Here's the deal with FC Utrecht...

From the desk of the Editor
Menno Pot
April 11, 2002

One of the most interesting stories of this season's Eredivisie, is the story of Ajax and FC Utrecht, if only because the two clubs met no less than four times. By the end of the season, the team from Holland's fourth city will have met Ajax-1 three times and Young Ajax once.

You could say, a bit cynically, that it started as usual: with a defeat at Nieuw Galgenwaard stadium. It was two days before Christmas, 3-1 was the final score. The game developed in the way Ajax fans have gotten used to: a good start and a short period of dominance for a young and fragile Ajax team, after which Utrecht lived up to its reputation of being a gang of ruffians - and walked all over Ajax, sometimes almost literally.

The second meeting was Young Ajax vs FC Utrecht, in the semi finals of the Amstel Cup, on Friday, 29 March. The game itself was never the main issue, we can say in retrospective. There was so much else going on. In short: FC Utrecht demanded tickets for 5,000 or at least 3,500 fans, but the Dutch Railways refused to provide extra trains for that many travelling supporters. As a protest action, Utrecht fans then occupied the railroad tracks near Utrecht Central, after which - to everyone's surprise and dismay - the Dutch Railways immediately gave in, promising to make extra trains available. If Ajax was willing to provide FC Utrecht with extra tickets, of course. But Ajax said 'no': no more tickets than the obligatory minimum of 1,600.

Even on the night of the game, the game itself seemed secondary. Large groups of FC Utrecht fans were all over the Amsterdam ArenA, having bought tickets using Ajax Club Cards. Ajax hooligans located them by their cheering as Utrecht took a 0-1 lead, and attacked immediately. Fights between Ajax fans and the riot police were so serious that the TV broadcast had to be interrupted: the SBS6 TV crew was no longer safe. Young Ajax' excellent performance was overshadowed by it. The youngsters fought back to a 2-2 draw, before losing the penlty shoot-out. The final score off the pitch: several of the stadium's lavatories burnt out, numerous snack bars destroyed, over 100,000 euros of damage and over 100 Ajax hooligans arrested.

The disturbance during the game, makes the remaining Eredivisie confrontation - to be played on Sunday, 21 April in the Amsterdam ArenA - extremely loaded. In order to avoid Utrecht fans buying tickets for Ajax sections again, presale for the game was immediately terminated. The KNVB, in the mean time, will not be happy that of Ajax and FC Utrecht are to meet a fourth time, in the Amstel Cup final. In Rotterdam this time, with the risk of a third violent core of fans being present. Both domestic trophies are waiting for Ajax. In both competitions, a game against FC Utrecht has now become the key hurdle for Ajax to jump.

But that's not everything. The upcoming Amstel Cup final makes the remaining Eredivisie confrontation rather peculiar. If Ajax qualifies for the Champions League, FC Utrecht's slot in the Amstel Cup final will already be enough to pull into next year's UEFA Cup competition, even if they lose the final. If Ajax drops too deeply on the Eredivisie table and fails to qualify for the Champions League, FC Utrecht will have to win the final to enter 'Europe'. In other words: it is in Utrecht's own best interest that Ajax will comfortably qualify for the Champions League.

FC Utrecht will want to win the Amstel Cup anyway, of course, even if they're already sure to play European games next year. But playing the final against an opponent that has already celebrated the winning of a major prize, seems a far more pleasant prospect than facing an Ajax team for which the Amstel Cup final is the only remaining chance to win a trophy.

In other words: the better Ajax does in the league, the bigger the chance that FC Utrecht will qualify for the UEFA Cup and win the Amstel Cup. It makes you wonder: how hard a time will FC Utrecht give Ajax in the ArenA, if the chance of playing UEFA Cup football next year only gets smaller by doing so?

The defeats earlier in the season, for Ajax-1 and Young Ajax, will instantly be forgotten if Ajax manages to win the two remaining Utrecht fixtures. But the Amstel Cup final in particular, is not won yet. Especially if Ajax is superstitious: the draw for the Amstel Cup final determined that the game is officially an away game for Ajax.

A draw, you're asking? For a final? Yes. It took place after Ajax' semi final win over PSV (3-0). Not very important as such. It determines which side if officially the 'home' team. FC Utrecht (cup winners of 1985, by the way) won the draw, which means that the game will be officially titled FC Utrecht - Ajax (not Ajax - FC Utrecht), and that Utrecht will be allowed to wear its home jersey. Ajax will wear the 'away grey' you've come to know.

So, the Amstel Cup final is an away game. Ajax' last victory in an away game against FC Utrecht, was booked in August of 1997. On the other hand: the last time Ajax lost in the final of what was then called the KNVB Cup, was in May of 1981, against AZ '67 (3-1). All six cup finals after that (1983, 1986, 1987, 1993, 1998, 1999), were won. (MP)