De Klassieker

Amsterdam vs Rotterdam

The rivalry between these two clubs goes beyond the football rivalry, it transcends into the city rivalry between Amsterdam and Rotterdam. This city rivalry began when these two cities first received their city rights in the 13th century. The football clubs are the pride of these cities; Ajax to Amsterdam and Feyenoord to Rotterdam.

The inhabitants of these cities differ extremely in both attitudes and cultures which is clearly reflected on to the football pitch. The clash is seen as between the artists of Amsterdam and the workers of Rotterdam. Amsterdam is renowned for its culture, having produced several artists and actors. Ajax’s style of play has long been a source of pride for the supporters, and one of irritation for the Feyenoord fans. The Rotterdammers feel that those hailing from Amsterdam possess delusions of grandeur, and there is a saying to reflect these sentiments: “While Amsterdam dreams, Rotterdam works”. Rotterdam was forced to work after being bombed heavily in the Second World War by the Nazis. A harbour town, its people are proud of their work ethic, and resentful of Amsterdam's showiness.

Ajax vs Feyenoord

The first encounter between these two clubs was on 9 October 1921 in Rotterdam which was surrounded by controversy. The match initially ended 3–2 in Ajax' favour. This was later officially declared 2–2 due to Feyenoords protest to what they believed was a dubious goal by Ajax.

There has also been a competition as who has the biggest stadium between these two clubs which mainly occurred in the 1930s and 1940s. This was done as bragging rights as which city, between Amsterdam and Rotterdam, had the biggest stadium in the Netherlands. The Olympic Stadium was constructed in 1928 and had a capacity of 31,600 which was the biggest in the Netherlands. In 1934 De Meer Stadion was constructed with a capacity of 22,000. Ajax used the Olympic Stadium for European matches whereas De Meer for domestic matches. The status of the Olympic Stadium being the largest in Netherlands would change in 1937 when De Kuip was constructed which had a capacity of 64,000 which Feyenoord would be playing their games at. Ajax responded by renovating the Olympic stadium to increase its capacity to 64,000. This was also done in 1937 but after the construction of De Kuip. After the Second World War, Feyenoord would increase the capacity of their stadium to 69,000 in the year 1949.

From the season 1947–48 up to and including 1955–56 no competitive matches were played between these two clubs. This was due to Feyenoord never winning their regional league in this period and hence not reaching the Championship Playoff where they could face Ajax. In order for these clubs to continue playing each other during this period a number of friendlies were arranged. Once the Eredivise was introduced in 1956–57 regional leagues were abolished in favour of a single national league and hence no championship playoffs were needed. Therefore Feyenoord and Ajax were able to play competitive matches against each other once more and have so every season since then.

In the season 1960/61 the highest scoring match between these two occurred. The total amount of goals scored was 14 where the score was 9–5 in the favour of Feyenoord. This season Feyenoord won the league with Ajax being second place with 2 points behind first place. Four years later in the season 1964/65 the same scoreline was almost replicated by a 9–4 scoreline in Feyenoords favour.

This rivalry heated up considerably in the early 70s when these two clubs were arguably the best in the world and riots started to break between the sets of fans. During the early 70s Ajax had won 3 European Cups and 1 Intercontinental Cup, Feyenoord had won one European Cup, one Intercontinental Cup and one UEFA Cup. All these trophies won by Feyenoord at the time were the first to be won by a dutch club. This success lead to the Netherlands squad being filled with a majority of Ajax and Feyenoord players. These players would be important during the 1974 FIFA World Cup and 1978 FIFA World Cup in which they displayed what is known to be Total Football.

During the season 1980/81, Feyenoord legend Wim Jansen, who played for Feyenoord for 15 years, made the leap to Ajax which created much anger for the Feyenoord fans. On his debut for Ajax, which happened to be an away game against Feyenoord, a Feyenoord fan threw a iceball in Wim Jansens eye for which he had to leave the field for treatment. The rivalry intensified even further during the 1983/84 season when Ajax legend Johan Cruyff made the transfer from Ajax to Feyenoord. This was after a contract dispute between Cruyff and Ajax. Where Ajax refused to give Cruyff a contract extension to due his age. This transfer angered Ajax fans and Feyenoord fans did not like the fact that an Ajax legend would be joining their club. Some Feyenoord fans protested his arrival by hanging banners saying "Feyenoord Forever, Cruijff Never" being one of the more civilised one. Many fans would also whistle and jeer at the newcomer during the friendly pre season games and whenever his name was announced in the stadium. Some fans even refused to enter the stadium whilst Johan Cruyff was there. In the 1983/84 season, Feyenoord and Cruyff lost 8–2 to Ajax which was Feyenoords worst loss to them ever. However Feyenoord ended up winning the league and cup.

Both clubs have fallen from grace over the years, while fan violence has increased, and there is always a heavy police presence at the derby. The most serious incident occurred in the Beverwijk clash in 1997 when Ajax fan Carlo Picornie was killed and several others injured. The riots of 2005 were also a depressing chapter in the history of the two clubs.

