PSV Eindhoven 1997

Coach: Dick Advocaat

Dick Advocaat's PSV Eindhoven won the 1996-97 Eredivisie title, the peak of a squad built around Jaap Stam's commanding presence at centre-back, Luc Nilis's clinical finishing, and Wim Jonk's experience in midfield after his own spells at both Ajax and Internazionale earlier in his career. Advocaat, who went on to manage the Dutch national team and several other European sides across a long career, built a well-drilled, physically imposing team that briefly interrupted Ajax's dominance of Dutch football during the mid-1990s, a period in which the two clubs' rivalry for supremacy defined the Eredivisie season after season. Stam's performances that season were instrumental in earning him a big-money move to Manchester United the following year, where he went on to win the treble under Sir Alex Ferguson in 1999 and establish himself as one of the finest defenders in the world at that time. PSV's European campaigns during this era rarely matched their domestic form, a familiar story for Dutch clubs competing against wealthier sides elsewhere, but this title-winning squad is fondly remembered by PSV supporters as one of the strongest in the club's history outside their own golden 1980s-era teams.