Queen's Cup
 | |
| Organising body | Royal Dutch Football Association |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1957 |
| Region | Netherlands |
| Number of teams | 2 |
| Related competitions | Northern Conference (qualifier) Southern Conference (qualifier) |
| Current champions | Royal Antwerp (1st title) |
| Most successful club(s) | Ajax (18 titles) |
| Television broadcasters | Eleven Sports |
 2023 Queen's Cup | |
The Queen's Cup (Dutch: Koninginnebeker) (alternatively named the King's Cup (Dutch: Koningsbeker) if the monarch is male) is Dutch football's annual match contested between the respective champions of the previous seasonal winners of the Eredivisie's Northern Conference and Southern Conference. Inspired mostly by England's FA Community Shield match, the match's venue, since the tournament's foundation in 1957, has traditionally alternated between the Johan Cruyff Arena and the King Frederick Stadium, the largest stadiums in the country's northern and southern regions respectively. The competition's official motto is "Where Excellence Prevails" (Dutch: "Waar uitmuntendheid heerst").
Organised by the Royal Dutch Football Association, the match has normally been held to determine the "national winner" from the country's two conferences, the North and the South, with the winning team usually being crowned Nationale Kampioenen or "National Champions". In the meantime, proceeds from the game are otherwise distributed to community initiatives and charity organisations around the country, as well as to the other clubs in both conferences.
Established in 1957, in line with the northward expansion of Dutch football, thereby resulting in the creation of two conferences to accommodate a total of 34 cluubs, its first edition was contested at the end of the 1956-57 season with Northern Conference champions Ajax winning the match 4-2 via penalty shootouts following a 3-3 tie against Southern Conference champions Royal Antwerp. Meanwhile, the current holders are Royal Antwerp, who defeated Feyenoord 2-1 to win their first title in the competition.
Statistically, the competition is dominated by four Dutch football clubs namely Ajax, PSV Eindhoven, Feyenoord, and Anderlecht, with the latter being the only one out of the four to come from the Southern Conference while the other three come from the Northern Conference. However, out of all of the competition's eleven certified winners to date, five of them come from the Northern Conference while the remaining six otherwise come from Southern Conference.