The Hague (AFP)
Eindhoven won the Dutch Football League title for the first time since 2018, and the 25th in its history, by defeating its guest Sparta Rotterdam 4-2 in the 32nd round.
Eindhoven, which was sufficient for a draw to be crowned champion, and only tasted defeat once, raised its score in first place to 87 points, 12 points behind runner-up Feyenoord, as last season’s champions could no longer catch up with them two stages before the end of the competitions.
It is the first title for coach Peter Bosz (60 years old), who assumed his technical duties with Ajax at the beginning of the season, in a career during which he supervised the training of traditional rivals Ajax, Borussia Dortmund, Bayer Leverkusen of Germany, and Lyon of France.
Eindhoven achieved a record, winning 17 consecutive matches at the beginning of the season, and equaled its personal achievement under coach Guus Hiddink in the 1987-1988 season, before its record series without a loss was stopped by falling to NEC Nijmege 1-3 in the 27th stage.
Veteran striker Luuk de Jong, 33 years old, shone among the ranks of the Dutch champions, who scored 27 goals and passed 15 decisive balls, topping the league’s top scorers, equal to the Greek striker Evangelos Pavlidis, Alkmaar striker.
PSV Eindhoven also achieved good results at the European level this season in the Champions League competition, finishing second in a difficult group that included England’s Arsenal, Spain’s Sevilla and France’s Lens, and reached the final 16, where it lost to Borussia Dortmund “1-3 on aggregate.”
On the other hand, Ajax suffered both, as it is almost certain to miss European competitions next season, as it occupies fifth place, 9 points behind Alkmaar, which is fourth.
The loss to PSV Eindhoven 2-5 last October led to Ajax falling to last place in the standings, a precedent in the history of the club that has won the Champions League title four times. It also suffered a humiliating loss to Feyenoord 6-0 in the Dutch “El Clásico”.
Frustration on the field turned into violence in the stands and chaos inside the club, before stability returned to the ancient team.
Vitesse Arnhem, bottom of the standings by two points, relegated to the second division for the first time in 35 seasons, after the Dutch Federation imposed a penalty of deducting 18 points from its score for violating the league licensing regulations.
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