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'The Double' and the Amstel Cup final

From the desk of the Editor
Menno Pot
May 07, 2002

A club winning 'the double' - the championship and the national cup in the same season - is not something that happens every year. Since the start of the Eredivisie, in 1956, it happened 13 times in Dutch football. Feijenoord (spelled with 'ij' instead of 'y' back then) was the first club to achieve it in modern Dutch football: in 1965. So far, Ajax clinched most 'doubles'. Six of them, to be precise: in 1967, 1970, 1972, 1979, 1983 and 1998, exactly as much as PSV (3 times) and Feyenoord (3 times) together. AZ '67 also managed to win the title and the cup in the same year once, in the historic succes year of the Alkmaar club: 1981.

The last time 'the double' was won in Holland, was in 1998. Ajax finished at the top of the Eredivisie, no less than 17 points ahead of runner-up PSV. In the Amstel Cup, as the old KNVB Cup was re-named by that time, PSV was the runner-up as well. Here too, the difference was enormous: 5-0 to Ajax, in Rotterdam's De Kuip stadium.

Only once in Eredivisie history, a club managed to win two 'doubles' in a row. The unbeatable PSV did it in 1988 (the year in which the southern club also won the European Champions' Cup) and 1989.

This season, Ajax can claim the double for the 7th time in club history and for the 14th time over-all since the start of the Eredivisie.

FC Utrecht vs Ajax - Amstel Cup History

In the Amstel Cup final, on Sunday 12 May in Rotterdam, Ajax is to face FC Utrecht, only three weeks after the second Eredivisie confrontation between the two sides (1-0 to Ajax, in the Amsterdam ArenA). Utrecht reached the final by eliminating Ajax' second team in the semi final, after a penalty shoot-out. Ajax dealt with PSV in the second semi final: 3-0.

Ajax played 18 national cup finals in total, of which 14 were won. The last time Ajax lost a cup final was 21 years ago, in 1981 against AZ '67. The last time the cup was won by the Amsterdammers, was in the - for the large part - disastrous season 1998-1999. Back then, two Jesper Gr¢nkjær goals were enough to beat Fortuna Sittard in the final.

FC Utrecht played two finals, when the Amstel Cup was still called KNVB Cup. In 1982 it went wrong against AZ '67: 5-1 to the Almaar side, after a 0-1 lead for FC Utrecht at half-time. Revenge came three years later, in 1985, as FC Utrecht beat First Division side and surprising finalist Helmond Sport in the final: 1-0.

Since Utrecht based clubs Elinkwijk, Velox and DOS joined forces and became FC Utrecht in 1970, Ajax and FC Utrecht clashed three times in the national cup competition, after Ajax and Elinkwijk had met in the quarter final of May 1968, which Ajax won 1-0.

The first real cup confrontation between the two clubs took place in November of 1976, as FC Utrecht terminated Ajax' campaign in the second round, by winning 2-1. The second and third cup games between the two were won by Ajax. In February 1986, Ajax won in Utrecht's Nieuw Galgenwaard stadium in the second round: 0-4. Three years later, in February 1989, FC Utrecht was beaten 2-1 in De Meer in Amsterdam, in the third round.

De Kuip, Venue for the Final

This season's final, on 12 May, will be played in Rotterdam's 'Stadium Feijenoord', known as De Kuip. The stadium was the venue for the cup final numerous times before. However, it was not before the final of 1990 that De Kuip became the traditional location for the final. Before that year, a different venue was chosen per season.

Out of Ajax' 14 national cups, 6 were won in De Kuip: in 1971, 1972 (the year in which Ajax also won the European Champions' Cup on the ground of arch-enemy Feyenoord) and 1979, plus the last three times, in 1993, 1998 and 1999. Ajax only lost one cup final in Rotterdam: in 1980, against Feyenoord (3-1). The three other lost finals were played in Amsterdam's Olympic Stadium (1978 and 1981, both times against AZ '67) and Zuiderpark Stadium in The Hague (1968, against local side ADO).

18 finals - 14 cups

An overview of the 18 cup finals in which Ajax played, shows that the Dutch national cup is - as the official website Amstel Cup.nl puts it - "a cup tournament with a lot of history, but not very much tradition". You can tell so, from the numerous different venues where the final was played through the years. Also, structure and rules of the tournament changed a number of times.

