AFC Ajax
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| Ajax | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax NV |
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| Nickname(s) | Godenzonen (Sons of the Gods) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Founded | March 18, 1900 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ground | Amsterdam ArenA Amsterdam (Capacity 51,628[1]) |
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| Chairman |  Uri Coronel |
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| Manager | Marco van Basten |
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| League | Eredivisie | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2007-08 | Eredivisie, 2nd | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax (Euronext: AJAX), also referred to as AFC Ajax, or simply Ajax, is a professional football club from Amsterdam, Netherlands. The club is historically one of the three clubs that dominate the Dutch national football league (Eredivisie), the other two being Feyenoord and PSV. Ajax is one of the five teams that has earned the right to keep the European Cup; they won consecutively in 1971-1973. In 1972, they completed The Treble by winning the Dutch Eredivisie, KNVB Cup, and the European Cup; to date they are the only team to keep the European Cup and accomplish the European Treble, also Ajax are one of the only two teams to win the The Treble and the Intercontinental Cup in the same season/calendar year,[2] this was achieved in the 1971/72 season.[3] They are also one of only three clubs to have won all three major European trophies at least once (the European Cup, the European Cup Winners' Cup and the UEFA Cup).[4] They were the first team to win what has become the UEFA Intertoto Cup.[5] Ajax has also won the Intercontinental Cup twice.
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[edit] History
[edit] Amateur Era
The club was founded in Amsterdam on March 18, 1900 by Floris Stempel, Carel Reeser and the brothers Han and Johan Dade. It was the second incarnation, after a short-lived previous attempt (as the Footh-Ball Club Ajax) in 1894.
After several years, Ajax succeeded in promotion to the highest level of Dutch football in 1911, under the guidance of Jack Kirwan (their first official coach). The promotion meant that Ajax were forced to alter the club's strip, as Sparta of Rotterdam had the same kit, red-white vertical stripes with black shorts. Ajax adopted a broad vertical red stripe on a white background with white shorts, the club's kit to this day.
Although their efforts were not unnoticed (Gé Fortgens became a frequent member of the Dutch national team for a while) they were relegated in 1914. While they immediately bounced back, they had to wait until 1917 to regain higher level status again: they did become league champions in both 1915 and 1916, however the 1915 league was declared unofficial (due to World War I), whereas in 1916 they did not make it through the promotion round.
Under the guidance of Jack Reynolds (Kirwan's successor as of 1915) the club was promoted to the highest level in 1917 and won the Dutch national cup final - defeating VSV with 5-0. Ajax went on to win their first national championship in 1918. The championship was secured in Tilburg where they faced Willem II without Jan de Natris, arguably the club's first 'star player', who missed the train to Tilburg and opted to stay in Amsterdam instead - earning him a fine of 10 cents. In the following season he earned a six month ban, but Ajax did well in his absence: not only did they retain the championship title, their 1919 campaign was also an unbeaten run for them - an accomplishment that was only repeated 76 years later by Ajax themselves.
Now a regular contender for the Western Regional championship in the Netherlands, Ajax marched through the twenties with regional titles in 1921, 1927 and 1928, next to a few minor cups. The 1930s would prove to be more successful however; with household names as Wim Anderiesen Sr., Dolf van Kol, Piet Strijbosch, Wim Volkers, Jan van Diepenbeek, Bob ten Have, Erwin van Wijngaarden and prolific striker Piet van Reenen, Ajax' period from the late twenties until World War II was so successful that many people dubbed it 'the golden century' (a reference to the 17th century, the heyday of the Dutch Republic).
With six regional titles (1930, 1931, 1932, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1939) and 5 national championships (1931, 1932, 1934, 1937, 1939) Ajax was the most successful team of that era. The thirties were also notable for the final culmination of the rivalry with Feyenoord, another squad that earned many awards in that time, as well as the creation of the stadium 'het Ajax-Stadion' dubbed 'De Meer' (named after the borough of its residence). Until the emergence of the Amsterdam ArenA in 1996, this was Ajax' home ground alongside the Olympic Stadium.
As of the 1940s, perhaps in line with Jack Reynolds' retirement (he had stayed - save for a few spells of absence - on for the entire time as Ajax' manager since his entry in 1915), Ajax went through a period of rebuilding. Gerrit Fischer and Erwin van Wijngaarden were retained, with Joop Stoffelen, Guus Dräger, Gé van Dijk, Jan Potharst and later Rinus Michels and Cor van der Hart brought in. After a Cup Final victory in 1943, Ajax went on to finish second in the championship league in 1946 (behind HFC Haarlem) followed by a league championship win in 1947.
