Dutch football: PSV Eindhoven wins 25th Eredivisie, first in six years

PSV Eindhoven sealed its first Dutch league title in six years and the 25th in its history by beating Sparta Rotterdam 4-2 on Sunday.

Peter Bosz’s team, which features U.S. players Sergio Dest, Malik Tillman and Ricardo Pepi, dominated the Eredivisie season, losing only one match, scoring 107 goals while conceding 19, with two matches still to play.

PSV started the season with a record-equalling run of 17 wins before drawing 1-1 with Utrecht. The only other team to set the 17-win mark was PSV, in 1988.

It is the first major league title for Bosz as a coach. He previously led Ajax to the final of the Europa League in 2017, where it lost to Manchester United.

PSV only needed a point against Sparta. It took all three.

The Rotterdam club’s midfielder Metinho threatened to spoil the party atmosphere in Eindhoven when he scored in just the 8th minute, but a Said Bakari own goal levelled the scores and Johan Bakayoko put PSV in front in the 26th minute. Another own goal, this time by PSV defender Olivier Boscagli, put Sparta back on level terms before halftime.

Boscagli made amends by volleying home a delicately chipped Veerman freekick to put PSV 3-2 ahead, setting off champion chants in the stadium and beer showers in a packed marketplace in central Eindhoven where fans watched the match on screens.

Defender Jordan Teze put the result and PSV’s championship beyond doubt when he made it 4-2 in the 78th minute.

In its previous three Eredivisie matches as it closed in on the title, PSV scored a combined 19 coals and conceded just one. The team also won the season-opening Johan Cruyff Plate by beating last year’s Eredivisie champions, Feyenoord, 1-0 in Rotterdam.

PSV striker and captain Luuk de Jong, the league’s joint top scorer with AZ Alkmaar’s Vangelis Pavlidis going into the match, was substituted in the 77th minute with what appeared to be a slight knee injury. He was replaced by Pepi.

Dest, on loan at PSV from Barcelona, is recovering from a serious knee injury and is not expected to play again this year.