The margin of victory gave Ronald Koeman's side the title by one goal over his former club Ajax who only managed a 2-0 win at Tilburg against Willem II.

AZ Alkmaar had started the day in pole position in the knowledge that a win in their last match at Excelsior would secure them the title barring an avalanche of goals elsewhere.

However, Louis van Gaal's side lost 3-2.

It was the third consecutive title for PSV and a personal victory for Koeman who replaced Guus Hiddink last summer and was a former coach of Ajax.

It was the Eindhoven outfit's fourth success in five seasons and qualifies them automatically for the Champions League.

Ajax and AZ, who will also contest the KNVB-Beker final (Dutch Cup), must now hope to win the second Champions League spot via the play-offs which will also feature fourth-placed FC Twente and Heerenveen.

It all started to go wrong for AZ when goalkeeper Boy Waterman was sent off by referee Ruud Bossen after 19 minutes in the incident that allowed Luigi Bruins to net from the penalty spot.

Simon Cziommer equalised but Henrico Drost restored Excelsior's lead on the hour.

Substitute Danny Koevermans once again pulled AZ level and then Rene van Dieren of Excelsior was sent off.

However, AZ could not find a title-winning goal and, to add insult to injury, Daniel Guijo-Velasco sealed the points for Excelsior in stoppage time.

For much of the match in Eindhoven, the hosts were playing catch-up despite early strikes from Alex and Jefferson Farfan.

Theo Janssen pulled one back for Vitesse before second-half goals from Ibrahim Afellay and Farfan again made it 4-1.

It was skipper Phillip Cocu who then added the goal that would make all the difference.

In Tilburg, goals from Urby Emanuelson and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar looked like giving Henk ten Cate's men the crown.

However, once Cocu had scored in Eindhoven, the Amsterdammers were up against it and they could not snatch a late third that would have won them the title.

Heerenveen hammered Feyenoord 5-1 to complete a miserable regular season for the club coached by Ronald's brother Erwin.

Once again Afonso Alves was the hero for Heerenveen with four more goals to add to his impressive haul for the season with Lasse Nilsson adding the other. Danny Buys netted for the Rotterdam side.

FC Twente signed off an impressive regular campaign with a 2-1 win at their Enschede home, with NAC Breda their victims.

Kennedy Bakircioglu and the prolific Blaise N'Kufo scored for FC Twente while Arne Slot got a consolation from the penalty spot.

Biggest winners on Sunday were Roda JC who spanked Heracles Almelo 7-0.

Anders Oper started and finished it while in between Sekou Cisse, Eddy Bosnar (own goal), Kemy Agustien, substitute Jamaique Vandamme and Boldiszar Bodor all hit the net.

Sparta Rotterdam beat RKC Waalwijk 1-0 with a Haris Medunjanin strike.

NEC Nijmegen ended with a 3-2 win over relegated ADO Den Haag. Romano Denneboom scored twice, with the first coming from the spot, for NEC with Paul Jans getting the other goal.

Ferrie Bodde's penalty and a late strike from Mark De Vries ended a miserable campaign for the men from The Hague who will be playing Gouden Gids Divisie football in the lavish stadium that will henceforth be their home.

FC Utrecht came away from FC Groningen's Euroborg stadium with a 2-0 win with Loic Loval and Sander Keller the marksmen.

Roda JC, Feyenoord, Groningen and Utrecht will contest the UEFA Cup play-offs while Excelsior, despite their win, and RKC are condemned to relegation-promotion play-offs.

The only two issues definitively resolved at the end of the Eredivisie regular season are that ADO Den Haag are relegated, a fate that was sealed earlier this month, and that PSV are once again champions.