Key takeaways
- The Eredivisie is the softest card league we hold minute level data for: 3.26 yellows and 0.172 reds per game across 309 matches in 2025/26, against 4.98 yellows in Portugal. Over 3.5 cards landed just 42.1 per cent of the time, a fair price of 2.38.
- Dutch referees allow 6.3 fouls for every card, the most permissive of the five. The low count is a tolerance effect, not a quiet league.
- The same officials card far harder once they leave. Allard Lindhout shows 2.67 yellows a game in the Eredivisie and 5.78 in Europe, and Serdar Gozubuyuk goes from 3.74 to 5.17. The league, not the man, sets the rate.
- Over 3.5 cards runs from 70.0 per cent with Martijn Vos to 21.4 per cent with Martin Van den Kerkhof. As fair odds that is 1.43 against 4.67 on the same market.
- 57.0 per cent of Eredivisie cards go to the away side, the widest tilt of the five leagues, stretching to 64.6 per cent with Danny Makkelie.
On this page
- The Eredivisie card baseline for 2026/27
- Eredivisie referee card stats: every official from 2025/26
- Why the Dutch league is Europe's softest card market
- The same referees card harder in Europe
- Martijn Vos is the one genuine outlier
- Away teams take 57 per cent of the cards
- Reds, penalties and the second half skew
- Turning an Eredivisie referee rate into a priced bet
- What these Eredivisie referee stats cannot tell you
Most card models are built on English and Spanish numbers and then pointed at the Netherlands, where they lose money quietly for a season. Eredivisie referee card stats for 2026/27 start from 3.26 yellows per game, more than a card and a half below Portugal, and the 17 officials who worked ten or more Dutch top flight matches last season ranged from 2.21 to 4.60. That spread moves the fair price on over 3.5 cards from 4.67 to 1.43, which is the difference between a bet and a donation. This page gives every one of those referees a card rate, a red rate, a penalty rate, a half time split and a set of over rates, counted from 309 matches of event level records, which means we hold the minute of all 1,007 yellows and 53 reds rather than a season total. We also checked each official against their own Champions League and Europa League record before drawing any conclusion about the league.
The Eredivisie card baseline for 2026/27
A referee number means nothing until you measure it against the division. The Netherlands is the quietest card market of the five leagues where we hold the minute of every card, and the gap is not small.
| League | Matches | Yellows per game | Reds per game | Booking points | Over 3.5 cards | Both teams booked | Fouls per card |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Primeira Liga (POR) | 307 | 4.98 | 0.244 | 55.9 | 72.6% | 87.0% | 5.3 |
| La Liga (ESP) | 380 | 4.43 | 0.276 | 51.2 | 64.2% | 83.9% | 5.3 |
| Bundesliga (GER) | 308 | 3.82 | 0.175 | 42.6 | 54.2% | 76.9% | 5.2 |
| Ligue 1 (FRA) | 309 | 3.79 | 0.249 | 44.1 | 58.6% | 79.0% | 6.0 |
| Eredivisie (NED) | 309 | 3.26 | 0.172 | 36.9 | 42.1% | 70.9% | 6.3 |
Three numbers carry the page. 3.26 yellows per game, 42.1 per cent over 3.5 cards, and 36.9 booking points. The over rate is the one that should stop you: a market that pays out roughly seven times in ten in Portugal pays out four times in ten in the Netherlands, and our cross league card table puts the Dutch division at the bottom of every column that matters.
It is also the cleanest of the five on penalties, 0.181 per game against 0.339 in Portugal, close to half the rate.
