AZ Alkmaar just won the 2009 Dutch Eredivisie. In the process, the club from the small Dutch town of Alkmaar are this season's football champions of the Netherlands. Congratulations & well done to AZ.
AZ coach Louis van Gaal (who formerly won Dutch & European trophies with Ajax Amsterdam) deserves huge credit for AZ's triumph. This is the first time since 1981 that the Netherlands have a champion not named Ajax, PSV Eindhoven or Feyenoord (Holland's Big 3). And guess which team were Dutch champions in 1981? AZ Alkmaar. They won their only other Dutch championship that year, so this year's triumph was only AZ's second championship in their history. AZ Alkmaar may have benefited from an off-year by all the other teams, including Holland's Big 3. But it would be wrong to simply dismiss AZ's title as a statistical aberration. AZ Alkmaar won fair & square, & the poor displays of their rivals was just as much a product of AZ's dominance as it was of their rivals' problems. Ultimately, AZ won this year's title with a few more weeks in the season to go. This is testament to AZ's consistency, which ultimately made it impossible for the chasing pack to catch them.
I'm happy that AZ are Dutch champions, because they were on the verge of tasting success in the recent past but just missed out. They were very close to winning it in season 2006/2007, but heartbreakingly for their fans, only just missed out. They went into the last game of the 2006/2007 season ahead, but lost that final game, & so were overtaken to the title that year. That season, they also lost the Dutch Cup final to Ajax on penalties, & then lost to Ajax in a home-and-away playoff series for a position in the UEFA Champions League.
Well, the 2008/2009 championship-winning season should make up for those heartbreaks of 2006/2007. Once again, well played AZ Alkmaar.
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