The KNVB Cup ( ) is a competition in the Netherlands organized by the Royal Netherlands Football Association (KNVB) since 1899. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. Outside of the Netherlands, it is often referred to as the Dutch Cup. The tournament consists of all teams from the top two tiers of Dutch league football (Eredivisie and Eerste Divisie), as well as the top four teams from each of the six third tier of Dutch football (Hoofdklasse), while the remaining teams are drawn from the fourth tier (Eerste Klasse). The finals of the tournament traditionally takes place in De Kuip, and has been held there every season since 1988. The winners of the cup compete against the winners of the Eredivisie for the Johan Cruijff Shield, which acts as the curtain raiser for the following season.

History

The competition was conceived during a board meeting of the Dutch National Football Association, in the Hague, on 19 January 1898. The tournament began the following season, 1898–1899. The first final was played on 9 May 1899 between RAP Amsterdam and HVV Den Haag. In 1946, the trophy was changed to one made out of silver, which was extremely rare in the immediate aftermath of World War II.

Name changes

Like many national cup competitions, the name of the tournament has changed with sponsorship. From 1995, the competition went from being the KNVB Cup Tournament to being known as the Amstel Cup after the then sponsor Amstel. On 16 August 2005, the name was changed to the Gatorade Cup after the drinks company Gatorade. In 2006, the name returned to being the KNVB Cup Tournament with Gatorade remaining as the principle sponsor.

European competition

Up until 1998, the winner of the cup entered into the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, but with the abandonment of that tournament, the winner now goes into the UEFA Europa League. If the winning team has won the Eredivisie and thus entry into the UEFA Champions League, then the beaten KNVB Cup finalist will take the place in the UEFA Europa League.

In 1998, both teams in the KNVB final, Ajax and PSV, had won places into the Champions League. So a game was played between the beaten semi-finalists, SC Heerenveen and FC Twente, to determine who would take the Cup Winners' Cup place.

