Ajax Football Club

Ajax Football Club or Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax is one of the greatest Dutch and worldwide professional football clubs located at Amsterdam Arena in Amsterdam, currently the largest stadium in Netherlands (52,342 seats).

Ajax is the most successful club in Netherlands with a total of 32 league titles (Eredivisie), 18 national cups (KNVB Cup) and 7 Dutch super cups (Johan Cruijff Shield). Ajax is also one of the most successful clubs in the world, by winning 4 UEFA Champions Leagues, 2 Intercontinental Cups, UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, UEFA Cup and 2 UEFA Super Cups.

The current manager is a club legend Frank de Boer with assistant manager Dennis Bergkamp, and they occupied this site in 2011. In the last season they also managed to win the Eredivisie. Captain of Ajax Club is Davy Klaassen who is having such status since 2014, when Jan Vertonghen left the club.

Ajax Football Club was founded in 1900 in Amsterdam and is now one of three most dominated clubs in Netherlands besides Feyenoord and PSV Eindhoven.

1. Jasper Cillessen
Born 23 April 1989 in Groesbeek, Netherlands
Playing position - Goalkeeper
Joined Ajax in 2011

2. Ricardo van Rhijn
Born 13 June 1991 in Leiden Netherlands
Playing position - Right back
Joined Ajax in 2002 (Youth)

3. Joël Veltman
Born 15 January 1992 in Velsen, Netherlands
Playing position - Centre back
Joined Ajax in 2012

4. Mike van der Hoorn
Born 15 October 1992 in Almere, Netherlands
Playing position - Centre back
Joined Ajax in 2013

5. John Heitinga
Born 15 November 1983 in Alphen aan den Rijn, Netherlands
Playing position - Centre Back
Joined Ajax in 2015

6. Riechedly Bazoer
Born 12 October 1996 in Utrecht, Netherlands
Playing position - Centre Midfielder
Joined Ajax in 2013

7. Viktor Fischer
Born 9 June 1994 in Aarhus, Denmark
Playing position - Left winger
Joined Ajax in 2012

8. Daley Sinkgraven
Born 4 July 1995 in Assen, Netherlands
Playing position - Midfielder
Joined Ajax in 2015

9. Arkadiusz Milik
Born 28 February 1994 in Tychy, Poland
Playing position - Striker
Joined Ajax in 2015

10. Davy Klaassen
Born 21 Februar 1993 in Hilversum, Netherlands
Playing position - Striker
Joined Ajax in 2011

11. Amin Younes
Born 6 August 1993 in Düsseldorf, Germany
Playing position - Winger
Joined Ajax in 2015

17. Nicolai Boilesen
Born 16 February 1992 in Ballerup, Denmark
Playing position - Left back
Joined Ajax in 2010

20. Lasse Schöne
Born 27 May 1986 in Glostrup, Denmark
Playing position - Midfielder
Joined Ajax in 2012

21. Anwar El Ghazi
Born 3 May 1995 in Barendrecht, Netherlands
Playing position - Winger
Joined Ajax in 2014

22. Jaïro Riedewald
Born 9 September 1996 in Haarlem, Netherlands
Playing position - Left Back
Joined Ajax in 2013

23. Kenny Tete
Born 9 October 1995 in Amsterdam, Netherlands
Playing position - Right Back
Joined Ajax in 2013

24. André Onana
Born 2 April 1996 in Nkol Ngok, Cameroon
Playing position - Goalkeeper
Joined Ajax in 2015

25. Thulani Serero
Born April 11, 1990 in Soweto, South Africa
Playing position - Attacking midfielder
Joined Ajax in 2011

EREDIVISIE - National champions

32 times winners:

1918, 1919, 1931, 1932, 1934, 1937, 1939, 1947, 1957, 1960, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1970, 1972, 1973, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1985, 1990, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 2002, 2004, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

21 times runners-up:
1928, 1930, 1936, 1946, 1961, 1963, 1969, 1971, 1978, 1981, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1992, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2010

KNVB CUP - National Cup winners

18 times winners:

1917, 1943, 1961, 1967, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1979, 1983, 1986, 1987, 1993, 1998, 1999, 2002, 2006, 2007, 2010

5 times runners-up:
1968, 1978, 1980, 1981, 2011

JOHAN CRUIJFF SHIELD - Dutch Super Cup

8 times winners:

1993, 1994, 1995, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2013

5 times runners-up:
1996, 2002, 2004, 2010, 2011

EUROPEAN CUP / UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

4 times winners:

1971, 1972, 1973, 1995

2 times runners-up:
1969, 1996

INTERCONTINENTAL CUP

2 times winners:

1972, 1995

EUROPEAN CUP WINNERS' CUP

1 time winners:

1987

1 time runners-up:
1988

UEFA CUP

1 time winners:

1992

UEFA SUPER CUP

3 times winners:

1972, 1973, 1995

1 time runners-up:
1987

When Ajax Football Club was established the club had only black uniforms with a red waist. This colors were used on City of Amsterdam crest and that is one of the reasons for that colors. But then Ajax changed shirts into red and white. First the shirt had vertical stripes and black shorts. But after 10 years they changed stripes into one big stripe because Sparta Rotterdam had almost identical shirts.
And that is how the famous Ajax stripe was born. And now after almost 100 year, Ajax Football Club still wears almost the same shirt, only suppliers of shirts and sponsors had changed. Shorts are white and the second color or away kit changes from year to year between black, red, green, yellow, navy and sky blue colors.

The story of Ajax crest is quite interesting. The first crest from years around 1900 is featuring an Ajax player in a home stripes shirt. But then Ajax Football Club changed his home shirts from more stripes to one big vertical stripe. Because of that also the crest had been changed. The only difference on the new crest was that the player was wearing the new home shirt with only one big stripe.

