- News release
This is why Amsterdam’s brand-new league title is so unique
Amsterdam added a unique chapter to the history of play-offs in the Tulp Hoofdklasse Women last Monday. The team crowned themselves national champions after finishing fourth in the regular league. Never before has a number four team managed to capture the title via the play-offs after all.
Since the introduction of the play-offs in the 1992-93 season, the national champions always came from the top three of the regular league. Usually, the number one or two also ended up being the team standing with the bowl in their hands. Amsterdam thus broke a stubborn law this season.
The Amsterdammers started the playoffs as the lowest-ranked team of the foursome. In the semi-finals, SCHC, the winner of the regular league, was eliminated. Amsterdam then settled in the final after shoot-outs with Den Bosch, which had started the play-offs as number two.
For years, the play-offs seemed mainly the domain of the top three. Of the first 32 champions, eighteen came out of the regular league as number one, ten as number two and four as number three. Amsterdam has now added a new chapter: for the first time, the number four became national champions.