They became regional champions in 1950 again, though they never came near winning the championship. The season was notable for a match against Heerenveen, with Heerenveen coming back from 5-1 down to win 6-5. In 1941 Ajax performed the opposite: after being 6-0 behind to VUC in The Hague they managed to pull out a draw in the end (6-6).
Until 1954, the year that professional football was introduced in the Netherlands, Ajax had some minor successes, with the regional title in 1952 and a second place in the regional championship in 1954 (equal in points with fellow Amsterdam club DWS).
[edit] Professional football and the road to the top
From 1955 professional football was finally permitted in the Netherlands, Ajax was still far from the international top, as was demonstrated in the European Cup match against Vasas SC, where they were beaten by the Hungarians 4-0 in the Népstadion). Similar European failures followed in 1960, being knocked out by the Norwegian amateurs of Fredrikstad FK and in the Cup Winners' Cup in 1961 by Újpesti Dózsa of Ferenc Bene.
Ajax achieved some success on the domestic level, earning the first Eredivisie-championship in 1957 and again in 1960 - the 1960 title decided by a playoff after equalling in points with arch-rivals Feyenoord with Ajax cruising to a 5-1 victory with a hattrick by striker Wim Bleijenberg.
Bleijenberg was not top scorer however. Henk Groot - younger brother of Cees Groot who scored a 100 goals for Ajax in his 5 year stay - arrived in 1959 from Stormvogels and scored 38 goals in 1959/60 and 41 goals in 1960/61. He was a vital part of the Ajax in the early sixties, replacing star striker Piet van der Kuil who left to PSV in 1960. Alongside the man who would later become Mister Ajax, Sjaak Swart, Co Prins, Ton Pronk, Bennie Muller and a young Piet Keizer Ajax added the National Cup in 1961 and the Intertoto Cup 1962 to their trophy cabinet.
After missing out on the championship after a 5-2 defeat against PSV in 1963, Ajax entered a period of decline in the league. Henk Groot left to Feyenoord that summer, and in 1964/65 they were near relegation. Things improved after former player Rinus Michels replaced Vic Buckingham as the head manager. Ajax managed to secure a midtable spot under Michels; however Buckingham's second tenure saw the introduction of Johan Cruijff during a 3-1 loss at GVAV.
Michels started a revolution in Amsterdam, beginning with the return of Henk Groot and Co Prins, as well as the signing of goalkeeper Gert Bals. Michels built a side around the vision of Total Football, sacrificing players who he considered not to be good enough or fit the style of play. Most notable example of this was defender Frits Soetekouw - replaced by Ajax' new captain Velibor Vasović - whose own goal aided to the victory of Dukla Prague in the quarter-final of the European Cup in 1966/67, after Ajax had knocked out Beşiktaş and defeated Liverpool 5-1.
Ajax sealed their second consecutive championship in 1967. Not as dominant as the previous year, but with a seemingly unstoppable attack they scored no less than 122 goals (still a national record), of which 33 were from Johan Cruijff, at 20 years old already the star player. It was also the season for another important milestone: for the first time in history, Ajax won the double (after defeating NAC in the cup final).
It earned them European Cup qualification, being knocked out by Real Madrid in the subsequent season, with Ignacio Zoco scoring the winner for Los Merengues in extra time after two 1-1 draws, results that which greatly enhanced the reputation of the club.
Ajax won the Dutch title of 1968 overhauling Feyenoord, the league leaders for much of the season, and reached the European Cup final of 1969 in Madrid against AC Milan. In qualifying for the European Cup final Ajax defeated FC Nuremberg in the first round, and were almost knocked out by Benfica in the second, losing 3-1 to them in Amsterdam but winning the second leg through goals by Inge Danielsson and Johan Cruijff in a 3-0 win. They repeated this score at home against the next opponent, Spartak Trnava in the next round, but struggled in the second leg qualifying narrowly on aggregate. In the final, Milan - lauded for their excellent defense and counter-attacks - easily won 4-1 with Pierino Prati opening the scoring after seven minutes and going on to score a hattrick, while Velibor Vasović was the only Ajax player on the scoresheet with a penalty. Milan's win was capped by a goal by Angelo Sormani.