Around year 1928 the club agreed to change the crest from 1900s. They choose the image of a Greek hero, called Ajax The Great. He was knows as a hero with a lot of skill and strength what is also typical for Ajax Football Club. But in year 1990 the crest was simplified what caused dismay between fans. But the crest is used from then until now and I believe that it also will be in the future.

In 1894, a group of friends decided to set up a club called Football club Ajax. In the years before 1900 is little known, but sources tell that the club only played matches against other clubs from Amsterdam.
The club was then formally established on 03.18.1900 by three friends (Reeser, Stempel and Dade). Then in the 1902 the club joined the Dutch Football association.

In 1907 the club was forced to relocate to Middenweg. Then in the year 1908 they managed to win the Golden Cross, in which only the top 8 teams from the region could compete. In the period until 1910, Ajax moved to the first stadium called Houten Stadium (Wood Stadium).
With the arrival of a English coach in 1910 began winning era of Ajax, which is still ongoing. In the next year they managed to win the second league and were promoted to the first division.

But in the years to come, Ajax was demoted back to second division and played there until 1917 when the NVB promoted 8 teams to first division. In the next year Ajax managed to win its first Championship without a single lose. The same achievement was made in 1919 season. In that time, Ajax coach was Jack Reynolds which was the longest sitting coach in Ajax Football Club.
Years between 1920 and 1929 were the baddest in Ajax history, not winning a single trophy. In that time they also lost against Rapid Wien with a score 16-2.

Then the years between 1929 and 1939 were maybe the most successful years in club history, winning seven regional championships and five first division championships.
Then came the dark era of the second world war. During this period, the war came more important than football. For Ajax Football Club, that era was very difficult and sad because the club was known as a Jewish Club which is still their nick name.
In the years until 1965 didn't happen much. The club didn't managed to win a single championship title. In year 1965 Rinus Michels became the first coach from the Netherlands with a permanent position.

With the arrival of the Dutch coach, professionalism was announced. Ajax changed tactics and started to play more attacking strategy and more attractive what is still typical for Ajax today. Thanks to the new coach, Ajax managed to win four national championships and three KNVB cups. Ajax also reached the final of Europa Cup (Champions League), but they lost 4-1 against AC Milan.
In years 1971, 1972 and 1973 Ajax Football club won the Europa cup and they were kings of Europe. They beat Panathinakos 2 : 0, Inter Milan 2 : 0 and Juventus 1 : 0 in three finals in a row. In these year were heroes born. One of them is Heinz Stuy, a goalkeeper who had a clean sheet for 1082 minutes and the second is Johan Cruijff who was the real leader of Ajax.

In the years to come Ajax lost the reputation they earned in the last few year. The biggest reason was that they lost most of the top players.
In the year 1981 Johan Cruijff came back and with him Ajax again started to win titles. In next six years they won three national championships. In the year 1985 they also managed to win European Cup Winners Cup against Lokomotive Leipzig. In 1987 they also won the UEFA Cup.
Then came a difficult time for the club. They played lousy football and they were on 14th place. But all that changed when a new coach was appointed. It was Spitz Kohn with assistant Louis van Gaal. After appointing a new coach, Ajax won 13 matches and they ended on the second place.
Then in 1991 after a few coach switches, Louis Van Gaal became the manager of Ajax Football Club. Before becoming head coach, he had been a youth coach and also assistant coach in Ajax. In the next year he proved his quality by winning UEFA Cup.

But then in year 1995 Van Gaal and Ajax team managed to win for the fourth time the Champions League in a final against AC Milan and then also the Clubs World Cup.

But the time came when Van Gaal left Ajax. Ajax was still playing good football in the Netherlands but for Europe that wasn't enough. Because of that, many players left the club in a few years (players like twins De Boer, Jari Litmanen, Blind, Van der Sar etc.).
That left scars in the team and in the same season they were only on sixth place in the championship. Immediately a new coach was appointed who gave chances to young players like Van der Meyde, Van der Vaart, etc.

But a series of really bad results forced the club to appoint new coach Ronald Koeman. In the new year Ajax Football Club wins a double and they were again on top of the Netherlands. Ronald Koeman stayed head coach until 2005 and then left. Between year 2005 and 2010 many managers were appointed and there were only small successes. In 2010 then came back a legend for being a manager, Frank de Boer. I hope that in the next few year Ajax will shine in Europe and not only in Dutch championship and that they can again rise on the top of Europe.

First stadium on which Ajax Football Club played was built in year 1911 and was called Wood Stadium.

Ajax played games on the Wood Stadium until the 1928 Summer Olympic games in Amsterdam. Then a new stadium was built and Ajax relocated to Olympic Stadium. It could accommodate about 31,600 spectators and then the Amsterdam authorities decided to expand it for 60.000 spectators. Ajax played international games on Olympic Stadium until 1996.

In year 1934 a new stadium was built for Ajax Football Club. It was built in east Amsterdam and was called De Meer Stadion. Stadium could accommodate around 29,500. Ajax played games on De Meer Stadion until 1996.

In 1996 a new stadium was built in southeast Amsterdam and was named as the Amsterdam Arena. The maximum capacity is around 52,000 people for football games.

Amsterdam Arena was built by the city authorities. Amsterdam Arena is a modern stadium with a removable roof, which represents also a small problem for the grass because it takes away fresh air and especially sunlight. But that problem was fixed in next few years. Arena is also the biggest stadium in the Netherlands and proud home of Ajax Football Cluband I hope that it will stay like that.