–0	0–0	5–2	0–0	2–2	0–2	3–1	0–0	2–1	1–0	1–1	2–1	2–3	2–3
Fortuna Sittard	2–1	3–2	2–0	5–1	2–2	1–2		2–1	1–1	3–0	2–1	5–1	1–0	3–1	3–0	1–2	4–0	6–0	1–1	1–0
Go Ahead Eagles	2–1	1–3	1–2	0–3	1–3	0–1	0–1		0–4	3–1	4–1	2–1	1–1	0–0	3–1	1–1	2–1	0–0	1–1	1–1
De Graafschap	4–2	2–0	2–1	0–1	4–0	2–2	2–0	1–1		1–0	2–4	1–0	2–3	7–0	1–2	1–3	1–1	1–0	1–0	2–1
Helmond Sport	1–2	3–0	3–1	1–2	0–0	3–1	1–3	1–1	0–2		1–4	3–0	1–2	2–0	2–3	1–2	2–1	2–2	1–2	1–4
Jong Ajax	3–0	3–2	1–0	3–0	4–0	3–2	4–2	0–2	0–5	2–0		0–1	0–3	2–1	2–1	1–0	2–0	1–1	1–1	7–0
Jong AZ	4–1	0–1	1–1	3–1	1–2	2–1	2–0	0–0	2–2	1–3	4–2		2–1	1–3	3–1	2–7	3–1	2–1	2–2	0–2
Jong PSV	3–2	1–1	2–1	4–2	4–1	1–1	2–3	6–0	2–2	1–2	0–3	1–2		2–0	1–0	3–3	5–1	3–2	6–0	2–1
Jong FC Utrecht	2–4	1–3	1–1	0–2	1–2	1–2	0–1	1–0	1–4	0–0	2–1	1–0	1–4		2–1	0–2	0–3	5–2	0–1	2–1
MVV	3–0	1–1	3–0	1–0	2–0	0–1	1–2	4–3	1–3	3–1	0–4	3–0	0–0	3–1		4–1	1–1	0–0	0–0	2–1
NEC	3–1	3–1	1–0	6–0	2–1	1–1	1–1	5–1	1–1	1–1	2–1	2–0	2–0	3–1	4–1		2–1	2–0	3–0	3–0
Oss	5–1	2–1	1–1	3–1	1–1	2–3	1–2	1–6	1–4	0–0	0–3	2–1	0–3	2–0	1–0	3–0		3–1	0–0	1–0
RKC Waalwijk	0–4	0–0	1–1	1–0	0–1	0–2	1–1	2–1	0–0	1–0	2–4	1–0	3–2	2–2	1–1	0–2	2–1		4–1	1–3
Telstar	4–0	0–1	3–2	3–0	4–1	0–0	0–6	3–1	3–2	2–3	3–3	2–1	0–0	1–0	0–0	3–2	3–3	0–0		5–2
Volendam	1–1	0–1	1–0	4–1	3–2	2–3	2–0	4–3	0–0	2–2	1–2	4–1	1–0	2–1	2–2	0–2	3–1	0–1	3–4

Source: Soccerway, Jupiler League (in Dutch)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Season statistics

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Games			avg.
1.	Mart Lieder	Eindhoven	31	30	5	0.97
2.	Andrija Novakovich	Telstar	35	19	3	0.54
3.	Mateo Cassierra	Jong Ajax	29	18	2	0.62
	Jonathan Okita	MVV	36		0	0.5
5.	Cas Peters	Emmen	38	17	6	0.45
6.	Sam Hendriks	Go Ahead Eagles	34	16	1	0.47
	Arsenio Valpoort	Almere City	34		1	0.47
	Daryl van Mieghem	De Graafschap	38		0	0.42
9.	Anass Achahbar	NEC	25	15	1	0.6
	Enzo Stroo	Volendam	33		0	0.45
	Fatih Kamaçi	Oss	35		3	0.43
	Lisandro Semedo	Fortuna Sittard	37		5	0.41
	Niek Vossebelt	Den Bosch	37		7	0.41
	Denis Mahmudov	Dordrecht	38		4	0.39

Source: soccerway,^[10] Jupiler League^[11]

Hat-tricks(+)