[edit] Gloria Ajax - European Dominance and The Treble
Following the European Cup final loss, Ajax' entered another period of rebuilding. Among the new additions were national top scorer Dick van Dijk and midfielders Gerrie Mühren and Nico Rijnders, while second team player Ruud Krol was promoted to the first eleven. They replaced Klaas Nuninga, Inge Danielsson, Theo van Duijvenbode (all sold to other clubs) and Henk Groot who retired from football after an injury while playing against Poland, while Ton Pronk and Bennie Muller were no longer as frequently in the first eleven after many years of service.
in 1969-70 Ajax won the Dutch league championship, winning 27 out of 34 games and scoring 100 goals. Feyenoord remained in contention throughout the season, but they had to settle for a second place. Both clubs won a trophy however, with Ajax winning the Eredivisie title while Feyenoord capturing the European Cup. Ajax reached the semi-finals of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in 1970 (being knocked out by Arsenal after defeating Hannover 96, Napoli, Ruch Chorzów and Carl Zeiss Jena)
1971 became the long awaited year of glory, with Ajax winning trophies at both domestic and European level. For a substantial part of the season Ajax seemed to be on their way to the treble (a feat only previously performed by Celtic in 1967). Domestically, Ajax came runners up to Feyenoord in the league, winning the KNVB Cup after a replayed final against Sparta. In Europe, Ajax defeated 17 Nëntori, FC Basel, Celtic and Atlético Madrid en route to the 1971 European Cup final played at Wembley on June 2. There, 83,000 spectators witnessed a 2-0 victory over Panathinaikos, with goals from Dick van Dijk and a deflected Arie Haan's shot by defender Kapsis. Captain Vasović could finally lift the European Cup, having lost two previous finals in 1966 with FK Partizan and again in 1969.
In the following years Ajax established itself as the foremost club in European football. Stefan Kovacs replaced coach Michels in 1971 and Rijnders and Vasović' departed in the same year, Van Dijk's departed in 1972. Such changes in the side and management did not disrupt the success of the club, with Ajax completing The Treble of European Cup, Dutch National Championship and the KNVB Cup in 1972 to which was added the Intercontinental Cup and UEFA Super Cup. In 1973 a third consecutive European Cup was won and another Dutch championship secured; however, failure in the KNVB Cup meant Ajax missed out on a second consecutive Treble.
The departure of Johan Cruijff for Barcelona in 1973 signaled the end of the period of success, effectively ending the reign of the so called 'Twelve Apostles' (The usual line-up Heinz Stuy, Wim Suurbier, Barry Hulshoff, Horst Blankenburg, Ruud Krol, Arie Haan, Johan Neeskens, Gerrie Mühren, Sjaak Swart, Johan Cruijff, Piet Keizer plus the usual twelfth man which was Ruud Suurendonk until 1972 and then Johnny Rep). Wereas clubs like Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Internazionale, Arsenal, Juventus and Independiente were beaten between 1971 and 1973, failure in the European Cup at the hands of CSKA Sofia in late 1973 signaled the decline of Ajax in European football.
Nevertheless, the Total Football that they had propagated became a lasting memory for many football fans, contributing to Dutch national team reaching the final of the 1974 FIFA World Cup using similar tactics. The decline of Ajax and the loss to the Germans in the World Cup final saw the end of the Total Football era; later Ajax manager Tomislav Ivić would later dub the era 'Gloria Ajax', illustrating the impact of their years at the top.
[edit] The 1st Renaissance and 1980s
After a period of decline, in 1977 Ivic coached Ajax to their first domestic championship since 1973. Ajax returned to domestic success winning 5 league championships after '77 as well as 4 cups, though impressive European performances were sparse. Ajax were knocked out by Juventus in the quarter finals of the European Cup in 1978 and reached a European Cup semi final in 1980, losing to eventual winners, the Brian Clough-managed Nottingham Forest. Disappointing European form between 1980 and 1986 saw the club not getting past the second round for six years in a row. Johan Cruijff returned to the club in 1981, with the club producing some talented youngsters in the mid-1980s such as Wim Kieft, John van 't Schip, Marco van Basten, Gerald Vanenburg, Jesper Olsen and Frank Rijkaard.