Past finals

Season	Winner	Scorers	Result	Runner-up	Scorers	Venue	Attendance
1898–99	RAP Amsterdam		1–0 aet	HVV Den Haag
1899–1900	Velocitas Breda		3–1	Ajax Leiden
1900–01	HBS Den Haag		4–3	RAP Amsterdam
1901–02	Haarlem		2–1	HBS Den Haag
1902–03	HVV Den Haag		6–1	HBS Den Haag
1903–04	HFC		3–1	HVV Den Haag
1904–05	VOC Rotterdam		3–0	HBS Den Haag 2
1905–06	Concordia		3–2	Volharding
1906–07	VOC Rotterdam		4–3	Voorwaarts
1907–08	HBS Den Haag 2		3–1	VOC Rotterdam
1908–09	Quick Den Haag 2		2–0	VOC Rotterdam
1909–10	Quick Den Haag 2		2–0	HVV Den Haag 2
1910–11	Quick Den Haag		1–0	HFC Haarlem
1910–12	Haarlem		2–0	Vitesse
1912–13	HFC		4–1	DFC
1913–14	DFC		3–2	Haarlem
1914–15	HFC		1–0	HBS Den Haag
1915–16	Quick Den Haag		2–1	HBS Den Haag
1916–17	Ajax		5–0	VSV (Velsen)
1917–18	RCH		2–1	VVA
1918–19	Not played
1919–20	CVV		2–1	VUC Den Haag
1920–21	Schoten		2–1	RFC
1921–24	Not played
1924–25	ZFC		5–1	Xerxes
1925–26	LONGA		5–2	de Spartaan
1926–27	VUC Den Haag		3–1	Vitesse
1927–28	RCH		2–0	PEC
1928–29	Not played
1929–30	Feijenoord		1–0	Excelsior
1930–31	Not played
1931–32	DFC		5–4	PSV
1932–33	Not played
1933–34	Velocitas Groningen		3–2	Feijenoord
1934–35	Feijenoord		5–2	Helmond
1935–36	Roermond		4–2	KFC
1936–37	FC Eindhoven		1–0	de Spartaan
1937–38	VSV		4–1	AGOVV
1938–39	FC Wageningen		2–1	PSV
1939–42	Not played
1942–43	Ajax		3–2	DFC
1943–44	Willem II		9–2	Groene Ster
1944–47	Not played
1947–48	Wageningen		0–0 2–1 pen	DWV (Amsterdam)
1948–49	Quick 1888		1–1 2–1 pen	Helmondia
1949–50	PSV		4–3	HFC Haarlem
1950–56	Not played
1956–57	Fortuna'54		4–2	Feijenoord
1957–58	Sparta		4–3	FC Volendam
1958–59	VVV		4–1	ADO Den Haag
1959–60	Not played
1960–61	Ajax		3–0	NAC Breda
1961–62	Sparta		1–0	DHC
1962–63	Willem II		3–0	ADO Den Haag
1963–64	Fortuna'54		0–0 4–3 pen	ADO Den Haag
1964–65	Feijenoord	Bouwmeester	1–0	Go Ahead	–	De Kuip	31,000
1965–66	Sparta	Madsen	1–0	ADO Den Haag	–	De Kuip
1966–67	Ajax	Cruyff Nuninga	2–1	NAC Breda	Vesters	De Meer	21,000
1967–68	ADO Den Haag	Schoenmaker Aarts	2–1	Ajax	Keizer	Zuiderpark	17,500
1968–69	Feijenoord		1–1 aet Replay 2–0	PSV
1969–70	Ajax		2–0	PSV
1970–71	Ajax		2–2 aet Replay 2–1	Sparta
1971–72	Ajax	Cruyff Mühren Keizer	3–2	FC Den Haag	van Eeden Mansveld	De Kuip	60,000
1972–73	NAC Breda		2–0	NEC
1973–74	PSV	Deijkers R. van de Kerkhof Edström W. van de Kerkhof van der Kuijlen	6–0	NAC Breda	–
1974–75	FC Den Haag		1–0	FC Twente
1975–76	PSV	Edström	1–0 aet	Roda JC	–	De Kuip
1976–77	Twente	Drost Mühren Jeuring	3–0 aet	PEC Zwolle	–	de Goffert
1977–78	AZ	van Rijnsoever	1–0	Ajax	–
1978–79	Ajax	Clarke	1–1 aet	Twente	Meutstege	De Kuip
		Clarke Tahamata Schoenaker	Replay 3–0		–
1979–80	Feyenoord	Petursson De Leeuw Petursson	3–1	Ajax	Arnesen	De Kuip
1980–81	AZ	Tol Spelbos Nygaard	3–1	Ajax	Vanenburg
1981–82	AZ		1st Leg 0–1 2nd Leg 5–1 Aggregate 6–2	FC Utrecht
1982–83	Ajax		1st Leg 3–1 2nd Leg 3–1 Aggregate 6–2	NEC
1983–84	Feyenoord	Houtman	1–0	Fortuna Sittard	–	De Kuip
1984–85	FC Utrecht	Van Loen	1–0	Helmond Sport	–	Galgenwaard
1985–86	Ajax	Bosman Silooy	3–0	RBC	–
1986–87	Ajax	Bosman van Basten	4–2 aet	FC Den Haag	Boere Morley	Zuiderpark
1987–88	PSV	Gerets Lerby	3–2	Roda JC	H. Smeets R. Smeets	Willem II Stadion	8,500
1988–89	PSV	Romário Ellerman Kieft	4–1	Groningen	Meijer	De Kuip	9,483
1989–90	PSV	Valckx	1–0	Vitesse	–	De Kuip
1990–91	Feyenoord		1–0	BVV Den Bosch
1991–92	Feyenoord	de Wolf Taument Kiprich	3–0	Roda JC		De Kuip
1992–93	Ajax		6–2	Heerenveen		De Kuip
1993–94	Feyenoord	Heus van Loen	2–1	N.E.C.	Dekker	De Kuip
1994–95	Feyenoord	Taument Obiku	2–1	Volendam	Wasiman	De Kuip
1995–96	PSV	Cocu Vink Veldman Jonk van der Doelen	5–2	Sparta Rotterdam	van der Meer D. de Nooijer	De Kuip	35,000
1996–97	Roda JC	Sibon Senden van der Luer Schops	4–2	Heerenveen	Korneev Talan	De Kuip	48,000
1997–98	Ajax	Babangida Litmanen Arveladze	5–0	PSV	–	De Kuip	22,500
1998–99	Ajax	Grønkjær	2–0	Fortuna Sittard	–	De Kuip
1999–2000	Roda JC		2–0	NEC	–	De Kuip
2000–01	Twente	–	0–0 aet 4–3 pen.	PSV	–	De Kuip	45,000
2001–02	Ajax	Mido Wamberto Ibrahimović	3–2 aet	FC Utrecht	Gluščević	De Kuip	37,000
2002–03	Utrecht	de Jong Gluščević Kuyt	4–1	Feyenoord	Kalou	De Kuip	45,000
2003–04	Utrecht	van den Bergh	1–0	Twente	–	De Kuip	48,000
2004–05	PSV	Bouma Cocu Park Vennegoor of Hesselink	4–0	Willem II	–	De Kuip	35,000
2005–06	Ajax	Huntelaar	2–1	PSV	Lamey	De Kuip	30,770
2006–07	Ajax	Huntelaar	1–1 aet 8–7 pen	AZ	Dembélé	De Kuip
2007–08	Feyenoord	Landzaat de Guzmán	2–0	Roda JC	–	De Kuip
2008-09	Heerenveen	Popov Kalou	2–2 aet 5–4pen	Twente	Elia Hersi	De Kuip

