AFC Ajax

Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax, also referred to as AFC 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. 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, one of which identifies itself with artists, creativity and sophistication (Amsterdam), and the other which identifies itself with hard, no-nonsense, industrial labour (Rotterdam). There have been 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.

Since the success with the 1995 Champions league, Ajax have struggled to rediscover their European form. The only minor encouragement came in the 2002/03 season. Led by young captain Cristian Chivu, a new talisman Rafael van der Vaart, two of the world's best young strikers in Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Mido, and the return of a legend in Jari Litmanen, Ronald Koeman guided a new crop of talent to within seconds of the Champions League semifinal. Ajax surged through to the quarterfinal of the Champions League, getting past two group stages that contained a number of European heavyweights including Inter, Lyon, Valencia, Roma, and Arsenal. Facing AC Milan in the quarterfinals, the brave Ajax side held their own against the Rossoneri, but were finally undone by a last-gasp winner in the dying seconds of 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 Hamburger SV, while six others (Hatem Trabelsi, Tomas Galasek, 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 was humbled 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. Source wikipedia

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