NEC Nijmegen - Excelsior: 5-0
The Nijmegen side treated the home fans to a warm welcome to the 2025/26 season as Excelsior, who won promotion from the Keuken Kampioen Divisie after finishing second last season, were beaten 5-0 in De Goffert.
Midfielder Dirk Proper opened the scoring for the home side after just fourteen minutes. Dutch-Turkish winger Basar Onal stayed patient and laid the ball off to Proper, who was left alone by Excelsior's defence and could freely curl the ball into Stijn van Gassel's bottom-left corner.
After Van Gassel was unable to continue with a groin injury, Japanese striker Koki Ogawa doubled the score shortly after the break with a fabulous overhead kick. The Japanese hitman completed a brace just seven minutes later after Onal delivered a perfect cross for Ogawa to head in.
Tjaronn Chery celebrated his return to the Eredivisie with one of the easiest assists of his career as Bryan Linssen escaped from Excelsior's defence and toe-punted the ball past 19-year-old Tijmen Holla.
After Ogawa was replaced by former Telstar hero Youssef El Kachati, the Moroccan striker forced a penalty just five minutes after coming on when Holla mistimed a dive and brought the striker down. Chery added a goal to his assist on his Eredivisie return and put the final score on the board in the 82nd minute: 5-0.
sc Heerenveen - FC Volendam: 1-1
FC Volendam, the reigning Keuken Kampioen Divisie champions, lived it up in their return to the promised land with a 1-1 draw away at Heerenveen.
Heerenveen captain Luuk Brouwers converted on the first big chance of the match: Levi Smans delivered a perfect deep cross into the box from a free-kick, which Brouwers put in the back of the net with a classy first-touch finish.
After Levi Smans hit the post for Heerenveen and Aurelio Oehlers and Henk Veerman were denied equalisers in the first half, Jakob Trenskow thought he put Heerenveen up two shortly after the break. The VAR ruled out the goal for an offside infringement, however.
A seemingly badly injured Levi Smans, who's being linked to Oxford United, was forced to leave the pitch after 53 minutes, after which FC Volendam scored the equaliser, courtesy of Azerbaijani international Ozan Kokcu.
Robert Muhren failed to convert on a one-on-one situation in the 82nd minute, after which Brandley Kuwas saw a free kick hit the post in added time. A major chance for Heerenveen nearly got the home side the win in the 94th minute, but the points were shared in the Abe Lenstra Stadium.
Feyenoord - NAC Breda: 2-0
Title candidates Feyenoord opened their season with a comfortable win over NAC Breda. To read everything about their win, read our match report here.
PSV - Sparta Rotterdam: 6-1
The reigning champions kicked off their title defence with an emphatic 6-1 win over Sparta Rotterdam. To read everything about their win, read our match report here.