EuroFootball.com continues its reviews of European football leagues. This time, the "Eredivisie" championship will be reviewed, where teams are currently resting during the winter break. Before this break, the first round matches were played, and in this article - the review of the first seventeen rounds. Leaders: "Ajax" The very young "Ajax" team is leading the Dutch championship and proving that some of the most talented European football players are playing in it. Excluding goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen, the average age of the remaining ten players on the field in the last round was just 21.1 years, and Frank de Boer allows such a young composition on the field every week. The coach who has been working with the team since 2010 is one of the most important figures and reasons for success of this club, and his excellent work with the young "Ajax" team has already attracted the attention of some of the strongest clubs in European leagues. Other title contenders: PSV and "Feyenoord" PSV team, having advanced to the next stage of the Champions League, trails the leading "Ajax" team by three points and still remains the main contenders to defend the champions title. They have not suffered a loss in the Netherlands for 11 rounds already, and during this period, they have even defeated the leading "Ajax" team on their own field. This season they also won against "Feyenoord", so the biggest problem for PSV is stability. Out of the three leading teams, the most experienced and seasoned composition is held by the "Feyenoord" team. However, this did not help them maintain concentration and successfully finish the first round - they lost five points in the last two matches. If they had not scattered these points, "Feyenoord" would now have as many points as the leading "Ajax" team. At the end of this season, it will be clear whether Dirk Kuyt's and other players' experience will bring the title to the team that has not won it since 1999. Disappointment: "Twente" One of the most famous Dutch teams - "Twente", has not been experiencing the best times for the past two years. Last season, the federation penalized them twice with a total point penalty for financial problems, and the team remained in the tenth place. This year, the situation has worsened even more, and the club currently occupies the penultimate position and seriously risks relegation from the top league. Their problems do not end only on the field but also beyond it. It was recently announced that "Twente" has been disqualified from UEFA competitions for the next three years for selling a player violating the rules to independent investors. Top scorer: Luukas de Jong PSV striker Luukas de Jong leads the list of the most effective players with fourteen accurate strikes. The 25-year-old striker scored 20 goals last year, being surpassed only by his former teammate Memphis Depay. This year, the Dutch player is even more effective and determined to take over the title of most effective player. The biggest competitor to the leading PSV sniper is probably the best-known player in the Dutch championship. Dirk Kuyt, who returned to his homeland this year, proves that he can still be effective. The 35-year-old veteran scored 13 goals in the first round and showed his class perfectly in the middle of October, when he scored three goals in two consecutive matches. Lithuanian: Vytautas Andriuškevičius The player who arrived in the Netherlands last year did not take long to establish himself in the main "Cambuur" lineup, and this season he only missed matches when he was injured. The 25-year-old defender has suffered injuries several times this year, but played in more than half - ten matches - of the "Eredivisie" championship. The Lithuanian team is in the sixteenth place in the tournament and is in a dangerous zone, but the team is not playing without hope - this season they earned points in nine out of seventeen matches. The biggest problem is that "Cambuur" did not win until the 16th round, and in total played seven draws. Two consecutive wins before the winter break suggest that "Cambuur" does not plan to fall from the Dutch championship. Dutch championship tournament table:
Tautvydas Sakalauskas
