The Netherlands will see the first protest of all Dutch supporters associations when Feyenoord Rotterdam and Vitesse Arnhem compete for the Johan Cruijff Schaal (Dutch Supercup) on 5 August.
The campaign against the new format of the Supercup was launched by Vitesse Arnhem supporters and is backed by fans from all over the country who are organized in our membership association Supporterscollectief Nederland.
In the past the Dutch Supercup always took place at a neutral venue with the same amount of tickets for the League Winner and the Cup Winner. This year, for the first time, Dutch FA (KNVB) decided to play the Super Cup in the stadium of the League Winner and to provide the tickets in a home and away sector ratio. This means that cup winners Vitesse will only get the 1200 tickets they usually would be provided with for a usual league match at Feyenoord’s De Kuip stadium.
Due to this unfair allocation ratio the Supportersvereniging Vitesse (official supporters club) launched a protest in which all fans from the 18 Eredivisie clubs will take part, which even includes Feyenoord. Vitesse supporters will boycott the Supercup match on Saturday and invite 2 fans of each of the other Dutch clubs to the away sector. It is the first time that Dutch football supporters join forces for a common cause, as every cclub’s fan base could be hit by this grievance in the future if the KNVB and the clubs sticks to this decision.
Matthijs Keuning from the Supporterscollectief said: „We strongly support the initiative from Supportersvereniging Vitesse and are proud that all 18 clubs from the Eredivisie come together to plead for a fair Supercup with enough tickets for both clubs. It’s unique that fans from all clubs come together for an action and therefore a major step forward in the organisation of supporters in The Netherlands after Supporterscollectief Nederland was formed in May 2016. We will talk with the KNVB about improvements in the Supercup after summer. They already acknowledged that this situation should be avoided in the future and want to talk to us to improve the conditions for next year.“.