Eredivisie referee card stats: every official from 2025/26
Seventeen referees took ten or more Eredivisie matches in 2025/26, covering 294 of the 309 games in our set. The other 15 went to four officials with one to eight appearances, left out rather than ranked on three games. Rates below are Eredivisie only, so European work does not contaminate a domestic line.
| Referee | Matches | Yellows per game | Reds per game | Booking points | Over 3.5 cards | Fair odds | Over 4.5 cards | Both teams booked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Martijn Vos | 10 | 4.60 | 0.70 | 63.5 | 70.0% | 1.43 | 60.0% | 80.0% |
| Jeroen Manschot | 22 | 3.82 | 0.27 | 45.0 | 59.1% | 1.69 | 40.9% | 95.5% |
| Bas Nijhuis | 13 | 3.77 | 0.15 | 41.5 | 53.8% | 1.86 | 38.5% | 69.2% |
| Serdar Gozubuyuk | 27 | 3.74 | 0.11 | 40.2 | 55.6% | 1.80 | 37.0% | 81.5% |
| Dennis Higler | 12 | 3.67 | 0.25 | 42.9 | 41.7% | 2.40 | 33.3% | 66.7% |
| Rob Dieperink | 14 | 3.57 | 0.14 | 39.3 | 42.9% | 2.33 | 28.6% | 85.7% |
| Sander van der Eijk | 21 | 3.52 | 0.24 | 41.2 | 38.1% | 2.62 | 33.3% | 76.2% |
| Robin Hensgens | 15 | 3.47 | 0.20 | 39.7 | 53.3% | 1.88 | 26.7% | 80.0% |
| Danny Makkelie | 24 | 3.17 | 0.12 | 34.8 | 37.5% | 2.67 | 16.7% | 62.5% |
| Jannick van der Laan | 19 | 3.11 | 0.05 | 32.4 | 42.1% | 2.38 | 15.8% | 73.7% |
| Marc Nagtegaal | 22 | 3.00 | 0.14 | 33.4 | 40.9% | 2.44 | 27.3% | 68.2% |
| Alex Bos | 17 | 3.00 | 0.24 | 35.9 | 47.1% | 2.12 | 23.5% | 58.8% |
| Joey Kooij | 18 | 2.78 | 0.06 | 29.2 | 22.2% | 4.50 | 22.2% | 61.1% |
| Erwin Blank | 13 | 2.77 | 0.00 | 27.7 | 23.1% | 4.33 | 7.7% | 69.2% |
| Allard Lindhout | 21 | 2.67 | 0.14 | 30.2 | 28.6% | 3.50 | 9.5% | 61.9% |
| Ingmar Oostrom | 12 | 2.67 | 0.17 | 30.8 | 33.3% | 3.00 | 25.0% | 41.7% |
| Martin Van den Kerkhof | 14 | 2.21 | 0.14 | 25.7 | 21.4% | 4.67 | 14.3% | 57.1% |
Read the booking points column if you only read one. It runs from 63.5 down to 25.7, which means the top name in this table produces two and a half times the booking points of the bottom name in the same competition, against the same clubs, under the same laws. Our booking points guide covers why the 10 and 25 model is the one most books settle on.
Why the Dutch league is Europe's softest card market
The obvious explanation for a low card count is a tame league, and it is wrong here. Eredivisie referees see 21.8 fouls a game, more than the Bundesliga's 20.9. The difference is what they do about them.
| League | Fouls per game | Cards per game | Fouls per card |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bundesliga | 20.9 | 4.00 | 5.2 |
| La Liga | 25.1 | 4.71 | 5.3 |
| Primeira Liga | 27.5 | 5.22 | 5.3 |
| Ligue 1 | 24.1 | 4.04 | 6.0 |
| Eredivisie | 21.8 | 3.43 | 6.3 |
A Dutch referee waits 6.3 fouls before producing a card where a German waits 5.2. Over a 90 minute match that single step of tolerance is worth most of the card and a half that separates the Netherlands from Spain. It also explains the both teams booked rate: at 70.9 per cent the Eredivisie is the only league of the five under three quarters, because a permissive referee often gets to full time with one side unbooked.
Within the division the same mechanism sorts the referees. Van den Kerkhof sits at 8.2 fouls per card and Vos at 4.2, and that one column predicts their over rates better than their foul counts do.
