AZ Alkmaar climbed to the third place on the final regular match day of the Dutch Eredivisie football competition to capture a direct ticket for the Europa League preliminary round, while Rotterdam Feyenoord dropped to fourth place to continue in the European playoffs.
Feyenoord needed a win on Sunday to secure the third position, but the Rotterdam based team lost 0-3 against PEC Zwolle at the IJsseldelta Stadion in Zwolle, reports Xinhua.
Ben Rienstra opened the scoring in the 52nd minute and in the 72nd minute the hosts were awarded a penalty after a foul by Rick Karsdorp, who received a red card, on Ryan Thomas.
Tomas Necid converted the penalty and in injury time the Czech striker produced a second goal to make it 3-0. Only one month ago Feyenoord seemed certain of the third place, but with only two points from the last five matches, coach Fred Rutten's side finished the regular season dramatically.
Alkmaar profited from Feyenoord's loss with a 4-1 win over S.B.V. Excelsior. Alkmaar already distanced themselves from the home team with two early goals by Aron Johannsson (bicycle kick) and Steven Berghuis.
After a strike by Markus Henriksen in the 35th minute and an own goal by Jeffrey Gouweleeuw in the 42nd the half-time score was 3-1 for Alkmaar. Johannsson added a second goal in the second half to seal Alkmaar's victory.
Vitesse were also still in contention for the third place if the Arnhem-based would win on Sunday and both Feyenoord and Alkmaar would drop points. That was not the case. Vitesse drew 3-3 at home against FC Utrecht.
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Together with PEC Zwolle and SC Heerenveen, which lost 1-3 at home against FC Twente on Sunday, Feyenoord and Vitesse will continue in the play-offs for a place in the preliminary round of the Europa League.
Dutch Cup winners FC Groningen, which won 5-4 against NAC Breda and finished eighth, were already certain of a Europa League berth.
Dutch champions PSV eindhoven finished the season with a 3-2 win against ADO Den Haag. Georginio Wijnaldum became match winner in injury-time. Forward Memphis Depay, who leaves PSV for Manchester United, didn't score, but finished the season as Eredivisie top scorer with a total of 22 goals.
Number two Ajax ended the season on a low. The champions of the 2013/2014 season lost 1-2 against FC Dordrecht. Ricky van Haaren earned the home team the win with a shot from the edge of the penalty box in injury-time.
With the second place Ajax qualified for the Champions League preliminary round and champions PSV grabbed a direct Champions League berth.
As number sixteen and seventeen on the ranking NAC and Go Ahead Eagles, which lost 0-1 to Heracles Almelo, continue in the promotion/relegation play-offs and bottom side FC Dordrecht dropped directly to the second level.