The Eerste Divisie (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈeːrstə diˈvizi]; English: First Division) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands.

From the 2009–10 season onwards, one team has been relegated from the Eerste Divisie to the Hoofdklasse (then the main amateur league of Dutch football).

From the 2010–11 to 2015–16 seasons, the KNVB introduced a third and highest amateur tier called Topklasse, and Hoofdklasse clubs have been able to get promoted to that new division.

The last clubs leaving professional football in that way were FC Wageningen and VCV Zeeland in 1992, and more recently HFC Haarlem and RBC Roosendaal, who went bankrupt in January 2010 and June 2011 respectively.

However, for the 2010–11 season, the league returned to 18 clubs, as HFC Haarlem went bankrupt and FC Oss was relegated to the newly formed Topklasse.

Achilles '29 has been promoted from the Topklasse with the reserve teams of Ajax, FC Twente and PSV being added as well.

[3] In June 2022, the KNVB decided that relegation from the Eerste Divisie will stay absent for an extended period of 5 to 10 years.

Clubs with larger fanbases suffered relegation in the 2000s, with Roda JC setting the Eerste Divisie attendance record at 16,150 during their home game against NEC Nijmegen in the 2014–15 season.

NAC Breda bettered it a season later in their home match against Go Ahead Eagles, which had an attendance of 17,800 people.