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BREAKING: PSV Eindhoven Crowned Dutch Champions For Record 25th Time

Published

1 year ago

May 5, 2024

PSV supporters cheer during the Dutch Eredivisie football match between PSV Eindhoven and Sparta Rotterdam at the Phillips stadium, in Eindhoven, on May 5, 2024. (Photo by MAURICE VAN STEEN / ANP / AFP) / Netherlands OUT / NETHERLANDS OUT

PSV Eindhoven were crowned Dutch champions for the 25th time on Sunday, the club’s first title since 2018, in a season also notable for the implosion of rivals Ajax.

Peter Bosz’s men made sure of the Eredivisie trophy with two games to spare via a 4-2 win over Sparta Rotterdam in a party atmosphere at a sunny Philips Stadion.

This meant second-placed Feyenoord could no longer catch PSV, who celebrated in front of their jubilant fans at the final whistle.

It has been a season to remember for the Eindhoven club whose shirt has been graced by Brazilians Romario and Ronaldo, as well as Dutch legends Mark van Bommel and Arjen Robben.

They went 17 games before even dropping a point in the Eredivisie, finally losing their unbeaten record on the 27th matchday with a 3-1 loss away to NEC Nijmegen.

Particularly sweet was a 5-2 win at home to Ajax and a crunch 2-1 victory away in Feyenoord’s intimidating De Kuip stadium, which set PSV on their way towards the title.

Central to PSV’s success this term has been the form of their veteran Dutch striker Luuk de Jong, whose 27 goals has made him the league’s joint top goalscorer.

This team has some way to go before matching the legendary 1987/88 Guus Hiddink-coached side that swept all before them, beating Benfica on penalties in the European Cup final.

But the Eredivisie trophy will assuage the frustrations of previous seasons when PSV finished second on three consecutive occasions, watching Ajax or Feyenoord lift the title.

PSV also enjoyed a good run in Europe, coming second in a Champions League group that included Arsenal, Sevilla and Lens, before crashing out to Borussia Dortmund in the last 16.

– Bliss for PSV, Horror for Ajax –

Feyenoord can count themselves unlucky to have come up against an all-conquering PSV this year — the Rotterdam club have only lost twice all season in the top flight.

The De Kuip faithful will settle for second place plus a Dutch Cup triumph but are set to lose their coach, with Arne Slot heading to Liverpool to replace Jurgen Klopp.

Meanwhile, Ajax fans would settle for anything after a season which would have Johan Cruyff turning in his grave.

The four-time European Cup champions seem unlikely to qualify for any European football next season, lying a shocking fifth — nine points behind AZ Alkmaar.

The 5-2 win for PSV over Ajax in October was doubly joyous for the Eindhoven club as it also, briefly, condemned their perennial rivals to a historic last place in the Eredivisie.

Historic low followed historic low Ajax, a club that counts Cruyff, Marco Van Basten and Dennis Bergkamp as alumni, as they crashed out of the Dutch club to amateur club Hercules.

The nadir for the Amsterdam club came in early April when they suffered humiliation in De Kuip, losing 6-0 to Feyenoord in the Dutch “Klassieker.”

Frustrations on the pitch have boiled over into violence in the stands and chaos in the boardroom.

CEO and chairman Alex Kroes was suspended on suspicion of insider trading, only to return a few weeks later as technical director.

A few days after his suspension, it emerged that club chairman Michael van Praag, who had vocally criticised Kroes, had “forgotten” to declare his own shares in the club to the correct authorities.

Vitesse Arnhem were relegated for the first time in 35 seasons after the Dutch federation imposed an 18-point penalty on them.

They currently sit on two points after their punishment for breaches of the league’s licensing regulations.

Related Topics:champion Championship Dutch championship

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‘Chelsea Lifted Duplicate Club World Cup Trophy After Trump Kept Real One’

Published

2 hours ago

July 15, 2025

Editor

United States president Donald Trump has claimed that the Club World Cup trophy lifted by Chelsea after their recent victory was actually a replica because the original is now a permanent fixture in the Oval Office.

Trump, who attended the final alongside members of his cabinet and FIFA president Gianni Infantino, played a central role in the post-match ceremony.

He and Infantino jointly handed over the trophy to Chelsea captain Reece James, though Trump’s presence caused visible confusion among the Chelsea players and prompted quiet pleas from Infantino to step aside.