If Ajax and FC Utrecht draw on 12 May, extra time and - possibly - a penalty shoot-ut will bring a decision. But it wasn't always like that. In the 1970s, for example, a draw was followed by extra time. But if the score was still level after extra time, a replay brought the decision. It happened to Ajax in 1971 and 1979.

In 1983 the KNVB experimented with a two-legged final, consisting of a home game and an away game. The football association quickly let the idea go, as Ajax demonstrated that the excitement a final requires rapidly vanishes if one of the two finalists books two easy victories. Ajax reached the final 18 times, but - in a way - played 21 finals.

  1. 27 May 1917, ('Wooden') Stadium, Amsterdam: Ajax vs VSV 5-0
  2. 27 June 1943, Olympic Stadium, Amsterdam: Ajax vs DFC 3-2
  3. 14 June 1961, Zuiderpark, The Hague: NAC vs Ajax 0-3
  4. 07 June 1967, De Meer, Amsterdam: NAC vs Ajax 1-2 a.e.t.
  5. 03 June 1968, Zuiderpark, The Hague: Ajax vs ADO 1-2
  6. 27 May 1970, De Vliert, Den Bosch: Ajax vs PSV 2-0
  7. 05 May 1971, De Kuip, Rotterdam: Ajax vs Sparta 2-2 a.e.t.
    * 20 May 1971, Olympic Stadium, Amsterdam: replay Sparta vs Ajax 1-2
  8. 11 May 1972, De Kuip, Rotterdam: Ajax vs FC Den Haag 3-2
  9. 05 May 1978, Olympic Stadium, Amsterdam: Ajax vs AZ '67 0-1
  10. 15 May 1979, De Kuip, Rotterdam: Ajax vs FC Twente 1-1 a.e.t.
    * 29 May 1979, De Kuip, Rotterdam: Ajax vs FC Twente 3-0
  11. 17 May 1980, De Kuip, Rotterdam: Feyenoord vs Ajax 3-1
  12. 28 May 1981, Olympic Stadium, Amsterdam: AZ '67 vs Ajax 3-1
  13. 10 May 1983, De Meer, Amsterdam: Ajax vs NEC 3-1
    * 17 May 1983, De Goffert, Nijmegen: NEC vs Ajax 1-3
  14. 28 May 1986, De Meer, Amsterdam: Ajax vs RBC 3-0
  15. 05 June 1987, Zuiderpark, The Hague: Ajax vs FC Den Haag 4-2 a.e.t.
  16. 20 May 1993, De Kuip, Rotterdam: Ajax vs SC Heerenveen 6-2
  17. 17 May 1998, De Kuip, Rotterdam: Ajax vs PSV 5-0
  18. 13 May 1999, De Kuip, Rotterdam: Ajax vs Fortuna Sittard 2-0

Cup trivia

  • Ajax played its first ever cup game on 06 November 1904, at Saturnus in Rotterdam. The cup was then usually referred to as the NVB Cup (the football association was not 'royal', 'koninklijk' yet), but was officially named Holdert Cup, after the gent who had donated the trophy to the NVB, Sir H.M.C. Holdert. Ajax played in the Second Class of Dutch football in 1904, whereas opponent Saturnus was from the Third Class. Nevertheless, the Rotterdammers won: 2-1, which could be regarded as tradition. Ajax always seems to have a tough time in cup games against opposition from lower divisions…
  • In the 18 cup finals Ajax played, the decision was never forced by a penalty shoot-out. Four times, the game ended in a draw. On all four occasions, Ajax would eventually win the cup. Twice, 30 minutes of extra time were enough: in 1967 against NAC and in 1987 against FC Den Haag. Twice, there still was no winner after extra time, after which a replay followed. Both times, Ajax was the winner: 1971 against Sparta, 1979 against FC Twente.
  • The weirdest cup victory ever booked by Ajax was, without a doubt, the one in 1970. In that year, Ajax got eliminated by AZ '67 in the third round (2-1). Just before the quarter final draw, however, the KNVB discovered there was an odd number of remaining clubs. The football association decided to draw one eliminated side 'back into the tournament'. Ajax was 'Lucky Ajax' once again. Much to the KNVB's embarrassment, the Amsterdammers then beat DWS, FC Twente and PSV - and walked off with the trophy.