AFC Ajax

Ajax
	logo
Full name	Amsterdamsche; Football Club Ajax N.V.
Nickname(s)	Jews, Joden, Godenzonen
Founded	1900
Ground	Amsterdam ArenA,; Amsterdam
Capacity	51133
Chairman	John C. Jaakke
Manager	Danny Blind
League	Eredivisie
2004-05	Eredivisie, 2nd
Home colours	Away colours

Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax, also referred to as Ajax Amsterdam, AFC Ajax, or simply Ajax (pronounced i-yax), is a football club from Amsterdam, Netherlands. It is one of the top football clubs in the world, and one of the "big three" clubs that dominate the Dutch football scene, the other two being Feyenoord Rotterdam and PSV Eindhoven. Ajax is also one of only four clubs to have won all three major European trophies.

History

The club was founded in March 18, 1900 by the brothers Han and Johan Dade. Ajax originally played in black/red striped shirts with black shorts, after the flag of Amsterdam. When the club was promoted to the highest league in Dutch football in 1911 (then the Eerste Klasse or First Class, which is currently the Eredivisie), Ajax wanted to celebrate the promotion by changing the club colours from red/black stripes to red/white stripes. However, Sparta Rotterdam already played with such an outfit, and it was feared that having similar outfits would confuse spectators and followers. Ajax therefore had to search for a new outfit, and in a clothing store in the city of Amsterdam, the club found a white shirt with a broad red stripe down the middle, which became Ajax's outfit.

The club is one of the most recognised by football fans around the world, with its white home jersey with a single red stripe. The club is also famous for its respected youth program and has introduced to the world many great professional footballers such as Johan Cruijff and Marco van Basten. 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. 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 Rafael van der Vaart, Wesley Sneijder, Nigel de Jong and Johnny Heitinga who regularly represent their nation.

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. Ajax also played in the De Meer Stadion from 1934 on. In 1996, they 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 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. The condition of the grass is caused by the roof that, even when open, takes away to much sunlight and ventilation from the ground.

After their success with the 1995 Champions League, Ajax has since struggled to rediscover its European form although they have still dominated 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 Ajax legend 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 player Rafael van der Vaart joining Hamburger SV and many young talented Ajax players also voicing an intent to move to larger clubs. A revelation of the season, however, may be defensive midfielder and defender Hedwiges Maduro who made an appearance for the Netherlands team despite having only a handful of club games under his belt but may have sufficiently impressed manager Marco van Basten to call him up for the national squad.