The KNVB said it had taken the decision to revoke the licence because “the club has consistently and over a prolonged period circumvented and undermined the licensing system—and continues to do so”.

Vitesse said in a response that it would study the 50-page ruling closely. “Vitesse is expected to lodge an appeal, following a similar path to last season, when the licensing committee also revoked the club’s professional licence but the licensing appeals board overturned the decision,” the club said in a statement.

Vitesse have been sanctioned partly for failing to submit a contract by its previous owners to buy the club from the Common Group, a consortium headed by American investor Coley Parry.

Parry had been banned from running the club by the KNVB, but refused to sell his shareholding until the €17 million he lent Vitesse had been paid off.

Last year Vitesse were deducted a total of 39 points for breaching their licensing terms and finished bottom of the 20-club league with five points. Without the penalties they would have ended the season in 14th place.

The previous year they were relegated from the Eredivisie after having 18 points deducted for failing to deliver accurate financial results or clarify its relationship with the Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich.

An investigation by the Guardian newspaper and the Bureau for Investigative Journalism found that Abramovich secretly pumped €100 million into the club while it was owned by his compatriots Valery Oyf and Aleksandr Chigrinsky.

The five foreign investors who bought out Parry sold the club on last month to a local consortium known as the Sterkhouders, but the KNVB still has to approve the takeover.