Aiax
The Dutch club are one of the continent's most successful teams
and provide fitting opposition for Dennis Bergkamp's Testimonial.
Second-Half
Ajax Legends
"THERE'S ONLY ONE DENNIS BERGKAMP, ONE DENNIS BERGKAMP,
/Arsenal!
Ajax have won the Dutch
league an incredible 29 times
since 1897. They won their first
title in 1918 and a second
followed the next year - a
season in which Ajax did not
lose a single match. In 1956 the
Eredivisie (First Division) was
founded and Ajax celebrated
the league's inception with
their ninth league
championship.
In season 1964/65 Ajax came
very close to being relegated
after finishing 13th out of 16.
They bounced back the
following season however when
they won the first of three
successive titles. Between the
years of 1970 and 1998 Ajax
won 14 titles, an average of one
every two years. They last won
the Eredivisie in 2003/04.
Ajax have a proud and rich
history in Europe having won,
since their first appearance in
European competition in 1957,
four European Cups, one Cup
Winners' Cup, one UEFA Cup
and three Super Cups. Their
most impressive
accomplishment came in the
early 1970s when the team
picked up three Champions
League (or European Cup as
it was then known) trophies in
a row.
Their last continental triumph
came in the 1995 Champions
League Final when they beat
Juventus 1-0 thanks to a goal
from Patrick Kluivert. Since then,
the best they have done is reach
the Semi-Finals on two different
occasions, first in 1996 and then
in 1997.
Last season they finished
second behind PSV Eindhoven
and replaced Danny Blind,
himself a former Ajax legend,
with Henk Ten Cate, Frank
Rijkaard's assistant at
Barcelona.
The current Ajax first team will
provide the opposition for the
first -half today, with the
'legends' taking over at half-time.
Since they played Arsenal in last
season's Champions League,
Ajax have added a number of
new players to their ranks, three
of which are profiled here, along
with the new boss.
Henk Ten Cate
The Amsterdam-born
Ten Cate won two La
Liga championships
and a Champions League trophy
with Barcelona as assistant
coach before returning to
Holland with Ajax. Ten Cate has
previously coached NAC Breda,
Vitesse, Sparta Rotterdam and
MTK Budapest of Hungary with
whom he won the national cup.
Jaap Stam
Jaap Stam, the
former PSV
Eindhoven,
Manchester United, Lazio and
AC Milan defender, joined Ajax
in January 2006 and was made
club captain for the start of the
2006/07 season. A former
Dutch international, Jaap has
won trophies in each of the
countries he has played in.
Gabri
Midfielder Gabri
signed a deal with
Ajax on the same day
as George Ogararu which will
see him stay in Amsterdam for
the next three years. The 27
year-old played under Ten Cate
at Barcelona and is also a
seasoned international, having
won a silver medal in the 2000
Sydney Olympics.
George Ogararu
Ogararu, a right-
back, joined Ajax
from Steaua
Bucharest in July and signed a
contract for four years.
A Romanian international
Ogararu was first-choice at
Steaua and joined Gabri as the
first of Ten Cate's summer
signings.
Johan Cruyff
Born: April 25,1947
UEFA's European ^"5
Player of the Century and
three times winner of the
Golden Ball (European Player
of the Year), Cruyff won three
European Cups with Ajax and
played for Barcelona with
acclaim between 1973 and
1978. As a player he was also
a part of the Dutch national
team which reached the
World Cup final in 1974.
As a coach, Cruyff won the
European Cup Winners' Cup
with Ajax and the Champions
League with Barcelona
although his most impressive
accomplishment has to be
handing Dennis Bergkamp
his debut on December 14,
1986 for Ajax against Roda JC
as a substitute.
Danny Blind
Born: August 1,1961
Captain of Ajax when
they won the Champions
League and Toyota Cup in
1995, Danny Blind played a
total of 537 games for the
Dutch club. He was also a
member of the Dutch
national squad that reached
the Semi-Finals of the
European Championships in
1992. Blind was also
manager of Ajax until
recently and was replaced by
Henk Tan Cate.