Number of titles

	Club	# Wins	Winning Years
1	Ajax	17	1917, 1943, 1961, 1967, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1979, 1983, 1986, 1987, 1993, 1998, 1999, 2002, 2006, 2007
2	Feyenoord	11	1930, 1935, 1965, 1969, 1980, 1984, 1991, 1992,1994, 1995, 2008
3	PSV	8	1950, 1974, 1976, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1996, 2005
4	Quick Den Haag	4	1909, 1910, 1911, 1916
5	AZ	3	1978, 1981, 1982
	HFC	3	1904, 1913, 1915
	Sparta Rotterdam	3	1958, 1962, 1966
	FC Utrecht	3	1985, 2003, 2004
9	ADO Den Haag	2	1968, 1975
	DFC	2	1914, 1932
	Twente	2	1977, 2001
	Fortuna'54	2	1957, 1964
	Haarlem	2	1902, 1912
	HBS Den Haag	2	1901, 1908
	RCH	2	1918, 1928
	Roda JC	2	1997, 2000
	VOC Rotterdam	2	1905, 1907
	Wageningen	2	1939, 1948
	Willem II	2	1944, 1963
20	Heerenveen	1	2009
	Concordia	1	1906
	CVV	1	1920
	FC Eindhoven	1	1937
	HVV Den Haag	1	1903
	LONGA	1	1926
	NAC Breda	1	1973
	Quick 1888	1	1949
	RAP Amsterdam	1	1899
	Roermond	1	1936
	Schoten	1	1921
	Velocitas Breda	1	1900
	Velocitas Groningen	1	1934
	VSV	1	1938
	VUC Den Haag	1	1927
VVV	1	1959
ZFC	1	1925

Notes

Media coverage

In The Netherlands, the KNVB Cup is broadcast by RTL on RTL 7. In Australia the KNVB Cup is currently available on Setanta Sports.

References

External links

• KNVB.nl - Official website KNVB /
• RSSSF History of the Dutch Cup