After leaving the club in '83 after a conflict with president Harmsen, Cruijff returned once again in 1985 as the new manager. Cruijff's attacking tactics were immediately illustrated in his first active season, where Ajax ends the season with 120 goals in total, of which 37 were from Ajax's new star player Marco van Basten. Despite this, Ajax finished as runners up in the league to PSV Eindhoven twice in a row in '85 and '86. Despite the lack of domestic league success, Cruijff's Ajax won the '87 Cup Winners Cup, beating Lokomotive Leipzig and reached the final again the following season, losing out to KV Mechelen.
Cruijff departed prior to the second Cup Winners Cup final, as a result of the declining results in the national league. With most of the 80's stars such as van Basten also leaving, Ajax once again declined but continued to compete for the title with PSV in subsequent years, who became the dominant club in European and Dutch football, matching Ajax's 1972 achievement of The Treble in 1988. Negative aspects of the period 1988-1991 were the fraud-case in 1989 and a year long ban from European competition in 1990-91 following an incident whereby a fan threw an iron bar at the Austria Vienna goalkeeper during a UEFA Cup tie in the 1989-1990 season. Under manager Leo Beenhakker, Ajax went on to win the championship race with PSV for in 1990, and came close to beating PSV to the league in 1991.
[edit] van Gaal, European Success and Decline
On departure to Real Madrid in 1991, Beenhakker was replaced by Louis van Gaal, the former assistant-coach. Like Cruijff, Van Gaal rapidly made his mark by altering Ajax' tactics. Also like Cruijff his efforts were rewarded in his first season at the helm, by winning the 1992 UEFA Cup after a thrilling final against AC Torino. Although he did not play the final, the tournament saw the arrival of Dennis Bergkamp who contributed six goals on the road to the final. Despite Bergkamp being the top goalscorer in Dutch football in 1991, 1992, Ajax once again finished as runners up to PSV in the league. In 1992/93 Ajax even had to settle for a third spot, for first time since 1984, but won the KNVB Cup.
In 1993, Bergkamp and Wim Jonk left to Internazionale, allowing Finn Jari Litmanen to establish himself as the new number 10 of Ajax. Aside from Litmanen, Ajax attracted Finidi George and the returned Frank Rijkaard, providing the base for van Gaal to build on.
1994-1995 saw the return of European success after two decades, with Ajax winning the UEFA Champions League 1994-95 and the league title. The season saw an unbeaten run in the national league and the final season for Frank Rijkaard, while striker Patrick Kluivert had an excellent start to his, with the then 18-year-old coming off the bench to score a late winner to beat AC Milan in the final of the Champions League. Ajax went on to beat Brazilian side Grêmio on penalties to win the Intercontinental Cup. The following season, Ajax continued to succeed on the European front, succumbing only to Juventus on penalties in the European Cup final.
However, the subsequent period saw the departure of manager van Gaal along with an exodus of many key players, several on free transfers following the Bosman ruling. Clarence Seedorf departed in 1995, Edgar Davids, Michael Reiziger, Finidi George and Nwankwo Kanu in 1996, Patrick Kluivert, Marc Overmars and Winston Bogarde in 1997 Ronald de Boer and Frank de Boer in 1998 and Edwin van der Sar and Jari Litmanen in 1999, together with the retirement of Frank Rijkaard in 1995 and Danny Blind in 1999. van Gaal's replacement, Morten Olsen attracted Danish national team captain Michael Laudrup to the club, and won the Double of league championship and the Dutch cup but could not replace the key players who had departed or maintain the success under van Gaal - in his second year at the club, tension arose between Olsen and the Dutch players Ronald de Boer and Frank de Boer, and Olsen was sacked in 1998.
[edit] Recent events
Since the 1995 Champions League win, Ajax have struggled to return to European success. In the 2002/03 season, led by captain Cristian Chivu, Rafael van der Vaart, Zlatan Ibrahimović, Mido and the return of a legend in Jari Litmanen, manager Ronald Koeman guided a new crop of talent to the Champions League quarter finals against AC Milan, losing only to a last minute winner in the second-leg encounter at the San Siro.
