Betting on PSV

The most successful ‘provincial club’ in the Netherlands is PSV. The club from Eindhoven has celebrated many Dutch and European successes. You can bet on PSV all year round.

History of the club

Founding of PSV

PSV‘s official foundation date has long stood at 31 August 1913. However, its origins lie a few years before that. In fact, by December 1910, employees of Philips had already founded the Philips Elftal.

In honour of 100 years of independence from the French (1813-1913), the Philips Sportvereeniging, or PSV, was founded. Philips employees could not only play football, but also other sports. The Philips Elftal later joined this club.

The first years PSV mainly struggled financially, but in 1921 the club did promote to the First Division. After a relegation in 1925, PSV returned to the highest level in 1926.

Since then, the club has never been relegated again. In 1928, membership of the club was also opened to non-employees of Philips, and a year later PSV became national champions for the first time.

Initial succes

Under the leadership of Frans Otten, son-in-law of Anton Philips, PSV grew considerably since then. He provided more stands, better dressing rooms and professionalisation of PSV’s football branch.

In 1935, the club took the national title again at a time when Ajax, Feyenoord and Go Ahead Eagles were the other top clubs. Just before the introduction of professional football, PSV achieved several more successes, winning the KNVB Cup in 1950 and the national title in 1951. In 1961, Frans Otten was succeeded as chairman by Frits Philips.

Apart from the national title in 1963 however, these were lean years for the Eindhoven club. Between 1951 and 1975, PSV did not win a single other prize. In 1972, the club made a golden move by appointing Kees Rijvers (now 96!) as coach. He focused mainly on young talent and that paid off in successes.

In 1975, 1976 and 1978, PSV won the title, in 1974 and 1976 the KNVB Cup and in 1978 the UEFA Cup. Moreover, PSV also reached the semi-finals of the European Cup II in 1975 and the European Cup I in 1976. Players like Willy van der Kuijlen and René and Willy van de Kerkhof were very important in those days.

The 80’s and onwards

With the departure of Rijvers in 1980, things subsided again at the Eindhoven club. Shortly afterwards, shirt sponsorship and further commercialisation allowed PSV to grow again.

Guus Hiddink was appointed coach in 1987 and he led PSV to its greatest successes ever. In just over three seasons, he took three league titles, two cups and, in 1988, the European Cup I. After his departure, Bobby Robson as coach also won the title in 1991 and 1992.

Since 1986, PSV have won the Eredivisie almost every other year on average, 17 times in fact. The most successful periods over the past 25 years were under Eric Gerets and again Guus Hiddink in the early 2000s, and under Phillip Cocu between 2014 and 2018.

The national title in 2018 was the last so far for PSV, though. In European tournaments, the club reached quarter-finals seven times over the past 25 years. The highlight was the Champions League semi-final in 2004-2005.

Since 1981, PSV have never finished lower than fourth in the Eredivisie. So every year they also play European football with Champions League next season, just like champions Ajax. Which makes betting on PSV all the more interesting.

Club icons PSV

Before and after World War II

A number of PSV’s early club icons were active in Eindhoven before and just after World War II. Jan van den Broek played for PSV between 1928 and 1938, becoming national champion twice and scoring 154 times in 200 matches.

Between 1938 and 1942, he was also coach of PSV. In his final year, he played together with Berend Scholtens, PSV player between 1937 and 1955. During and after the war, Lieuwe Steiger (1942-1957), Coen Dillen (1941-1945 and 1949-1961) and Piet Fransen (1948-1960) were very important for the club.

Coen Dillen is one of the two players with a statue at the Philips Stadium. Willy van der Kuijlen is the other. ‘Skiete Willy’ was PSV’s goal-scoring machine between 1964 and 1981.

‘Mister PSV’ scored 311 goals in the Eredivisie, a record that will probably never be broken. Moreover, with 528, he is also the record holder with most duels for the club.

He also went through the long run-up to the successful period in the 1970s. Important other players at that time included brothers René and Willy van de Kerkhof. René played for PSV between 1973 and 1983, Willy from 1973-1988.

As a result, Willy still took the European Cup I at 36, in addition to the previously won UEFA Cup of 1978. Jan van Beveren, Ernie Brandts, Jan Poortvliet, Huub Stevens, Adrie van Kraaij and, of course, coach Kees Rijvers were also important mainstays for PSV in the 1970s.

Second success

So the next successful period came in the second half of the 1980s, led by coach Guus Hiddink. Familiar names from that time were of course Hans van Breukelen, Jan Heintze, Eric Gerets, Ronald Koeman, Berry van Aerle, Søren Lerby, Gerald Vanenburg and Wim Kieft. All Dutch players from this list also became European champions with Oranje in 1988.

In the 1990s betting on PSV would have been very lucrative, becoming known worldwide mainly as discoverers of Brazilian super strikers Romario and Ronaldo.

They also had top home-grown players under contract including Ronald Waterreus, Phillip Cocu, Mark van Bommel, Wilfred Bouma, current coach Ruud van Nistelrooij, André Ooijer and Belgian topper Luc Nilis however.

Over the past 20 years, players were not tied to the club for as long. PSV did have top players growing up with them like Ola Toivonen, Steven Bergwijn, Memphis Depay and Dries Mertens however.

Looking back at 2021/2022

PSV have been trying to overtake Ajax in the Eredivisie for a couple of years now, but for now they have not succeeded. Not even in the 2021/2022 season.

They did win two prizes at Ajax’s expense: the Johan Cruijff Schaal and the KNVB Beker. Together with second place in the Eredivisie, that’s not a bad season for PSV at all in the end.

In Europe, unfortunately, it was a bit disappointing. They finished third in the group stage Europa League behind AS Monaco and Real Sociedad. In the Conference League, PSV then survived two rounds, but Leicester City were too strong in the quarter-finals.

Looking ahead at 2022/2023

Regarding betting on PSV, PSV are expected to be Ajax’s biggest challenger for the national title again this season. For coach Ruud van Nistelrooij, it will be his first big job as head coach. The question is whether he can use his glorious past as a footballer for the better.

With the returning Luuk de Jong, PSV at least have attacking power and experience in the squad. Guus Til and Xavi Simons were the two other big purchases.

Mario Götze left for Germany again, but he also did not have the impact at PSV that was hoped for. A nice run in European football would also be nice for the club. Not only for the image and the club coffers, but also of course for the bets on PSV!