Dutch football league play-offs

Sunday’s relegation/promotion play-offs saw Doetinchem club De Graafschap relegated to the Jupiler League.

In a home game against Jupiler league club FC Den Bosch, De Graafschap proved unable to score a second goal and the match ended in a disappointing 1-1 draw. After the 0-0 draw in Den Bosch a few days ago, the one-all score just wasn’t enough.

FC Den Bosch have a shot at moving up to the Premier League now that they've made it to the play-off finals. Rotterdam club Sparta on the other hand will continue to play in the Jupiler League after losing their match against Willem II from Tilburg. Sparta obtained a 1-1 draw, but Willem II had won the first match 2-1.

FC Eindhoven no longer have a role to play in the league play-offs after losing both the home and away matches against Helmond Sport. They were beaten 1-0 at home after also losing 1-0 in in Helmond.

In the play-offs for a place in the Europa League, Vitesse took a major step toward realising its European ambitions on Sunday. The Arnhem club reached the finals in the play-offs for a ticket to the Europa League by taking out arch-rivals NEC from Nijmegen. Vitesse scored a 2-1 victory in a home game at the Gelredome stadium which cancelled out the 3-2 defeat suffered in the away match.

RKC Waalwijk beat FC Twente 1-0 and will play Vitesse in the finals. FC Twente are assured of playing in the Europa League after receiving a wild card from the Royal Dutch Football Union for topping the fair-play rankings.

(gsh/imm)