1996–97 in Dutch football

Last updated January 13, 2026

The 1996/1997 season in Dutch football was the 41st professional season in the Eredivisie, with PSV Eindhoven winning the title and Roda JC claiming the Dutch National Cup.

Johan Cruijff-schaal

August 18, 1996

Ajax	0–3	PSV
		Eijkelkamp 48' Degryse 61', 78'

Amsterdam ArenA, Amsterdam

Attendance: 31.000

Referee: Uilenberg

Eredivisie

Position	Team	Points	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against	Difference
1	PSV Eindhoven	77	34	24	5	5	90	26	+64
2	Feyenoord Rotterdam	73	34	22	7	5	67	34	+33
3	FC Twente	65	34	20	5	9	60	33	+27
4	Ajax Amsterdam	61	34	17	10	7	55	31	+24
5	Vitesse Arnhem	55	34	15	10	9	53	41	+12
6	Roda JC	55	34	16	7	11	56	47	+9
7	SC Heerenveen	50	34	13	11	10	58	47	+11
8	De Graafschap	45	34	13	6	15	52	55	-3
9	NAC Breda	40	34	10	10	14	41	54	-13
10	FC Groningen	39	34	9	12	13	43	56	-13
11	Fortuna Sittard	39	34	9	12	13	36	52	-16
12	FC Utrecht	38	34	8	14	12	42	52	-10
13	Sparta Rotterdam	38	34	11	5	18	40	56	-16
14	FC Volendam	38	34	9	11	14	36	55	-19
15	Willem II Tilburg	35	34	9	11	14	34	51	-17
16	RKC Waalwijk	34	34	9	7	18	39	61	-22
17	NEC Nijmegen	32	34	7	11	16	35	61	-26
18	AZ Alkmaar	25	34	6	7	21	27	52	-25

Champions League : PSV Eindhoven
Champions League qualification : Feyenoord Rotterdam
Cup Winners Cup: Roda JC
UEFA Cup: FC Twente, Ajax Amsterdam and Vitesse Arnhem
Promotion / relegation play-offs ("Nacompetitie"): RKC Waalwijk and NEC Nijmegen
Relegated: AZ Alkmaar

Topscorers

Position	Player	Club	Goals
1	Luc Nilis	PSV Eindhoven	21
2	John Bosman	FC Twente	20
3	Roy Makaay	Vitesse Arnhem	19
4	Jon Dahl Tomasson	SC Heerenveen	18
5	Pablo Sánchez	Feyenoord Rotterdam	16

Awards

Dutch Footballer of the Year

1996 — Ronald de Boer (Ajax Amsterdam)
1997 — Jaap Stam (PSV Eindhoven)

Dutch Golden Shoe Winner

1996 — Danny Blind (Ajax Amsterdam)
1997 — Jaap Stam (PSV Eindhoven)

PSV Winning Squad 1996-'97

Eerste Divisie

Position	Team	Points	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against	Difference
1	MVV Maastricht	70	34	20	10	4	62	30	+32
2	Cambuur Leeuwarden	67	34	20	7	7	65	33	+32
3	FC Emmen	63	34	18	9	7	58	36	+22
4	VVV-Venlo	57	34	16	9	9	55	40	+15
5	FC Zwolle	55	34	15	10	9	52	40	+12
6	Go Ahead Eagles	55	34	16	7	11	58	48	+10
7	FC Den Bosch	54	34	16	6	12	55	43	+12
8	ADO Den Haag	52	34	14	10	10	48	48	0
9	FC Eindhoven	50	34	14	8	12	53	53	0
10	BV Veendam	49	34	13	10	11	44	35	+9
11	TOP Oss	47	34	13	8	13	46	50	-4
12	Dordrecht '90	46	34	13	7	14	45	49	-4
13	SC Heracles	37	34	9	10	15	51	50	+1
14	Helmond Sport	36	34	10	6	18	46	64	-18
15	RBC Roosendaal	35	34	10	5	19	41	63	-22
16	SC Telstar	28	34	7	7	20	34	68	-34
17	Excelsior Rotterdam	24	34	6	6	22	37	67	-30
18	HFC Haarlem	22	34	5	7	22	34	67	-33

Promoted : MVV Maastricht
Promotion / relegation play-offs ("Nacompetitie"): Cambuur, Emmen, VVV, Zwolle, Eindhoven, Go Ahead Eagles and ADO Den Haag

Promotion and relegation

Group A

Position	Team	Points	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against	Difference
1	RKC Waalwijk	15	6	5	0	1	19	6	+13
2	FC Zwolle	10	6	3	1	2	6	9	-3
3	FC Emmen	7	6	2	1	3	8	10	-2
4	ADO Den Haag	2	6	0	2	4	3	11	-8

Group B

Position	Team	Points	Played	Won	Lost	For	Against	Difference
1	NEC Nijmegen	15	6	5	1	19	5	+14
2	Go Ahead Eagles	15	6	5	1	17	8	+9
3	Cambuur Leeuwarden	6	6	2	4	8	15	-7
4	VVV-Venlo	0	6	0	6	6	22	-16

Stayed : RKC Waalwijk and NEC Nijmegen

KNVB Cup

Quarter-finals		Semi-finals		Final

March 11

FC Zwolle	0
		April 16
Roda JC	5
		Roda JC	1
March 12
		Willem II Tilburg	0
AZ Alkmaar	0
				May 8 - Rotterdam
Willem II Tilburg	2
				Roda JC	4
March 12
				SC Heerenveen	2
SC Heerenveen	2
		April 17
Feyenoord Rotterdam	1
		SC Heerenveen	5
March 12
		Helmond Sport	0
Helmond Sport	2

Vitesse Arnhem	1

Final

May 8, 1997

Roda JC	4–2	SC Heerenveen
Sibon 4' Senden 16' Van der Luer 48' Schops 56'		Korneev 12' Talan 83'

De Kuip, Rotterdam

Attendance: 48.000

Referee: Reygwart

Dutch national team

References

RSSSF Archive

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.