Ajax-Feyenoord clash to be replayed without crowd

25th September 2023 - by Stephen Ochieng

The match held on Sunday was abandoned after Ajax fans disrupted the game with their team beaten 3-0 by the 55th minute.

SUMMARY

Dutch giants Ajax were 3-0 down after 55 minutes against Feyenoord on Sunday before the game was abandoned owing to crowd trouble.
Some of the hardcore Ajax fans lobbed flares onto the turf at the Johan Cruyff arena in Amsterdam.
The game had already been suspended twice and the referee had no choice but to abandon the match.

The remaining 35 minutes of the 'Klassieker' between Ajax and Feyenoord will be played Wednesday behind closed doors, the Dutch football federation said, after the referee abandoned this weekend's match due to flares fired onto the pitch.

The KNVB association said it had been guided by the principle that in such cases "a match should preferably be decided on the field... the match must then be resumed as soon as possible."

Dutch giants Ajax were 3-0 down after 55 minutes on Sunday, as their bitter rivals from Rotterdam humiliated them in front of their home fans, taking an unprecedented first-half lead.

Some of the hardcore Ajax fans lobbed flares onto the turf at the Johan Cruyff arena in Amsterdam. The game had already been suspended twice and the referee had no choice but to abandon the match.

The violence spilled out of the ground, as furious Ajax fans smashed the entrance to the stadium and fought running battles with mounted police armed with tear gas to disperse the crowd.

The rescheduling of the match sparked immediate anger from Ajax and from FC Volendam, who were supposed to be playing Ajax that night.

"Ajax does not agree with this," the club said in a statement.

It suggested the match be moved to the first week of November.

"Not only the clubs, but also the supporters are victims of this (rescheduling). That is why Ajax is considering legal action."

For their part, FC Volendam declared themselves "surprised" by the decision and also said they were considering their legal options.

Sunday's ugly scenes represented a new low in the crisis suffered by Ajax, a four-time European Cup winner struggling both on and off the field.

With only five points from four games, the 36-time Dutch champions are having their worst start to an Eredivisie season since 1964/65.

Reports of a power struggle in the boardroom have been all over the Dutch press, and the crowd had barely been cleared from the ground than Ajax sacked their director of football Sven Mislintat.

He had been under investigation for a potential conflict of interest during a summer signing, but the club justified the sacking by saying Mislintat had a "lack of broad support within the organisation."