The trophy, according to Trump, never made it back to Chelsea in London.

“I said, When are you going to pick up the trophy? [They said] ‘We’re never going to pick it up. You can have it forever in the Oval Office. We’re making a new one,’” Trump revealed in an interview with official Club World Cup broadcaster DAZN. “And they actually made a new one. So that was quite exciting, but it is in the Oval [Office] right now.”

The claim suggests that Chelsea, fresh off their hard-fought win in the tournament’s final, were handed a newly minted replica while the original remained in Washington D.C.

Trump’s involvement in FIFA-related events has become more frequent since the beginning of his second term in office.

In March, Infantino presented the Club World Cup trophy at an event in the Oval Office, and it has remained there ever since.

In the same DAZN interview, Trump mused about issuing an executive order to rename soccer as “football” in the U.S., and claimed world leaders have praised America as “the hottest country in the world,” referring to its economic and political status.

Speaking about FIFA’s ongoing partnerships with the U.S. and upcoming international tournaments, Trump said: “It’s about unity. It’s about everybody getting together and a lot of love between countries. I guess this is probably the most international sport, so it can really bring the world together.”

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No Messi Or Ronaldo: Trump Names His Greatest Footballer Of All Time

Published

1 day ago

July 14, 2025

Editor

United States President Donald Trump has weighed in on the debate over the greatest football player of all time.

Trump was in attendance at the Club World Final on Sunday at the MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, as Chelsea overwhelmed Paris Saint-Germain in the first half and beat the European champions 3-0 on Sunday in the final of the first expanded Club World Cup.

Asked after the game during a DAZN broadcast to name his all-time favourite footballer, Trump named Pelé as the greatest of all time.

Trump also reminisced about Pelé’s time in the United States, especially his stint with the New York Cosmos in the now-defunct NASL, where the Brazilian legend played from 1975 until his retirement in 1977.

He said, “Many years ago, when I was young, they brought a player named Pele to play, and he played for a team called the Cosmos.

“He was the inspiration we had, and this place was packed. It was an earlier version of this stadium, but right here in the Meadowlands, and it was Pele.

“I don’t want to date myself, but that was a long time ago. I was a young guy, and I came to watch Pele, and he was fantastic. And I would, I’d say, probably go old-fashioned. That’s like saying Babe Ruth, but I would say Pele was so great.”

Trump has openly expressed his intention to use this year’s Club World Cup and the management lp, will align with the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence.

Sports

Club World Cup Final Scuffle ‘Should Have Been Avoided’ Says Luis Enrique

Published

1 day ago

July 14, 2025

Editor

Paris Saint-Germain coach Luis Enrique said he was “just trying to separate the players” after being caught up in a scuffle on the pitch at the end of his team’s 3-0 defeat to Chelsea in the Club World Cup final on Sunday.

Television footage showed the PSG boss raising his arm to the neck of Joao Pedro, who had earlier scored Chelsea’s third goal following a Cole Palmer brace at the MetLife Stadium.

“There was pushing and shoving, a lot of tension and pressure. The situation obviously should have been avoided,” Luis Enrique told reporters.

“My intention was clearly to just try to separate the players.”

He admitted that Chelsea were deserved winners as he urged his team to enjoy a short summer break at the end of a remarkable campaign.

Defeat for PSG denied them what would have been a stunning clean sweep of trophies as they failed to add the Club World Cup to the UEFA Champions League and French league and cup double they claimed in May.

“I think over the course of the game they deserved their win. They played very well,” Luis Enrique said.

“I said beforehand that Chelsea were a very good team and they deserve their victory and the trophy.”

A historic season for PSG ends after 11 months and 65 matches, and they now have exactly one month before returning to action in August — there will be another trophy on the line in their next game, against Tottenham Hotspur in the UEFA Super Cup.

“I think is important for us to enjoy our holidays. They will be very short. But we need to make the most of them,” he said.

PSG’s victory in this year’s Champions League also means they will have another crack at winning the Club World Cup when they participate in the next edition, which is due to take place in 2029.

“I think this tournament was born out of the need to know who the best team in the world is. I think it is an interesting format and I think it could become a real top-level competition,” said the Spaniard.

“There is just the difficulty of finding space for it in the current calendar, but I think it is an interesting tournament — we had the chance to win it but there was another team who were better than us in the final.”