«- (an (Se */>e/e/<.%, /et bestaan, c/e officia/* en ,*ft/)/u>rfe/<,s aan ff/ar: /arte/ff/
aeb/om '/{'e bo/xen dat a aden een/xneftay nerbbff'in(bnden /eeff.
Ajax are one of only three clubs -
alongside Juventus and Barcelona
- to have won all three senior
European trophies. And Ajax and
juventus stand alone as winners of
all seven titles on offer to clubs.
Their awesome record is: World
Club Cup once (in 1982);
European Champions' Cup three
times (1971, 1972 and 1973);
Ajax coach Louis Van Gaal.
The Ajax line-up before their UEFA Cup Final victory over
European Cup-winners' Cup once
1987); European Supercup twice
(in 1972 and 1973); Dutch
Championship a record 23 times;
and Dutch Cup a record 12 times.
Ajax are 94-years-oId but it is in
the last 25 years that they have
earned a reputation abroad to
match their reputation at home.
Rinus Michels was the manager
who prepared the warning signs
when, in the 1966-7 Champions'
Cup, Ajax thrashed Liverpool 5-1
in a second-round tie in the
Amsterdam mist. Two years later
Ajax became the first
Dutch side to reach the
Champions' Cup final though they
lost 4-1 to Milan. In 1971 Ajax
were back as winners, beating
Panathinaikos 2-0 at Wembley.
Successively, they beat
Internazionale 2-0 then juventus
1 -0. Johan Cruyff was their
inspiration.
Their trademark was the total
football system which involved
taking full advantage
of a generation of
skilled all-rounders
whose versatility and
football intelligence
allowed a bewildering
inter-change of
position. It was The
Whirl, as envisaged in
the 1950s by that
football prophet Willi
Meisl.
It was a style which
very nearly earned
Dutch soccer the
game's highest prize.
But the Dutch national
team, built around the
Ajax stars, lost in both
the World Cup Finals of
1974 (2-1 to West
Germany) and 1978
Torino last year. (3-1 to an Argentinian
side inspired by our own
Ossie Ardiles).
It took Cruyff's return to revive
Ajax. In 1985 he returned as
technical director and steered
them to victory in the Cup-
winners' Cup two years later. Ajax
beat Lokomotiv Leipzig 1-0 in the
final in Athens, thanks to a goal
from Marco Van Basten. A year
later they lost in the Final to
Mechelen.
The clean sweep of Europe's big
three was completed last year
when Ajax beat Torino in the
UEFA Cup Final. But the squad
which is preparing for the new
season at home and abroad -
Ajax's Dutch Cup victory means
they compete this term in the
Cup-winners' Cup - is very
different.
Internationals such as hugely-
promising Dennis Bergkamp, Wim
Jonk and Marciano Vink have all
been sold this summer to Italy.
Thus the Makita Tournament
provides an invaluable