Ajax got off to a flying start to the new Eredivisie season as they scored five goals in the opening 40 minutes against newly promoted NEC Nijmegen.

Sébastian Haller, Noussair Mazraoui and an own goal by Bart van Rooij put the champions three up after a quarter of an hour, while Dusan Tadic added two more before the half-time whistle.

PSV Eindhoven, who beat Ajax 4-0 to win the Johan Cruyff Shield, the traditional curtain raiser, a week ago, were impressive again as they won 2-0 at Heracles despite resting several key players.

Feyenoord were also convincing winners in their first game under new coach Arie Slot, with a 4-0 victory away to Willem II, while Utrecht defeated Sparta by the same scoreline.

The most surprising result of the weekend saw Slot’s old club AZ Alkmaar lose 1-0 at RKC. Captain Teun Koopmeiners watched from the bench amid rumours he is on the brink of leaving the club following the summer departures of Calvin Stengs and Myron Boadu.

Groningen’s Jørgen Strand Larsen scored an early goal of the season contender to earn a last-minute victory against Cambuur Leeuwarden. The Norwegian striker flicked the ball off the turf with his back to goal and took two more touches as he held off a defender before firing an overhead kick into the top corner.

Results

Friday

Go Ahead Eagles 0-1 Heerenveen

Saturday

Ajax 5-0 NEC Nijmegen

Fortuna Sittard 2-1 Twente Enschede

Heracles Almelo 0-2 PSV Eindhoven

RKC Waalwijk 1-0 AZ Alkmaar

Sunday

Cambuur Leeuwarden 1-2 Groningen

PEC Zwolle 0-1 Vitesse Arnhem

Utrecht 4-0 Sparta Rotterdam

Willem II Tilburg 0-4 Feyenoord