Violence and Incidents

Since the 70's there have been many clashes between the supporters of both clubs, of which Beverwijk (see Battle of Beverwijk) in 1997 was infamous. One Ajax fan, Carlo Picornie, was beaten to death by rival supporters, triggering more strict policies from the Dutch football association KNVB to tackle hooliganism. As a result of the incident, the two Klassiekers in 1997/98 were played without away fans.

In 2004 Feyenoord player Jorge Acuña was taken to hospital with head, neck and rib injuries after Feyenoord players were attacked by Ajax hooligans during a match between the reserve teams of both clubs. Another Feyenoord player, Robin van Persie, had to be rescued by Ajax coach John van 't Schip and player Daniël de Ridder.

In April 2005, riots took place around Feyenoord's ground involving hooligans from both sides and the riot police. Travelling Ajax fans had demolished the train transporting them to Rotterdam, and were forced to wait outside the stadium until the match was over. Meanwhile, Feyenoord supporters who had just seen their team lose, were determined to clash with rivals from Amsterdam, who had not seen the match. Hooligans filmed by police were shown on national TV. Virtually every hooligan on TV handed himself in.

In February 2009, the mayors of Amsterdam and Rotterdam made an agreement with the KNVB to ban visiting fans from the away games for the next five seasons in an effort to curb the violence. However this is still in effect.

In March 2015, the Ajax clubhouse was burned down for which the cause is officially unknown. However the police and Ajax fans suspected Feyenoord fans to have been behind this event. Ajax hooligans planned a revenge attack on Feyenoord fans but were stopped by police.

In February 2016, an incident took place in Amsterdam Arena where an effigy was hanged from an Ajax stand (VAK410) of Kenneth Vermeer, who made the crossing from Ajax to Feyenoord.

Honours

These two clubs are the first and third most successful clubs in Netherlands. Ajax being first and Feyenoord being third. Almost in every competition Ajax has more silverware than Feyenoord. In total Ajax has 71 trophies and Feyenoord has 35. This total includes both domestic and international trophies. These two clubs endured their greatest international success in the early 70s when they were arguably considered the best clubs in the world. Where Ajax won 3 European Cups and Feyenoord winning 1 European Cup and 1 UEFA Cup.

All-time top-scorers

Statistics accurate as of 2016/17 season 23 October 2016.

Crossing The Divide

There have been quite a few players who have played for both Ajax and Feyenoord. The most controversial players being Johan Cruyff and Wim Jansen. In addition to this there have been some managers who have managed both teams.

From Feyenoord to Ajax

Henk Groot – 1965 direct transfer
Ruud Geels – 1974 not a direct transfer between the clubs
Jan Everse – 1977 direct transfer
Wim Jansen – 1980 not a direct transfer between the clubs
Jan Sørensen – 1987 not a direct transfer between the clubs
Arnold Scholten – 1995 direct transfer
Dean Gorré – 1997 not a direct transfer between the clubs
Richard Knopper – played in the Feyenoord youth system
Henk Timmer – 2002 direct loan transfer
Leonardo – 2007 not a direct transfer between the clubs
Evander Sno – 2008 not a direct transfer between the clubs
Ronald Graafland – 2010 direct transfer
Anwar El Ghazi – 2013 played in the Feyenoord youth system

From Ajax to Feyenoord

Diego Biseswar – 2001 played in the Ajax youth system
Harvey Esajas – 1992 played in the Ajax youth system
Eddy Pieters Graafland – 1958 direct transfer
Henk Groot – 1963 direct transfer
Theo van Duivenbode – 1969 direct transfer
Martin van Geel – 1988 not a direct transfer between the clubs
René Notten – 1978 direct transfer
Tscheu La Ling 1986 not a direct transfer between the clubs
Johnny Rep – 1984 not a direct transfer between the clubs
Simon Tahamata – 1984 not a direct transfer between the clubs
Johan Cruijff – 1983 direct transfer
Keje Molenaar – 1985 not a direct transfer between the clubs
Arnold Scholten – 1989 direct transfer
Rob Witschge – 1990 not a direct transfer between the clubs
John van Loen – 1993 direct transfer
Ronald Koeman – 1995 not a direct transfer between the clubs
Peter van Vossen – 1998 not a direct transfer between the clubs
Henk Timmer – 2006 not a direct transfer between the clubs
Angelos Charisteas – 2006 direct transfer
Tim de Cler – 2007 not a direct transfer between the clubs
Evander Sno – 2005 played in the Ajax youth system
Ronald Graafland – 2011 direct transfer
John Goossens – 2012 played in the Ajax youth system
Bilal Basacikoglu – 2014 played in the Ajax youth system
Warner Hahn – 2014 not a direct transfer between the clubs
Kenneth Vermeer – 2014 direct transfer
Marko Vejinović – 2015 played in the Ajax youth system
Jan-Arie van der Heijden – 2015 not a direct transfer between the clubs
Eljero Elia – 2015 played in the Ajax youth system

Managers

Hans Kraay was manager at Ajax during 1974/75 and at Feyenoord during 1982/83 and 1988/89.
Leo Beenhakker has been a manager at both clubs numerous times.
Ronald Koeman was manager at Ajax during 2002 and 2005, was Feyenoord manager during 2011 and 2014.
Peter Bosz played for Feyenoord between 1991 en 1996, was technical director for Feyenoord during 2006 and 2009. Became Ajax manager in 2016.