The 2016–17 Tweede Divisie season is the first edition of the Dutch third tier since on hiatus from 1970-71 season and the fifteenth edition using "Tweede Divisie" name. 14 teams will be completed from the Topklasse Saturday and Sunday divisions. 7 highest-placed teams of each division will earn promotion to constitute a new, semi-professional third-division Tweede Divisie. This change in the league system was approved in a KNVB assembly in December 2014. Thus, the Topklasse and leagues below it decremented by one level, and furthermore, promotion and relegation between the Tweede Divisie and the Topklasse became mandatory.