The Supportersvereniging Ajax (SVA) (English: "Supporters Club Ajax") also known as Ajax Life is an organisation linked to AFC Ajax football club, based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. [1] [2]
The group is independent and consists of a variety of members. Every member is considered an Ajacied, but with different needs. The club caters to its members' various demands and necessities. Some are fans with a season ticket, including away card holders as well as members who occasionally visit competitions or follow the club through the media. [3]
Members of the SVA hail from all over the Netherlands, with an active branch situated in Belgium as well. The average membership counts between 110.000 and 135.000 members, making it the largest Supporters club in the Netherlands. The average age of its members are 35 years of age, and approximately 9% of the clubs members are season ticket holders. [4] [5]
The Supportersvereniging Ajax are also members of the Football Supporters Europe (FSE), a negotiation platform to communicate the interest of club supporters to UEFA. [6]
The SVA are widely responsible for the events surrounding the annual Ajax Open Training's Day, an event which takes place at the start of every season where the new Ajax squad members are introduced to the public in the Amsterdam Arena. [7] The event takes place in and around the team's home stadium and the neighboring training ground Sportpark De Toekomst. The event attracts thousands of spectators each year, and is one of the largest pre-season events surrounding the club from Amsterdam. [8] [9]
The Supporters club has often appeared in the media in the Netherlands to take a stance on topics such as Stadium bans, where Supporters are prohibited from visiting away matches due to past incidences.[ spelling? ] [10]
The SVA are also responsible for the Ajax Life website, as well as the Ajax Life newspaper, a bi-weekly publication with 20 issues appearing per year. The publication is delivered by mail to all members of the club with a reported total circulation of 94,000. [11]
Along with the Ajax Life membership, the SVA also offer membership for children ages 0–12 to the Ajax Kids Club. A combined effort with the actual football club Ajax, the Kids Club offers several events geared towards children centered on the team mascot Lucky Lynx and the football club, including the Ajax Kids Clubblad (kids magazine) with 8 issues appearing per year. [12]
The board consists of the following members: [13]
Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax, also known as AFC Ajax, Ajax Amsterdam, or commonly Ajax, is a Dutch professional football club based in Amsterdam, that plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football. Historically, Ajax is the most successful club in the Netherlands, with 36 Eredivisie titles and 20 KNVB Cups. It has continuously played in the Eredivisie since the league's inception in 1956, and along with Feyenoord and PSV Eindhoven, it is one of the country's "big three" clubs that have dominated that competition.
Feyenoord Rotterdam is a Dutch professional football club based in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in the Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the club changed to various names before settling on being called after its neighbourhood in 1912 as SC Feijenoord, updated in 1974 to SC Feyenoord, and then to Feyenoord in 1978, when it split from the amateur club under its wing, SC Feyenoord. Since 1937, Feyenoord's home ground has been the Stadion Feijenoord, nicknamed De Kuip, the second largest stadium in Netherlands.
Football Club Groningen is a Dutch professional association football club based in Groningen, Groningen province. Founded in 1971 as the successor of GVAV, Groningen compete in the Eredivisie, the first tier of Dutch football, following promotion from the 2023–24 Eerste Divisie.
Het Legioen is the name of the supporters and fans of Dutch football club Feyenoord Rotterdam.
Jong Ajax, also referred to as Ajax II or Ajax 2, is a Dutch association football team. It is based in Amsterdam and competes in the Dutch Eerste Divisie.
Mike Adrianus Wilhelmus van der Hoorn is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a centre back for Eredivisie club FC Utrecht. He made thirteen appearances for the Netherlands U-21 team.
Ajaxjournaal is a Dutch football news magazine revolving around AFC Ajax, a football club from Amsterdam, that was aired on TV channel RTV Noord Holland from 2004 until 2007. During the show the creators Maarten Bax and Onno Vos would interview the players and coaches about the coming or preceding matches, as well as air footage from the games and from the club's training grounds Sportpark De Toekomst, while summarizing the weekly news and events circulating around the club. The show aired every two hours after 17:30 CET on Fridays, and every hour after 9:30 CET on Saturdays from 2004 until 2007. No longer aired on national television since 2007 however, Ajaxjournaal is still broadcast online, and is also made available for viewing on screens all around the Amsterdam Metropolitan area, from McDonald's restaurants to screens on board trains of the Amsterdam Tramway Network, as well as the Amsterdam Metro transit system.
Halte Amsterdam ArenA (Asdar) is a single rail train halt in the Bijlmermeer neighbourhood of stadsdeel (borough) Amsterdam-Zuidoost in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Situated right at the Johan Cruyff Arena, a football stadium which was previously known as the Amsterdam Arena, the station is specially built for supporter trains deployed during football matches that are considered high risk to the public, such as when local football club AFC Ajax face either Feyenoord, FC Utrecht, PSV or ADO Den Haag. In away matches supporters arrive and depart via this rail station. Regular attendants of the Ajax matches usually arrive via either the Duivendrecht station or the Amsterdam Bijlmer ArenA station. Many away supporters also commonly arrive at the stadium by bus as well.
Ajax TV is a Dutch premium television Video on demand service owned by AFC Ajax N.V. and available on channel 400 of Ziggo network systems.
The AFCA Supportersclub is an independent and official supporters' association linked to AFC Ajax football club, based in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Sven Westendorp, "HIGH" was a criminal, graffiti artist, and designer from Amsterdam, Netherlands. Since his early years as a graffiti writer in the 1980s Sven was tagging the name "HIGH" helping to pioneer the movement in the Netherlands. He was a well known supporter of the association football club AFC Ajax, and a member of the hooligan firm F-side. He is also the creator of the A.F.C.A clothing brand.
Ajax Life is the largest Dutch fanzine/newspaper, with a bi-weekly circulation of approximately 94,000. Ajax Life is based in Amsterdam. Erol Erdogan is the editor-in-chief of the paper.
The Ajax Business Associates (ABA) is an organisation linked to AFC Ajax football club, based in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
The Fireworks incident was a case of football hooliganism which took place on Easter Sunday, 20 April 2014 in De Kuip, Rotterdam, during the KNVB Cup final match between AFC Ajax and PEC Zwolle. Mass amounts of fireworks, flares and smoke bombs were launched into the penalty box around Ajax goalkeeper Kenneth Vermeer in the early minutes of the match, which had been thrown onto the pitch by the Ajax hooligan firm VAK410 twice in the early build up of the game. After a 30 minute recess in which marketing director Edwin van der Sar addressed the crowd, Ajax would go on to lose the match 5–1 to Zwolle.
Amsterdam Derby (Stadsderby) refers to matches played between professional and amateur football clubs of Amsterdam. Such clubs include AFC, Ajax, Blauw-Wit, DWS, JOS Watergraafsmeer, Swift, De Volewijckers, VVA and Zeeburgia. An Amsterdam Derby can be an individual match or an ongoing rivalry between clubs, players and fans.
The 2015 KNVB Cup final was an association football match between PEC Zwolle and FC Groningen on 3 May 2015 at De Kuip, Rotterdam. It was the final match of the 2014–15 KNVB Cup, the 97th edition of the Dutch cup competition, the KNVB Cup.
Provincial elections were held in the Netherlands on 20 March 2019. Eligible voters elected the members of the Provincial States in the twelve provinces of the Netherlands. The elections were held on the same day as the 2019 Dutch water boards elections and, in the Caribbean Netherlands, island council elections.
This is a list of the main association football rivalries in the Netherlands.
Daan Reiziger is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Eerste Divisie club Cambuur.
Emre Ünüvar is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a striker for the Eerste Divisie club Jong Ajax.