PSV are champions of the Eredivisie. They didn’t just win the Dutch league, though – they ran away with the damn thing. From start to finish, the title always felt bound for Eindhoven, but now it’s official: for the first time in six years and the 25th time overall, the title is theirs.
For American soccer fans, that’ll be particularly sweet. PSV turned themselves into the United States’ official Eredivisie team this summer by signing three U.S. men’s national team stars. Sergino Dest, Ricardo Pepi and Malik Tillman are all champions now. Ultimately, it all paid off.
That’s worth celebrating, and there will be plenty of parties and parades to come. It’s one of the benefits of winning a title early: you get a nice little victory lap to close off a campaign.
Getty ImagesRunaway champions
Through the first 26 games of the Eredivisie season, PSV were unbeatable – literally. They were running rampant, blasting past everyone in their path. Defending champions Feyenoord tried their best to keep up, but there was no way they were ever going to make up ground on this PSV team.
So, when PSV’s first league loss of the campaign eventually came against NEC Nijmegen at the end of March, the title wasn’t in danger. PSV had lost their shot at invincibility, but this team will still go down as one of the best the Eredivisie has seen in recent years.
They beat closest rivals Feyenoord in December to solidify their title credentials, and then held them off in a 2-2 draw in March to effectively end any hopes of a comeback in Rotterdam. And what about the almighty Ajax? It has been an embarrassing season in Amsterdam, and it began early with a 5-2 thrashing at the hands of PSV in October. Even after suffering their first loss of the season, PSV came out firing, scoring 13 goals over the next three games in a run that included a 4-1 win over AZ Alkmaar and a 6-0 thrashing of Vitesse.
That paved the way for a now-famous 8-0 triumph at Heerenveen, which put PSV on the precipice of sealing the title with just three games to play. On Sunday, they wrapped it all up with a 4-2 trouncing of Sparta Rotterdam, earning the celebration that ensued, headlined by former USMNT star and current PSV director of football, Earnie Stewart, dancing the night away. It is not just on the domestic front that the club has impressed, though.