Koeman's early success was short-lived. In 2005, he resigned after Ajax' defeat to Auxerre in the UEFA Cup tournament. This resignation was also the aftermath of Koeman's long-standing spat with then football director Louis van Gaal who had questioned Koeman's managerial abilities after Ajax' dry spell in the domestic league — which saw them languishing in fifth position at the beginning of 2005. Former Ajax-player Danny Blind, who, aside from working as Koeman's technical coach and advisor, had virtually no top-level manager experience, was unveiled as their new coach. Blind instantly caused consternation by announcing that the club was to play using a 4-4-2, abandoning the Total Football-oriented 4-3-3 that has become Ajax' trademark. This season also saw the departure of key players Rafael van der Vaart and Nigel de Jong to HSV, while six others (Hatem Trabelsi, Tomáš Galásek, Hans Vonk, Nourdin Boukhari, Steven Pienaar and Maxwell) revealed they would leave the club at the end of the 2005-2006 season. Blind was sacked on May 10, 2006 after 422 days in charge. New coach Henk ten Cate, who won the Champions League and La Liga in 2006 as the assistant of Frank Rijkaard with FC Barcelona gave youngsters a shot to enter the selection of the first team. Ten Cate said youngsters Jan Vertonghen, Rydell Poepon and Robbert Schilder would be included in the selection, whereas Greek forward Angelos Charisteas was sold to Feyenoord. Ten Cate announced that he wished to return to form and win the Eredivisie in 2007.
Ajax missed out on a Champions League place in 2006/2007 after their defeat against FC Copenhagen (3-2 on aggregate). As a result, Ajax played against IK Start from Norway in the first round of the UEFA Cup September 14 and 28, and won the match 9-2 on aggregate (2-5 away and 4-0 home). Having then gotten through the Group Stage, they drew German club Werder Bremen in the Round of 32. In the first leg in Germany, Ajax lost 3-0. On the return leg in Amsterdam, they rallied for two second half goals to win 3-1, but lost 4-3 in aggregate.
In the 2006-07 season Ajax also achieved some successes with Henk ten Cate in charge. They won the Johan Cruijff Shield after a 3-1 win over rivals PSV and they also beat AZ 8-9 on penalties in the Dutch Cup final after a 1-1 draw after extra time. Ajax was very close to clinch the Eredivisie title after deducting a 10 point deficit from PSV, but lost it on goal difference on the last matchday to PSV (PSV: 75-25, Ajax 84-35).
In the following 2007-08 season Ajax sold two of the biggest talents, Ryan Babel for 17 million Euros to Liverpool and Wesley Sneijder for 27 million Euros to Real Madrid. Luis Suárez came from FC Groningen to replace Ryan Babel. Ajax decided not to buy a replacement for Wesley Sneijder because of the difficulty in finding a similar-position type of player to replace him and also because the deal was finished close to the transfer deadline and Ajax would not rush though any signings.
These events together with Edgar Davids breaking a leg disrupted the preparation for the qualification games for a Champions League place. Opponent Slavia Prague won both matches; with a 2-1 scoreline in Prague and 0-1 victory in Amsterdam. The failure to clinch a position in the Champions League group stage led to great critism from both the supporters and the media, mainly directed at Henk ten Cate and the board of directors. A 1-0 victory over PSV for the Johan Cruiff Shield could not make up for the loss of a Champions League spot. Despite quite a good start in the competition with a lot of goals from both Luis Suárez and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, Ajax lost ground again in Europe after not making it to the group phase of the UEFA Cup; managing a 0-1 win away against Dinamo Zagreb but lost the tie in Amsterdam after extra time with the score 2-3 to Dinamo. With these string of European failures, coach Ten Cate has already failed to lead the team to the Champions League group stage for two seasons in a row and no European football at the ArenA for the remainder of the 2007/2008 season. With this result, Ten Cate lost the confidence of the supporters who demanded that the board sack him. A more viable solution came when Chelsea (in the same week) offered Ten Cate the job of assistant manager with a 3-year deal. On Tuesday 9 October Ten Cate left Ajax. Adrie Koster was selected to helm the squad. On 29 October 2007, captain Jaap Stam announced his immediate retirement from professional football, because of a lack of motivation to continue.
