«- (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

AJAX ARCHIEF

Programmaboekjes (vanaf 1934) | 1993 | | pagina 12