champions for the first time in 18 years, sealing
the title with a 3-1 home victory over Heracles,
Dirk Kuyt scoring a hat-trick.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst's men have been top of
the league since matchday one and came into the
final day of the season one point clear of closest
rivals Ajax, who were playing away to Willem II at
the same time.
That meant Feyenoord, who missed their first
chance to win the title by losing to Excelsior last
week, had to match Ajax's result to be crowned
champions and did just that by beating Heracles
courtesy of three goals from captain Kuyt.
Kuyt's first goal came after just 38 seconds and his
12th-minute header put Feyenoord in a dominant
position.
The home side then wrapped up the victory when
Kuyt scored a penalty with six minutes to play,
with Peter van Ooijen's consolation coming too late
for Heracles. As a result, Europa League finalists
Ajax's 3-1 win over Willem II was in vain.
It is Feyenoord's 15th overall league title and their
first since 1998-99, manager Van Bronckhorst
ending the streak in only his second full season,
his first having seen the club win the KNVB Cup.
Nicolai Jorgensen has been Feyenoord's star
performer after signing from Copenhagen, with 21
goals and 11 assists in the league, while Jens
Toornstra has chipped in with 14 goals and nine
assists.
Ajax lose out on the title on the final day of the
season for the second straight campaign after
suffering a nightmare collapse 12 months ago.
They went into the final weekend of 2015-16
leading the league, only to lose out on the title to
PSV as they failed to beat De Graafschap and now
they have fallen just short again.
Feyenoord's success means five different Dutch
teams have won the title in the last nine seasons –
AZ, Twente, Ajax and PSV being the others.
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