ADO Den Haag set to return to the Eredivisie next season

ADO Den Haag have been through years of financial problems, play-off defeats and managerial changes and the current squad is built largely around players and staff with long ties to the Hague side.

The winning goal was scored by Evan Rottier who joined the club as a youth player and has spent much of his career in the ADO system.

“This is an indescribable feeling,” he said after the match. “You join the club as a 12-year-old, you leave for a while and then when you come back it ends like this. This is what you dream about when you come through the academy, to play in the first team and go back to the Eredivisie.”

Technical director Mark Wotte, who has held numerous roles at ADO including youth player, coach and first-team manager, said the promotion was special because of the number of club-trained players involved.

He also sought to reassure supporters about next season, saying the club’s owner has promised financial backing to make the step up to top flight football sustainable.

“We are not going to the Eredivisie just to go straight back down,” he said. “The budget is limited and we cannot spend millions, but we are working on the squad and looking at who can handle the level.”

Leeuwarden side Cambuur are also virtually certain of automatic promotion to the Eredivisie next season. They are 18 points clear of number three in the league De Graafschap.