Ajax and FC Twente play for the Dutch title on Sunday. A once in a lifetime experience. Never before in the Eredivisie history the championship was decided in a match between the top two of the table on the last match round.
The Ajax and FC Twente players are looking forward to the match of their lives on Sunday, when the Eredivisie season comes down to the last match in Amsterdam. The winner will be crowned champions, the loser will end up third and lose the chances for a Champions League ticket. Twente will retain the title if they manage a draw in Amsterdam. Last Sunday Ajax lost the Dutch Cup final to Twente 3-2 in extra time.

Four players have the experience of a Championship match. Wout Brama, Theo Janssen, Bryan Ruiz and Peter Wisgerhof were present when Twente took the title on the last match day of the previous season, when the Tukkers beat NAC 2-0. No Ajax player played a championship match before, but Gregory van der Wiel has the experience of a World Cup final with the Netherland under his belt.
 

This is Willem II’s 1250th match in the Eredivisie and it will be their last for at least one season. The Tilburg club are relegated after a 24 year spell in the Dutch top flight.





NAC Breda don’t have to worry about relegation and the club has no hopes for European football either. NAC only lost two of its last ten Eredivisie matches against their Brabant neighbors.


De Graafschap need one point to avoid the relegation play-offs. VVV-Venlo has to secure their spot in the Dutch topflight in postseason anyway. De Superboeren did not manage to win in their last six Eredivisie matches.





Together with Willem II VVV-Venlo took the most losses this season: 24. The Limburg squad lost its last seven away matches.


Feyenoord can end up anywhere from eighth to twelfth. Eighth would be their worst result since the 1990/1991 season and eleventh is the club bottom in Eredivisie history (1957/1958 and 1989/1990). Feyenoord are currently ranked tenth and NEC eleventh. With a win NEC surpasses Feyenoord.





Georginio Wijnaldum and Luc Castaignos are the most scoring Dutchmen in the Eredivisie. The two Feyenoord strikers hit the target 14 times this season. NEC’s Björn Vleminckx is Eredivisie top scorer with 23 goals. The Belgian striker, who moves to Club Brugge next season, can become the first NEC-player to become the season top scorer in the Eredivisie since Cas Janssens in the 1972/1973 season. Vlemickx can become the second Belgian player to grab the top scorers title in the Eredivisie. Luc Nilis (PSV, 1995/1996 and 1996/1997 was the first).


Excelsior hope to avoid the relegation play-offs, but the chances are slim. The Rotterdam need either a win with a four goal difference or a win and a home defeat of De Graafschap against VVV-Venlo.





Vitesse will avoid the relegation play-offs if they manage to avoid a defeat with a four goal difference. The Arnhem club is 14th after 33 matches, the same ranking they had after 34 matches last season.


Heracles Almelo need one point to stay ahead of FC Utrecht and clinch the eighth spot on the table, which would hand them a spot in the play-offs for a Europa League ticket. Utrecht is two points behind and have a worse goal difference. If they win Heracles grabs its 100th victory in Eredivisie history. The Almelo club won its last three home matches versus ADO Den Haag.





ADO Den Haag will finish fifth, sixth or seventh, which will be their best result since the seventh spot in the 1971/1972 season. With 16 victories this season ADO is only one win short of the 17 wins in the 1971/1972 season.


PSV have been in title contention until last week, but on the last match day the Eindhoven club’s aim is the second spot in the table and thus a ticket for the Champions League preliminary’s. Fred Rutten’s team will secure this feat, with a win at FC Groningen on Sunday because whatever the result in Amsterdam, if PSV grabs three points they will always surpass either Twente or Ajax on the table.





FC Groningen had a good season, but their chances on the fourth spot seem to have vanished over the past couple of weeks. Only if Groningen wins and AZ loses at FC Utrecht Groningen may surpass the Alkmaar squad on goal difference. Even if they end up fifth Groningen had a good season. Their current 56 points equaled the club record since the introduction of the three point scoring system.





PSV won the last two Eredivisie matches in Groningen 1-0 and 2-0. In Eindhoven PSV and Groningen drew 1-1 earlier this season.


AZ will secure the fourth sport on the table if they grab a point at FC Utrecht. Last season the Alkmaar squad ended up fifth on the table. With the fourth spot AZ would secure a ticket for the Europa League for the third season in a row. Between 2005 and 2008 AZ grabbed a ticket for European football in four consecutive seasons.





FC Utrecht aim for a spot in the play-offs for a European ticket, but after last week’s 3-1 loss at Excelsior the club are on the ninth spot and they need to be eighth to qualify for the play-offs. Utrecht trails eighth ranked Heracles Almelo two points.





For coach Ton du Chatinier it will be his 100th Eredivisie match on the FC Utrecht bench. He won 34 of the previous 99 matches, drew 32 and lost 33.


Roda JC have secured a play-off spot and the Limburg club hope to be able to hold on to the sixth spot on the last match day at home against Heerenveen, who don’t have anything left to play for.





Roda has a good recent record against Heerenveen, being undefeated for the past five matches. Their last defeat came on 12 February 2005 and since then Rodan won four and drew one.





Roda’s Mads Junker has scored 20 goals this season, three short of Roda’s club record by Dick Nanninga (1976/1977) and John Eriksen (1983/1984). Junker is third on the top scorers table, three goals behind leader Björn Vleminckx and one goal behind number two Dmitri Bulykin.


FC Twente needs one point to retain the title and Ajax will grab their first championship since 2004 with a win. “We have to keep our nerves in control”, Twente coach Michel Preud’homme said. “We proved to be able to handle the pressure in the past.” Twente won the Dutch Cup thanks to a Marc Janko header from a Theo Janssen cross in extra time against Ajax in the Cup final last Sunday.





Ajax’ aerial defense seems to be one of their weaker spots with Kenneth Vermeer as substitute for the injured goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg. “Twente’s free kicks and corners are dangerous”, Ajax coach Frank de Boer admitted. “They’ve got taller players than we do.”





FC Twente and Ajax met three time before this season. Before last week’s Cup fina; Twente beat Ajax 1-0 in the Johan Cruijff Schaal, the Dutch Super Cup and the two clubs drew 2-2 in their league match in Enschede on September. Never before in Eredivisie history Twente managed to keep an undefeated streak of three matches in one season against Ajax.





Despite Twente’s superior recent record De Boer is confident that he will celebrate his 41st birthday with his first championship as a coach on Sunday. “I think we’ll win. The Cup final has been a good experience for our young team. They’ve learned to play with a lot of pressure. And don’t forget the crow. We’ll be playing a home game, which is a huge advantage of course.”





Both teams are almost at full strength on Sunday. Ajax will miss striker Mounir El Hamdaoui, who has had a difficult time adapting to the Ajax system since De Boer took over from Martin Jol in November. In the Cup final Siem de Jong started as the centre forward, and Dario Cvitanich is another option on that position. FC Twente may miss American defender Oguchi Onyewu due to a muscle injury.