The Arnhem court ruled in favour of Vitesse after Monday's court case. Vitesse appealed the civil court's decision from early August, which ruled in favour of the KNVB's decision to revoke the club's professional licence in June.
The court has ruled that the rulings of the KNVB and civil court will be suspended until a definitive verdict is given.
This victory for Vitesse was unexpected after lawyers specialised in sports law gave Vitesse a 1% chance of winning this case.
Return to professional football
The verdict means Vitesse are allowed to compete in the Keuken Kampioen Divisie again, at least as long as there are no proceedings of the merits in place.
Vitesse have seen several players leave the club on free transfers, and significant parts of the organisation have been dismantled in the weeks following the collapse.
"This ruling gives us breathing space and perspective," Michel Schaay, chairman of ownership group De Sterkhouders, said on the club website.
"We are extremely pleased that the Court recognises the severity of the situation and has suspended the rulings. We remain fully committed to the future of Vitesse. We will now enter into discussions with the KNVB to ensure that Vitesse and its stakeholders make the right decisions."
Over the past few months, Vitesse said they worked on future-proofing and the recovery of the club following years of mismanagement. The club will soon appoint a new, independent supervisory board and have started efforts to complete the investigation into prospective shareholders by an external party.
Since the start of the season, Vitesse have missed games against Almere City, FC Den Bosch, ADO Den Haag, and De Graafschap.
Their next scheduled game will be away at Jong AZ on Friday, 12 September.
Months of uncertainty
After the KNVB's independent provisionally revoked the club's licence in June, the football association officially revoked Vitesse's licence in July, stating that the club "structurally evaded the licensing system” in previous years.
The committee's report stated that “there has been a pattern of deception, circumvention and undermining of the licensing system over several years, as well as a lack of transparency." It ruled the revocation of the club’s licence as justified.
In a hopeful effort to save the future of the club, Vitesse decided to take the case to civil court, where the judge would determine if the KNVB took a just and conscientious decision by revoking Vitesse’s licence.
During the summary proceedings, a judge ruled in favour of the KNVB, stating that the football association applied the licensing rules correctly.