Ajax Amsterdam

Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax () also referred to as Ajax Amsterdam, AFC Ajax, or simply Ajax (pronounced Ah-yahx), is a football club from Amsterdam, Netherlands. The club is historically one of the top-10 football clubs in the world, and one of the three clubs that dominate Dutch football, the other two being Feyenoord Rotterdam and PSV Eindhoven. Ajax is one of only four clubs (with Juventus FC, FC Bayern Munich and FC Barcelona) to have won all three major European trophies at least once (the European Champions Cup, the European Cup Winners Cup and the UEFA Cup). They were the first team to win what has become the UEFA Intertoto Cup. Ajax has also expanded its talent searching program to South Africa and the United States with Ajax Cape Town and Ajax Orlando respectively.

History

The club was founded in Amsterdam on March 18, 1900 by Floris Stempel, Carel Reeser and the brothers Han and Johan Dade. 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 John 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. Loosely inspired by the kit of Arsenal, Ajax opted for white shorts and white shirt with a broad, vertical red stripe over chest and back, which still is Ajax's outfit. Today, it is one of the most recognised football jerseys in the world.

Ajax dominated European club football during the early 1970's by winning the European Champion Club's Cup in 1971, 1972 and 1973. The success had two main causes: the highly disciplined coaching by Rinus Michels and the genius of Johan Cruijff. From the 1960's onwards Ajax had developed the concept of total football, ending the traditional division of labour between defenders, midfielders and attackers. All players were to participate in all aspects of the game, in an organization that would fill gaps when a player moved to a different position. There is some debate amongst footballing cognoscenti as to whether or not the system was developed organically through the talent of the players, or whether it was part of an over-arching tactical scheme from manager Rinus Michels.

The club is also famous for its excellent youth program and has introduced a many great footballers - Cruijff being the best example. Its satellite club is the Ajax Cape Town of South Africa from where youth players have been drafted into the Eredivisie squad, such as Steven Pienaar and Aaron Mokoena. In 1995, the year that they won the UEFA Champions League, Ajax was the team that could best represent the Dutch national team in all departments, 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. Its youth team continues to develop talented individuals like Wesley Sneijder, Johnny Heitinga, Hedwiges Maduro, Urby Emanuelson, Maarten Stekelenburg and Ryan Babel who regularly represent their nation. At the 2006 World Cup, Sneijder, Heitinga, Babel, Maduro and Stekelenburg were included in the national squad.

Since their success with the 1995 Champions League, Ajax have struggled to rediscover their European form but they will first need to dominate the Eredivisie. Players such as Shota Arveladze and Brian Laudrup have won over the fans in the late 1990s but have yet to make their abundance of talents count in major tournaments. Most recently in 2005, popular coach, Ronald Koeman resigned after Ajax's defeat to AJ Auxerre in the UEFA Cup tournament despite having a squad packed with international experience, declaring himself drained of any inspiration to further guide the team to any success. 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's dry spell in the domestic league which even saw them languishing in fifth position at the beginning of 2005. Koeman's replacement was widely tipped to be as of a manager with vast experience, so it may come as a surprise when former Ajax-player Danny Blind was unveiled as their new coach, with virtually no top-level manager experience although he had worked with Koeman as a technical coach and advisor. The season may also witness the restructuring of the club with key players Rafael van der Vaart and Nigel de Jong joining Hamburger SV, while four others (Hatem Trabelsi, Tomas Galasek, Steven Pienaar and Maxwell) have already revealed that they will leave the club at the end of the 2005-2006 season. The recent addition of Klaas Jan Huntelaar from SC Heerenveen,as well as the improved play of Markus Rosenberg are reasons that the fans still have hope for success in the coming years. Blind was sacked on May 10, 2006 after only 422 days in charge. New coach Henk ten Cate, who won the Champions League and Primera Division last season as the assistent of Frank Rijkaard with FC Barcelona, has earned respect of the players as well as the supporters, by giving youngsters a shot to enter the selection of the 1st team. Ten Cate has recently shared that youngsters Jan Vertonghen, Rydell Poepon and Robbert Schilder will be included in the selection, whereas Greek forward Angelos Charisteas has been told that he must search for a new club, as he doesn't fit in Ten Cate's system. Ten Cate has announced that he wishes to win the Dutch competition, de Eredivisie again this year, as it has been too long since their last victory; for a club of Ajax's stature.

Stadium

Amsterdam ArenA

Ajax's 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 simply known as the Olympic Stadium. In 1934, Ajax moved to De Meer Stadion in east Amsterdam, where they would play until 1996. De Meer stadium was an unusually small stadium for such a large club, but the small stadium also created a cozy atmosphere. During big European fixtures the club would often play at the Olympic Stadium, where the capacity was higher.

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 2004/05 was 48,600 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 has earned a reputation for having a terrible grass pitch, made even worse that for part of the year, the NFL Europe's Amsterdam Admirals play their home games on it. Adding to this is that the condition of the grass is caused by the roof that, even when open, takes away too much sunlight and ventilation from the ground.

Despite being a modern and comfortable stadium, in the eyes of the visitors it still lacks the character which could/can be found in De Meer or the Kuip.

The much loved De Meer stadium was torn down and the land was sold to the city council.

Rivalry

Although Ajax have been vying for the championship with PSV in recent years, its main rivalry is with Feyenoord of Rotterdam, culminating every year in the "Klassieker". It is a match between the two largest cities of the Netherlands, one of which identifies with artists and creativity (Amsterdam) and one with hard work (Rotterdam). There have been many clashes between the supporters of both clubs, of which the Beverwijk clash in 1997 was the most infamous, resulting in the death of Ajax supporter Carlo Picornie.

Fans of FC Utrecht think of Ajax as their most hated opponents as well. Ajax fans do not really care about this rivalry, although recently, following a few defeats, Utrecht have become more hated by Ajax fans as well.

Honors

National

*Eredivisie: 29 (Dutch champ)
*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
*KNVB Cup: 16 (Dutch cup)
*1917, 1943, 1961, 1967, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1979, 1983, 1986,
*1987, 1993, 1998, 1999, 2002, 2006
*Dutch Super Cup: 5
*1993, 1994, 1995, 2002, 2005

International

*European/South American Cup (Intercontinental Cup): 2
** 1972, 1995
*European Champion Club's Cup / Champions League: 4
**1971, 1972, 1973, 1995
*European Cup Winners' Cup: 1
**1987
*UEFA Cup: 1
**1992
*European Super Cup: 3
**1972 (not official by U.E.F.A), 1973, 1995
*Intertoto Cup: 1
**1962 (not official by U.E.F.A), .

Players and managers

Current squad (2006/2007 season)

(Captain)

Players on loan{|