Originally, a 40th Birthday present. After a couple of years of waiting and numerous rebookings me, my wife and a handful of other friends finally made our way under the sea, through France and Belgium and into The Netherlands, more specifically Amsterdam.
On Saturday we had tickets for top of the table Ajax versus relegation threatened PEC Zwolle and with all the remaining Villa fixtures getting rescheduled to dates that I can’t make I was aware that this’ll be my final game of the 2021/22 season.
It‘s at this point I should point out that if you were hoping for a tactical breakdown and some in depth analysis you aren’t gonna find it here. I think it’s fair to say that we, as a group, got a little over excited and the amount of Heineken flowing through us absolutely enhanced our match day experience although it probably didn’t help me take much in visually come kick off time as I could see 33 players on each team.
What I can do though, with the help of photos on my camera roll, is talk you through our day a little.
After a full Irish breakfast to line the stomach we headed to The Old Sailor pub located in the Red Light District of the city and started enjoying the pre match (8 hours before kick off) atmosphere.
The beers were going down well, the atmosphere welcoming. I met a group of Freiburg supporters who were on a stag do, some Ajax fans who ironically lived in Zwolle and had travelled to the Dutch capital for the game aswell as another UK based Ajax follower who had travelled over from Wales for the match.
We left the pub after a few hours and made the five minute walk to Nieuwmarkt station and hopped on the metro to the Johan Cruijff Arena.
We were greeted by my Dutch contact Jeroen who I’ve become friends with over the last few years after being part of the Ajax Supporters Club on social media. Of course, he had Heineken waiting for us as we left the train station.
Jeroen acted as our chaperone and took us to the supporters bar which is underneath the stadium.
The supporters bar was amazing (Although
i couldn’t find anything Anwar El Ghazi related) It’s like an Ajax museum with drinking and dance music. The pictures here don’t do justice to the atmosphere as they were taken 3-4 hours before kick off but the place was soon rocking and it wasn’t long before Jeroen was joining us on the lagers.
We were then joined by some of his friends and I can‘t stress enough how welcoming they were and truly showed us what a typical match day is like for an Ajax fan.
We made our way into the stadium as kick off was approaching and ascended to our seats high up in Block 426, just to our left was Ajax’s famous F-Side where their Ultras gather.
From here on in is pretty blurry if I’m honest. Ajax won the 3-0 with the opener scored by captain Dusan Tadic and the other goals both by Davy Klaasen.
A couple of days later we were back on the Metro to Bijlmer again as we had VIP tickets for the stadium tour and I’ll use this platform to share some of the pictures from the tour.
Cruijff
F-Side
Upper corner is the Away End
View from corporate hospitality
Home dugout
Away Team dressing room. PEC Zwolle had left their set piece tactics on the wall.
Ajax Dressing Room
#14 Cruijff tribute outside stadium
I hope you’ve enjoyed these pictures, the stadium tour is a must if you‘re a football fan and ever find yourself in Amsterdam.
My love affair with Ajax continues and like always when I leave the city of Amsterdam, I can’t wait to get back there. And because I was too drunk to see most of the football I think it’s only right that I get back as soon as possible to watch another game.
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