The Men's Hoofdklasse Hockey, currently known as the Tulp Hoofdklasse Men for sponsorship reasons,[1] is the men's top division of field hockey in the Netherlands. The league ranks first in the European league ranking table.[2] The league was established in 1973, and before the league existed the champions of the several district played in a championship pool to determine the national champion.
Kampong are the current champions, having won the 2023–24 season by defeating Rotterdam in the championship final. Bloemendaal has the most titles with 22 followed by Amsterdam with 21.
The season starts in August or September of each year and is interrupted by the indoor hockey season from November to February. From March the outdoor season will be continued. The league is played by twelve teams who play each other twice and who compete for four spots in the championship play-offs. The number one and four and the number two and three play each other in the semi-final and the winners qualify for the final where the winner will be crowned champion. Each semi-final and the final consist of two-leg matches, with the winner determined by the highest aggregate score over both home and away games. The last placed team is relegated to the second division, the Promotieklasse.[3] The eleventh-placed team plays in a relegation play-off against the runners-up of the Promotieklasse and the tenth-placed team plays a relegation play-off against the third-placed from the Promotieklasse.[3] The winners of these matches will play the next season in the Hoofdklasse.[3]
Since 2015, almost every Sunday, one match from either the men's or the women's league is broadcast live by either Ziggo Sport or the NOS.[6]
