Dutch teams are playing in the playoffs this season

Bet you didn't know this one:😲

The Dutch are doing some weird play-offs this season. Why? How? Who knows. Honestly, God only knows. Let me try to break it down for you.

They used to run things like this:

1. DIRECT CHAMPIONS LEAGUE ENTRY
2. Champions League qualifying round 3
3. UEFA Cup 4th
4. UEFA Cup 5th
5. UEFA Cup 6th
6. UEFA Cup - IF both Cup finalists qualify for the Champions League

The new setup:
Once the regular 34-game season wraps up, whoever sits at the top of the table is done—they go straight into the Champions League.

But... now they’re running a play-off for second place to grab a spot in the Champions League qualifiers, plus spots for the UEFA Cup. Once the season ends, here’s how the bracket looks:

FOR THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE:
Play-off Round 1:

A: 2nd vs 5th (Alkmaar-Ajax)
B: 3rd vs 4th (Feyenoord-Utrecht)

Play-off Round 2:
Winner of A vs Winner of B... the winner heads to Champions League qualifying round 3, while the loser drops into the UEFA Cup (1)

FOR THE UEFA CUP:
Play-off Round 1:

C: 6th vs 9th (Groningen-JC family)
D: 7th vs 8th (Heerenveen-NEC)

Play-off Round 2:
H: Loser of A vs Loser of B... winner gets a UEFA Cup spot (2)
I: Winner of C vs Winner of D... winner goes to Round 3

Play-off Round 3:
K: Loser of H vs Winner of I... winner takes the last UEFA Cup spot (3)

But again... there's an "BUT"... since we have PSV-Ajax happening in the Cup final, Ajax has already locked in a UEFA Cup spot through the Cup. That changes everything:

1) If Ajax finishes in the Top 5:
Matches H and K won't happen. Instead, the losers of A and B jump straight into the UEFA Cup (2, 3), and the winner of C-D goes straight into the UEFA Cup (4)

2) If Ajax misses the Top 5, they don't play the play-offs because they already secured their UEFA Cup berth, which means the 10th place team gets a shot instead.

Let's look at where the table stands right now:

1. PSV (Eindhoven) 31 25 4 2 63-19 79
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
2. AZ (Alkmaar) 30 21 4 5 71-27 67
3. Feyenoord (Rotterdam) 31 20 6 5 75-32 66
4. FC Utrecht 31 16 7 8 46-37 55
5. Ajax (Amsterdam) 31 15 6 10 59-38 51
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
6. FC Groningen 31 15 6 10 42-40 51
7. SC Heerenveen 31 14 7 10 57-49 49
8. NEC (Nijmegen) 31 13 7 11 41-37 46
9. Roda JC (Kerkrade) 31 13 4 14 50-51 43

FOR THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE:
Round 1:
A: 2nd-5th (Alkmaar-Ajax)
B: 3rd-4th (Feyenoord-Utrecht)

Round 2:
Winner of A (say, Alkmaar) vs Winner of B (say, Feyenoord)... winner goes to Champions League, loser goes to UEFA Cup (1)

FOR THE UEFA CUP (3 spots left, since Ajax took the 4th via the Cup)
Round 1:
C: 6th-9th (Groningen-JC family)
D: 7th-8th (Heerenveen-NEC)

Round 2:

H: Loser of A (Ajax) vs Loser of B (Utrecht)... this doesn't even happen because Ajax is already in the UEFA Cup, so Utrecht just slides straight into the UEFA Cup (2, 3) (normally, the winner would go to the Cup and the loser to Round 3)
I: Winner of C (Groningen) vs Winner of D (Heerenveen).... winner goes straight to the UEFA Cup (4) (otherwise, they'd hit Round 3 against the loser of H)

*If Ajax doesn't finish in the Top 5, the 10th place team jumps in, and we follow the standard plan starting from Round 3 where the loser of H and winner of I fight for that last UEFA Cup spot.
*If Ajax wins their way into the Champions League, all 4 UEFA Cup spots open up. In that case, by my math, the losers of A and B go straight to the UEFA Cup, and the winner of C-D does too.

There are also play-offs for the Intertoto, where even the 12th place team could snag a spot.🙏

I honestly thought this was some kind of April Fools' prank, but if you’re actually being serious, then you’re way behind the curve here. 😁

The only thing that makes sense to me is that they cooked this up just to give a struggling Ajax a fighting chance at making the Champions League this season.

No joke...
http://www.rsssf.com/tablesn/ned06.html

One thing’s for sure, this is gonna be a wild ride...

velvetgull9 said:Guys, I was honestly this close to just moving you all over to the Gastronomy board—but I decided to go ahead and open this thread instead. 🤣

🤣

I was pretty confused myself. And frankly, those Dutchmen don't exactly strike me as a nation known for serving up any world-class cuisine. 😕

The whole system they've got running is pretty useless—I'm just not feeling it at all.

What a joke. It used to be that once the final round hit, the season was over, period. Now? You can't even tell when the league actually ends or what you're even playing for anymore.

velvetgull9 said:Guys, I almost accidentally rerouted you all straight to the Food & Drink sub, but I decided to open this thread instead. 🤣

Where the hell are you going? You’re making a complete mess of things!😘

Fortez, what kind of absolute garbage title is this? Seriously?😁

As for those Dutchmen... absolute idiots.🤣
That's just plain stupid.

bumbar said:their system is a joke—I’m not a fan

🙂
The system works just fine—long live the house 🙂

Terry Fisher2 said:They’re still running those Intertoto play-off matches where even the 12th place team in the league can snag a spot.🙏

But wait, isn't there a rule stating that starting this season, a club can't qualify for the Intertoto if they finish 4 spots (I think it's 4) lower than the last qualifying team from any other country?

In theory, if you make it through the playoffs, the 9th seed could snag a spot in the UEFA Cup, so that’s covered... though I doubt anyone gave that much thought. If the 6th seed enters the UEFA Cup as the final qualifier via the playoffs and the 12th seed lands in the Intertoto, I really doubt they'll ban any clubs. I mean, since they already worked out all the math so perfectly 🙂

Dutchmen are just... something else 🙂

Ken Sean Nguyen4 said:Dutchmen are weirdos. 🙂

You pretty much summed up the whole debate. 🙏