*Main photo: Jany van der Veen is standing in the back row, fifth from the left Many remember the great Ajax team that dominated the 1970s and the legendary Dutch side that…
Tag: eredivisie
IMAGINE YOURSELF AT 15. You, as many others, were probably worried about next week’s maths test or perhaps if that cute boy or girl at the front of the class was into…
DUTCH FOOTBALL IS CHANGING. Following the dismal qualification campaign for the now mostly-forgotten (everywhere except Portugal and the Netherlands) 2016 European Championships, the big wigs in Holland came together to find a…
It’s a spring day in 1962 and an almighty rainfall is pouring down on The Hague. Another 40 years will pass before the third-largest city in the Netherlands will become the headquarters…
The goal was scrappy. Patrick Kluivert, on as a late substitute, slipped and stumbled through the penalty area before somehow stabbing the ball home. With five minutes remaining, Ajax were ahead in the…
TEETERING PERILOUSLY close to the swaying trapdoor that is relegation to the Netherlands’ second tier, FC Twente can do little but hope their legs hold out long enough to preserve their top-flight status…
IT IS THE ESSENCE OF A FOOTBALL FAN to question and compare players. Whilst debating the merits of the heroic wingers past and present, the same few names frequently populate discussions. Cristiano Ronaldo,…
ON AUGUST 16, 2010, Georgian businessman Merab Jordania bought Vitesse Arnhem, becoming the first foreign owner in the Netherlands, with the sole ambition of dominating Dutch football. Vitesse hadn’t finished higher than second…
This feature is part of The Fleeting Fraternity Imagine a striker tall in stature but with lightning-quick feet, a velvety deft first touch, the explosiveness of a coiled spring, the flexibility and acrobatic…
It was hopeless – Patrick Kluivert was too quick, too aggressive and too alert for AC Milan to nullify his threat. Fifteen minutes after emerging from the bench to replace Jari Litmanen, the…
THE WORLD FAMOUS DUTCH CLUB Ajax of Amsterdam have had and well-known managers since their formation in 1900. Recently, the holders of the role have read like a who’s who of Dutch playing…
FOOTBALL IS A FICKLE GAME. For every promising youngster that makes the grade, there are twenty who fail to make the grade. For these almost men, the chances of regaining a chance to make…