[edit] Youth program
The club is also particularly famous for its renowned youth program that has introduced many footballers - Cruijff being the best example. Ajax has also expanded its talent searching program to South Africa with Ajax Cape Town. Ajax also had a satellite club in the United States under the name Ajax America, this club filled for bankruptcy. There are some youth players from Ajax Cape Town that have been drafted into the Eredivisie squad, such as Steven Pienaar and Aaron Mokoena. In 1995, the year that they won the Champions League, the Dutch national team was almost entirely composed of Ajax players, with goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar, players such as Michael Reiziger, Frank de Boer and Danny Blind in defense, Ronald de Boer, Edgar Davids and Clarence Seedorf in midfield, and Patrick Kluivert and Marc Overmars in attack. The team was coached by Louis van Gaal, and also featured foreign stars such as Jari Litmanen, Nwankwo Kanu and Finidi George. Its current successes are mostly domestic, notwithstanding some minor successes in the 2002-03 Champions League.
[edit] Rivalry
Although Ajax have been vying for the championship with PSV in recent years, its main traditional rivalry is with Feyenoord from Rotterdam, culminating every year in the "Klassieker". It is a match between the two largest cities of the Netherlands, which are both quite distinct from each other. Amsterdam is a historic, touristic as well as a business city (the 4th most important in Europe[citation needed]) and it is the (financial) capital of the country. Furthermore the city identifies itself with artists, creativity and sophistication, whilst Rotterdam hosts the biggest port of Europe and thus identifies itself with hard, no-nonsense, industrial labour. There have been many violent clashes between the supporters of both clubs, of which the Beverwijk fight in 1997 was the most infamous, resulting in the murder of Ajax supporter Carlo Picornie. Ajax is historically both the most successful and the most popular club in The Netherlands. At the same time Ajax is also the most hated club by supporters of other clubs. Its historic success and with that its attitude, which is often seen as arrogant, contribute to that negative stance towards Ajax. Not only Feyenoord from Rotterdam but also fans of FC Utrecht and ADO Den Haag regard Ajax as their main rival.
[edit] Satellite clubs
The following clubs are affiliated with AFC Ajax:
[edit] Logo
In 1900, when the club was founded, the emblem of Ajax was just a picture of an Ajax player. In 1928, the club logo was introduced with the head of the Greek hero Ajax. The logo was once again changed in 1990, making the old one more abstract. It should also be noted that the portrait of Ajax on the logo is drawn with eleven lines, symbolising the eleven players of a football team.[7]
[edit] Colours
Ajax originally played in an all black uniform with a red sash tied around the players' waists, but that uniform was soon replaced by a red/white striped shirt and black shorts. Red, black and white are the three colors of the flag of Amsterdam. However, when, under manager Jack Kirwan, the club got promoted to the top flight of Dutch football for the first time in 1911 (then the Eerste Klasse or 'First Class', later named the Eredivisie), Ajax were forced to change their colors because Sparta Rotterdam already had the exact same outfit. Special kits for away fixtures did not exist at the time and according to football association regulations the newcomers had to change their colors if two teams in the same league had identical uniforms. Ajax opted for white shorts and white shirt with a broad, vertical red stripe over chest and back, which still is Ajax's outfit. Ajax's shirts have been sponsored by ABN AMRO since 1991, the current sponsorship contract is going to run through the end of the 2007-08 season. Next season AEGON will replace ABN AMRO as the new head sponsor and is going to take the prominent place on the official match kits of all Ajax teams. This sponsorship deal between Ajax and AEGON has been laid down for a period of seven years.[8] The shirts have been manufactured by Adidas since 2000 (until at least 2009); before that Umbro (1989-2000) was manufacturing clothing for the team.[9] On the April 1 2007, Ajax wore a different sponsor for the match against Heracles Almelo: Florius. Florius is a banking program just launched by ABN AMRO who wanted it to be the shirt sponsor for one match.
[edit] Stadium
Ajax' first stadium was built in 1911 out of wood and was simply called The Stadium. Ajax later played in the stadium that was built for the 1928 Summer Olympics, held in Amsterdam. This stadium, designed by Jan Wils, is known as the Olympic Stadium. In 1934, Ajax moved to De Meer Stadion in east Amsterdam, where they would play until 1996. During big European and national fixtures the club would often play at the Olympic Stadium, where the capacity was about twice as high.
In 1996, Ajax moved to a new home ground in the southeast of the city known as the Amsterdam ArenA that was built at the cost of $134 million. The stadium is capable of holding approximately 52,000 people. The average attendance in 2006/07 was 48,610 people. The Arena has a retractable roof and was the example for other modern stadiums built in Europe in the following years. In the Netherlands, the Arena had earned a reputation for having a terrible grass pitch caused by the removable roof that, even when open, takes away too much sunlight and ventilation from the ground, and by the NFL Europa's Amsterdam Admirals who played their home games on it.