Rnd	Player	Club	Goals	Date	Home	Score	Away
3	Mo Hamdaoui	Telstar	53'  60'  64'	1 September 2017	Telstar	3 – 3	Oss
7	André Vidigal	Fortuna Sittard	62'  82'  85'	29 September 2017	Telstar	0 – 6	Fortuna Sittard
7	Niek Vossebelt	Den Bosch	45'+2' (pen.)  63' (pen.)  73'	29 September 2017	Den Bosch	5 – 0	Jong PSV
13	Mart Lieder	Eindhoven	1'  17'  23'	17 November 2017	Eindhoven	3 – 2	MVV
16	Steeven Langil	NEC	35' (pen.)  39'  67' (pen.)	1 December 2017	NEC	6 – 0	Dordrecht
19	Anass Achahbar	NEC	22'  41'  64'	22 December 2017	Jong AZ	2 – 7	NEC
19	Finn Stokkers	Fortuna Sittard	27'  32'  87'	23 December 2017	Fortuna Sittard	3 – 1	Jong FC Utrecht
19	Mateo Cassierra	Jong Ajax	42'  61'  69'	22 December 2017	Jong Ajax	7 – 0	Volendam
19	Tom Overtoom	Almere City	29'  83'  84'	22 December 2017	Almere City	5 – 1	Eindhoven
20	Anass Achahbar	NEC	17'  61'  62'	12 January 2018	NEC	5 – 1	Go Ahead Eagles
22	Dani de Wit	Jong Ajax	8'  64'  71'	26 January 2018	RKC Waalwijk	2 – 4	Jong Ajax
23	Mark Diemers	De Graafschap	16'  27'  54'	2 February 2018	De Graafschap	7 – 0	Jong FC Utrecht
24	Richard van der Venne	Oss	40'  57'  64'	9 February 2018	Oss	5 – 1	Almere City
24	Sylla Sow	Jong FC Utrecht	19'  24'  57'	9 February 2018	Jong FC Utrecht	5 – 2	RKC Waalwijk
30	Kaj Sierhuis	Jong Ajax	3'  50'  85' (pen.)	16 March 2018	De Graafschap	2 – 4	Jong Ajax
30	Mart Lieder	Eindhoven	4'  50' (pen.)  64'	16 March 2018	Eindhoven	5 – 2	Jong FC Utrecht
31	Lisandro Semedo	Fortuna Sittard	11'  18' (pen.)  71' (pen.)	23 March 2018	Fortuna Sittard	3 – 2	Cambuur
32	André Vidigal	Fortuna Sittard	2'  6'  26' (pen.)	30 March 2018	Almere City	1 – 4	Fortuna Sittard
32	Nick Venema	Jong FC Utrecht	7'  28' (pen.)  31'	30 March 2018	Jong AZ	1 – 3	Jong FC Utrecht
33	Donyell Malen	Jong PSV	16'  64'  86'	2 April 2018	Jong PSV	5 – 1	Oss
34	Jonathan Okita	MVV	10'  32'  90'	6 April 2018	Helmond Sport	2 – 3	MVV
35	Tarik Tissoudali	De Graafschap	27'  34'  85'	9 April 2018	De Graafschap	4 – 2	Almere City
37	Mart Lieder	Eindhoven	17'  47'  84' (pen.)	20 April 2018	Eindhoven	3 – 2	Almere City

Assists

Rank	Player	Club	Games		avg.
01.	Arnaut Danjuma	NEC	28	16	0.57
02.	Lisandro Semedo	Fortuna Sittard	37	15	0.41
03.	Nick Doodeman	Volendam	35	14	0.4
	Daryl van Mieghem	De Graafschap	38		0.37
05.	Carel Eiting	Jong Ajax	18	11	0.61
	Ferdi Kadioglu	NEC	34		0.32
	Elton Kabangu	Eindhoven	38		0.29
08.	Mark Diemers	De Graafschap	37	10	0.27
	Joey Suk	Go Ahead Eagles	37		0.27
10.	Achille Vaarnold	Almere City	20	09	0.45

Source: Soccerway,^[10] Jupiler League^[11]

Promotion/relegation play-offs

Ten teams, two from the Eredivisie and eight from the Eerste Divisie, played for two spots in the 2018–19 Eredivisie, the remaining eight teams playing in the 2018–19 Eerste Divisie.

	First round						Second round						Third round
							Emmen	4	1	5
							NEC	0	4	4
													Emmen*	0	3	3
													Sparta Rotterdam	0	1	1
	FC Dordrecht (p)	1	4	5
	Cambuur	4	1	5
							FC Dordrecht	1	2	3
							Sparta Rotterdam	2	2	4
	MVV	1	2	3
	Almere City	3	3	6
							Almere City	0	2	2
							Roda JC	0	1	1
													Almere City	1	1	2
													De Graafschap*	1	2	3
							Telstar	3	2	5
							De Graafschap	2	4	6

Key: * = Play-off winners, (a) = Wins because of away goals rule, (e) = Wins after extra time in second leg, (p) = Wins after penalty shoot-out.