0405.html

Young Ajax's Jamal Akachar added to A-squad for season remainder

05 April: Ronald Koeman has added yet another Young Ajax rookie to the first squad: Jamal Akachar, the second team's 20 year-old centre forward, will join the first team for the remainder of the season. It is the next step in one of the most amazing career stories in recent Ajax history.

Jamal Akachar, in training with Ajax 1. [Photo: ANP]

Jamal Akachar, a born Moroccan, played for Ajax A2 in early 2002, but was deemed not good enough for either Ajax A1 or Young Ajax. He then decided to quit his football career and started a new one as an Amsterdam taxi driver. However, Akachar missed his weekly football game and joined the highest team of Ajax's amateur section, known as Ajax Saturday-1.

His fine performances did not go unnoticed and as Young Ajax coach John van 't Schip had problems finding enough players for his team's Amstel Cup game against Eredivisie side Willem II, he decided to give Akachar a shot.

From that moment, things went fast: Akachar played a tremendous game against the Eredivisie side on 04 December 2002 and scored Young Ajax's decisive second goal. Five days later, the club offered him a professional contract for 18 months, which made him an official member of the Young Ajax squad. "The next step is to convince Ronald Koeman of my qualities", said the striker - with a smile.

Less than four months later Akachar appears to have made this 'next step'. After the departures of Nikos Machlas (loaned out to Sevilla FC, Spain) and Ahmed 'Mido' Hossam (banned from team and loaned out to Celta de Vigo, Spain) Koeman only has one real centre forward left: Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The club unsuccesfully tried to contract a Dutch striker in the first months of 2003.

Jamal Akachar may already be on the Ajax-1 bench tonight, for the Eredivisie home game against RBC Roosendaal. (MP)

(Source: VI.nl)