The Eredivisie (Honorary Division) is the top-tier professional football league of the Netherlands, established by the Royal Dutch Football Association in 1956. The Eredivisie consists of 18 teams. The season runs from August to May of each year, with each team playing 34 matches. The winner of the Eredivisie is the champion of the Netherlands. The teams finishing at the bottom four places are relegated to the Eerste Divisie.The Eredivisie is known for its financial power with the teams earning an average of €47 million per year as of 2018. It is the second-highest league in European football behind the English Premier League. Leading Eredivisie teams include AFC Ajax, PSV Eindhoven, Feyenoord Rotterdam, and AZ Alkmaar. Some of the popular current players playing in the league are Luuk de Jong, Frenkie de Jong, Georginio Wijnaldum, Matthijs de Ligt, Steven Berghuis.At the end of the regular season, the top four teams qualify for the championship playoffs. The four teams play a semi-final and final round. The winner of the playoffs is the overall Eredivisie champion. The teams below the four playoff spots compete in the subsequent year's UEFA Europa League qualifying.Historically, the Eredivisie has been dominated by AFC Ajax which has won 33 titles– a record in Dutch professional football. The other teams to have won the title in the past three decades are PSV Eindhoven, Feyenoord Rotterdam, AZ Alkmaar, and FC Twente. In the 2018–19 season, the champion was Ajax, a feat they repeated in 2019–20.The Eredivisie provides entertaining football to the millions of viewers in the Netherlands and is broadcast on television and online. It is the highest division of professional football in the country and has produced some of the great names of Dutch football such as Johan Cruyff, Ruud Gullit, and Dennis Bergkamp to name a few.