The Dutch FA have called a halt to the 2019/20 campaign with no league winner, promotion or relegation and Ajax chief, Edwin van der Sar, admits the decision was understandable.
The 2019/20 in the Netherlands was declared over with no league champion and no promotion or relegation.
Ajax were top of the standings on goal difference with nine matches left to play when the season was suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic in March.
But the former European champions will not be awarded the title, the Dutch football association (KNVB) decided after hopes for a resumption of the season ended earlier this week when the government extended a ban on public events until September 1.
It is the first time since 1945 that there will be no Dutch champion.
“As players and coaches, you want to win the title on the field,” said Van der Sar, the former Dutch national team and Manchester United goalkeeper.
“We have been top of the table throughout the season, so it is a pity we haven’t been able to become champion but given the situation we are in, it is understandable.
“There are a lot more important matters than football right now,” he told the club’s television channel.
Ajax will, however, compete in the Champions League next season, taking up one of the two places for the Dutch in the competition. AZ Alkmaar, who had caught up to Ajax in the weeks before the suspension of the league and were only behind them on goal difference, will start in the preliminary rounds.
The KNVB, after a meeting on Friday of its 38 clubs, decided that Feyenoord, PSV Eindhoven and Willem II Tilburg, who are the next three in the standings, would participate in the Europa League, saying they were following UEFA guidelines issued earlier this week.
Among the clubs to lose out is Utrecht, which was sixth, three points behind fifth-placed Willem II, which occupies the last Europa League spot.
However, Utrecht had played one game less and had superior goal difference.
The Eredivisie is the first top-tier European league to end its season prematurely because of the coronavirus crisis.
Belgium could ratify an end to its season on Monday.
