The Supporterscollective Netherlands is happy that the Eredivisie will not play structurally on Sunday evening next season. According to the organization, the KNVB listened to the supporters.
Earlier this month, it looked like there would be a kick-off in the Eredivisie every week on Sunday evening at 8 PM, but that is not the case. On Friday morning, the KNVB announced the schedule and it shows that only 12.15 pm, 2.30 pm and 4.45 pm are fixed times on Sunday.
Sunday 8 pm remains an option, but only if a club requests it because of a Europa League match on Thursday evening. That was also the case last season.
“Sunday evening is very undesirable for supporters, because many people have to return to work or school early the next day,” said chairman Matthijs Keuning on the website of the supporters collective. “We saw last season that the occupancy in these games was lower than average. Clubs also noticed in their turnover. Therefore it is good that this time will probably only be used once.”
‘We will investigate the desirability’
Another special time to kick off may be Saturday at 4:30 PM. The KNVB sees this as an option, even though Eredivisie matches have not been played on Saturday afternoon before. “We will carefully investigate the desirability of this,” says Keuning.
On Saturday, the kick-off will be anyway at 6:45 pm, 8 pm and 9 pm, to the satisfaction of the Suporters collective.
The Eredivisie starts on Friday, September 11 and the season in the Kitchen Champion Division starts two weeks earlier. In mid-July, the KNVB will announce the final schedule, containing the exact matches and playing times. The union will first discuss this with the Eredivisie CV, the Cooperative Eerste Divisie, the clubs, the broadcasting agents and the local authorities.
Most important decisions for next season
- No fixed match on Sunday at 8 p.m.
- Top duels as much as possible after the winter break
- Playoffs are about one game
- No duel for Johan Cruijff Schaal
- Shorter winter break
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