The same referees card harder in Europe
Six of the 17 also worked Champions League or Europa League ties in our window, which gives a clean test of whether the low Dutch rate belongs to the officials or to the competition.
| Referee | Eredivisie matches | Eredivisie yellows per game | European matches | European yellows per game | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Allard Lindhout | 21 | 2.67 | 9 | 5.78 | +3.11 |
| Serdar Gozubuyuk | 27 | 3.74 | 12 | 5.17 | +1.43 |
| Sander van der Eijk | 21 | 3.52 | 6 | 4.33 | +0.81 |
| Marc Nagtegaal | 22 | 3.00 | 2 | 3.00 | 0.00 |
| Danny Makkelie | 24 | 3.17 | 17 | 2.88 | -0.28 |
| Joey Kooij | 18 | 2.78 | 2 | 1.50 | -1.28 |
Four of the six go up and the two that do not have the smallest European samples, two matches each, which is noise rather than evidence. Lindhout is the striking case: the second most lenient referee in the Dutch table shows more than double his domestic rate in European competition, and nine matches is thin but not trivial.
Makkelie is the honest exception. He is the senior Dutch official, his 17 European matches are the largest sample in the column, and his rate falls slightly: a man who works Champions League football most weeks carries one threshold into both jobs.
The practical reading: do not port a Dutch referee's card rate into a European tie. Price the competition first and the official second, which is the same order our card market pricing guide argues for.
Martijn Vos is the one genuine outlier
Every league table has a top row, and most of the time it is a sample size artefact. Vos is not, or at least not only.
In ten Eredivisie matches he produced 4.60 yellows and 0.70 reds per game, which is seven dismissals in ten games against a league average of 0.172. His booking points figure of 63.5 is 72 per cent above the division and higher than anything in the Bundesliga table. His 4.2 fouls per card is the quickest trigger of any Dutch referee in our set.
Ten matches is small and the red rate should be regressed hard toward the league before you bet it. What makes him interesting is the supporting column: a referee whose over rate is high because he books early is steadier than one whose rate came from two chaotic games. Treat Vos as the ceiling of the Dutch distribution, not as a 0.70 reds per game referee.
Away teams take 57 per cent of the cards
Home and away splits are usually a footnote. In the Eredivisie they are the widest of the five leagues we hold minute data for, and they move team card markets more than the totals.
| Scope | Away card share | Home card share |
|---|---|---|
| Eredivisie (league) | 57.0% | 43.0% |
| Ligue 1 (league) | 54.0% | 46.0% |
| La Liga (league) | 53.6% | 46.4% |
| Danny Makkelie | 64.6% | 35.4% |
| Martijn Vos | 62.3% | 37.7% |
| Robin Hensgens | 61.8% | 38.2% |
| Jeroen Manschot | 47.8% | 52.2% |
| Allard Lindhout | 47.5% | 52.5% |
| Erwin Blank | 50.0% | 50.0% |
Makkelie at 64.6 per cent and Manschot at 47.8 per cent are refereeing the same competition. On an away team cards market that gap is worth more than either man's totals line, because the totals are partly priced in and the split almost never is.
Card share is a ratio, so a low total with a wide split still means few away cards. Lindhout gives the away side 47.5 per cent of 2.81 cards a game, roughly 1.3 bookings; Makkelie gives 64.6 per cent of 3.29, about 2.1. Use the share to adjust the total, never on its own.
Reds, penalties and the second half skew
Three smaller columns, each with one usable number in it.
| Scope | Reds per game | Penalties per game | Second half card share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eredivisie (league) | 0.172 | 0.181 | 66.9% |
| Martijn Vos | 0.70 | 0.20 | 77.4% |
| Danny Makkelie | 0.12 | 0.42 | 64.6% |
| Allard Lindhout | 0.14 | 0.05 | 78.0% |
| Serdar Gozubuyuk | 0.11 | 0.19 | 53.8% |
| Erwin Blank | 0.00 | 0.15 | 72.2% |
| Robin Hensgens | 0.20 | 0.00 | 67.3% |
Reds are mostly noise. At 0.172 a game, two dismissals in a season make a referee look twice as strict as his neighbour. Blank's zero and Hensgens's 0.20 are the same number with different luck attached, and only Vos sits far enough out to matter.