The much-loved De Meer stadium was torn down and the land was sold to the city council.
[edit] Supporters
[edit] References to Judaism
The Ajax fans have developed the tradition of using Jewish and Israeli symbols to express their allegiance, despite being almost entirely non-Jewish in their composition. Regularly, the supporters wave large Star of David flags and scream Joden! Joden! ("Jews! Jews!") to fire up their team. Die-hard Ajax supporters call themselves "F-Siders" or "Joden" — Dutch for "Jews" — a nickname that reflects both the team's and the city's Jewish heritage. This nickname for Ajax fans dates back to before World War II, when Amsterdam was home to most of the Netherlands' 140,000 Jews and the Ajax stadium itself was located near a Jewish neighborhood. Most Dutch Jews were murdered by the Nazis during the occupation, and today very little remains of Amsterdam's old Jewish quarter. But the tradition at Ajax survived. Ajax currently has no Jewish players, the last player with any Jewish roots being Daniël de Ridder.
More recently, the issue has become a significant social problem in that in an increasingly bizarre and racist way, opposing supporters specifically use antisemitism to express their antipathy towards Ajax. This is expressed in chants such as Hamas, Hamas, Jews into the gas (Hamas, hamas, joden aan het gas) or producing hissing sounds that imitate the flow of gas. This in turn does not withhold the 'Jewish' Ajax supporters from celebrating the Bombing of Rotterdam by Nazi Germany when facing Feyenoord with songs like When spring comes we will throw bombs on Rotterdam! (Als de lente komt dan gooien wij bommen op Rotterdam). Songs like this (using the melody of ´Tulips from Amsterdam´) were sung from the stage, i.e. organised, at the celebration of the winning of the Dutch Cup in 2006.
However, hardcore Ajax fans, although almost entirely gentiles, are proud of their 'outsider' image as "Jews" and feel encouraged to display more Jewish / Israeli symbols at matches, using them as a "badge of battle".
Those Ajax fans who are actually Jewish are split on the morality of this matter; some feel it is flattering but many others feel it is disrespectful and racist for non-Jews to act in such a way that encourages antisemitic abuse. Dutch authorities have tried to tone down the Jewish symbols of support for Ajax, hoping to lead to a decrease of antisemitic counter-incidents. However, the head of the European Board of Jewish Deputies has signalled his support for the F-siders, stating that antisemitism in Europe would be generally lessened if more non-Jews so readily identified with Jewish culture. The mayor of Amsterdam, Job Cohen, is also Jewish himself and has not condemned the Ajax fans.
However club chairman John Jaakke has asked the club to distance its self from the 'supposed' Jewish identity:
"Ajax is being presented as a 'Jewish club' and some of our supporters have taken to calling themselves 'Jews' as an honorary nickname. I want to state for the record that Ajax wants to shed this image and will do what is necessary to achieve this," [1]
Related Trivia
A similar situation exists at English Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur, which also has a reputation for having a large Jewish following, where supporters proudly call themselves Yids to diffuse its use as antisemitic provocation by opposition fans.
In the Australian south eastern state of Victoria, there exists the Ajax Amateur Football Club, which is a Jewish Australian rules football club, in that the vast majority of administrators and players are Jewish, and the club has a Magen David (Star of David) on its uniform. Their playing colours are also the same as AFC Ajax.
Another team with a Jewish connection is Poland's Cracovia Kraków. Fans of the team were even active in protecting Polish Jews during the Nazi occupation of the country.
[edit] Players and managers
[edit] Current squad
As of January 28th, 2008.
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[edit] Transfers 2008/09
In:
Out:
[edit] Youth squad
[edit] Notable Ajax players[edit] Notable professional Ajax players (1954-present)[edit] Notable non-professional Ajax players (1900-1954)
[edit] List of Ajax managers
[edit] Number 14As of the 2007-08 season, no player will wear the number 14 shirt at Ajax, since the club decided to retire the shirt out of respect for legend Johan Cruijff. Cruijff himself said that it would be better if the best player of the team would wear number 14. Spanish midfielder Roger was the last player to wear the number.[10] [edit] Honours[edit] Official trophies (recognized by UEFA and FIFA)[edit] National
[edit] International
[edit] Other trophies
[edit] See also[edit] References
[edit] Bibliography
[edit] External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
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