AFC Ajax

AFC Ajax

Ajax, also known as AFC Ajax, Ajax Amsterdam, or simply Ajax, is a Dutch professional football club based in Amsterdam. Historically, Ajax has been the most successful club in the Netherlands, with 34 Eredivisie titles and 19 KNVB Cups. The club won the Dutch championship in 1966, 1967 and 1968, and reached the European Cup final in 1969. Ajax is one of the five clubs to have won all three major UEFA club competitions. In 1995, Ajax was crowned as World Team of the Year by World Soccer magazine.

About AFC Ajax in brief

Summary AFC AjaxAjax, also known as AFC Ajax, Ajax Amsterdam, or simply Ajax, is a Dutch professional football club based in Amsterdam. Historically, Ajax has been the most successful club in the Netherlands, with 34 Eredivisie titles and 19 KNVB Cups. Ajax is one of the five clubs to have won all three major UEFA club competitions. They have also won the Intercontinental Cup twice, the 1991–92 UEFA Cup, as well as the Karl Rappan Cup, a predecessor of the UEFA Intertoto Cup in 1962. In 1995, Ajax was crowned as World Team of the Year by World Soccer magazine. Ajax plays at the Johan Cruyff Arena, which opened as the Amsterdam ArenA in 1996 and was renamed in 2018. The club won the Dutch championship in 1966, 1967 and 1968, and reached the European Cup final in 1969, losing to Milan in the final. In 1969, Ajax won its first league and cup double, winning the Dutch league and the KNVB Cup. The 1970 season saw Ajax retain the league and retain the cup to achieve its first ever double league and Cup double. In 1972, they completed the continental treble by winning the EredIVisie, KNVB cup, and the European cup. Ajax won the first organized UEFA Super Cup in 1972 against Glasgow Rangers. In 1965, Rinus Michels, who had played for the club between 1946 and 1958, was appointed manager of Ajax, implementing his philosophy of Total Football which was to become synonymous with both Ajax and the Netherlands national team.

Between them, Michels and Cruff would go on to become the greatest Dutch footballer of all-time, winning seven Dutch titles and three European Cups. In 1966, Ajax scored a record 122 goals in 34 matches and scoring 100 goals out of 27 matches. The Amsterdam club became the first national champions under the new format and made its debut in the European Champion Clubs’ Cup the following year. In 1956, the first season of the Netherlands’ new professional league was played with Ajax participating as a founding member. The team were again Eredvisie champions in 1960 and won a thirdKNVB Cup in 1961. Ajax won a fourth Dutch league championship and second cup in 1969–70, winning its first double season and also winning the first Dutch Cup. In 1971, Ajax became the only team to achieve an unbeaten season in the Dutch Football League Championship. In the 1971–72 season, they won consecutively in 1971–1973. Ajax was founded in Amsterdam on 18 March 1900 and won the national championship for the first time in 1918–19. Ajax’s last international trophies were the 1995 Inter continental Cup, 1995 UEFA Super cup and the 1995 Champions League, where they defeated Milan in final; they lost the 1996 Champions League final on penalties to Juventus. In 1996, Ajax made its first appearance in the Champions League at the quarter-final stage, losing 6–2 on aggregate to Hungarian champions Vasas SC 6–1 on aggregate.