Penalties split the pool more honestly. Makkelie's 0.42 per game is more than double the division and the largest sample in the table, which is the combination that makes a rate believable. Hensgens gave none in 15 matches. Our VAR guide explains why penalty counts need care: a confirmed review duplicates the outcome event and inflates the total if you count both.
The second half skew is the steadiest number here. Two thirds of Eredivisie cards arrive after the break, and Gozubuyuk at 53.8 per cent against Lindhout at 78.0 per cent is a wide enough range to matter on a first half cards market, usually priced as half the full game line.
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Turning an Eredivisie referee rate into a priced bet
Four steps, using real numbers from the tables above.
- Start from the league, not the referee. Over 3.5 cards is a 42.1 per cent proposition in the Eredivisie, fair odds 2.38. That is the anchor, and it is already two thirds of a card below what an English or Spanish model would hand you.
- Apply the referee as a shift, not a replacement. Van der Eijk's 38.1 per cent is four points below the division across 21 matches. Treat the gap as the edge, then regress it toward the league, hard for a ten match referee and gently for a 27 match one.
- Check the tolerance column. A referee whose over rate is low because he waits 7.5 fouls for a card, as Kooij does, is a more reliable under than one whose low rate came from a run of quiet fixtures.
- Compare with the posted price. If the book is 2.10 on over 3.5 and your referee adjusted estimate is 2.50, the under is the bet. If it is already 2.50, the referee is priced in and there is nothing here.
None of it counts until you know who has the game, so the appointment comes first and this page second. Our appointments page carries the published list, the Eredivisie referee hub holds the profiles, and how referee stats win card bets walks the loop with worked examples.
What these Eredivisie referee stats cannot tell you
Five limits, stated plainly, because a number you cannot audit is worth nothing.
| Limit | What it means for a bet |
|---|---|
| One season of data | Rank the pool, do not settle a single fixture on it |
| Match counts disputed | Use the rates, treat the match column as our attribution |
| 309 games, not 306 | Three extra fixtures sit inside every rate on this page |
| No 2026/27 matches | New promoted clubs and new laws are not reflected yet |
| Availability changes fast | Check the appointment before trusting any workload figure |
One season, not a career. Our Eredivisie set covers 2025/26 only, so every rate here is a season rate rather than the twenty year career average we can show for English and Scottish officials. Ten to twenty-seven matches is enough to rank a pool and not enough to settle a single fixture.
Match counts differ from some third party trackers. We count 27 Eredivisie matches for Gozubuyuk in 2025/26 where ValueStats and playerstats.football both list 18. Our 309 league total fits a 306 match season plus three extra fixtures, and no fixture in our set carries two referees, but we have not reconciled the per official difference and will not assert it away. Read the match column as our attribution and the rates, far less sensitive to it, as the usable part. Our methodology page sets out how referee strings become canonical entities.
309 matches against 306 league fixtures. The 2025/26 season was 18 clubs over 34 matchdays, so 306 games. The source files three further matches under the same competition and they sit inside every rate here, as they do in our football-data.co.uk based cross league table.
No 2026/27 matches are included. The season began on 7 August 2026 and runs to 23 May 2027, with 85 matches played by 24 October, and none of them are in these rates. Nor are the IFAB law changes for 2026/27. Three promoted clubs, ADO Den Haag, SC Cambuur and Willem II, replaced Volendam, NAC Breda and Heracles, which changes the fixture mix a referee draws.
Availability moves faster than form. Bas Nijhuis is the clearest case: his last Eredivisie match in our data is 17 January 2026, and days later he ruptured an Achilles tendon in a fitness test at Zeist, losing him the PSV against Feyenoord appointment and the rest of the season. His 13 matches are a half season, not a light workload. On the other side, the KNVB appointment note of 31 August 2026 put Sander van der Eijk on Ajax against PSV and Jeroen Manschot on AZ against Heerenveen, so the senior names in this table are still taking the big games.
That is the honest edge of this data set. Used with the appointment sheet and a sense of sample size, the referee remains the most reliably mispriced input in an Eredivisie card market, mostly because so few people check how soft the baseline is.