Ajax announce pre-season fixtures in Holland, Germany
17 May: Ajax have announced the details of their pre-season
campaign for the new season. As usual the
Amsterdammers will kick off with a friendly against
an Amsterdam-based amateur club (DWV on 09
July), followed by a training camp in the eastern
town of De Lutte and a string of friendlies in the
area. Much to the regret of the supporters there will
be no 'U.K. friendlies' this summer. Instead, Ajax
will travel to Germany for fixtures against Bundesliga
outfits Borussia Mönchengladbach (20 July) and Arminia
Bielefeld (23 July).
Ajax did not announce the precise date of the first
training. Based on previous seasons, however, one may assume
that this will be on either Tuesday 05 or Wednesday 06 July, a
few days before the first friendly at DWV. Ajax last
played the club from Amsterdam-North in a post-season friendly
on 22 May 2002.
The full list of pre-season friendlies:
- Sat 09 Jul, 16.00 (Amsterdam): DWV -
Ajax
- Mon 11 Jul, 18.30 (Wezep): WHC -
Ajax
- Tue 12 Jul, 19.30 (Oldenzaal): Quick '20 -
Ajax
- Thu 14 Jul, 19.30 (Hardenberg): HHC Hardenberg -
Ajax
- Sat 16 Jul, 15.00 (Rijnsburg): Rijnsburgse Boys -
Ajax
- Wed 20 Jul, 19.00 (Bocholt, Germany): Borussia
Mönchengladbach - Ajax
- Sat 23 Jul, 17.00 (Bielefeld, Germany): Arminia
Bielefeld - Ajax
- Fri 29 Jul, 21.15 (Amsterdam): Ajax - Arsenal
FC (A'dam Tournament)
- Sun 31 Jul, 20.45 (Amsterdam): Ajax - Boca
Juniors (A'dam Tournament)
- Wed 03 Aug, 15.30 (Amsterdam): Ajax - FC
Omniworld
Ajax will depart for De Lutte after the DWV fixture. The
pre-season campaign traditionally reaches its climax at the
Amsterdam Tournament at the ArenA, where Arsenal (England) and
Boca Juniors (Argentina) will be the opponents.
Although Ajax did not confirm it in their report on Ajax.nl
we may assume that the final friendly against FC Omniworld from
Almere will be played during Ajax's traditional Open Day at De
Toekomst (in the summer of 2003 Ajax played
FC Haarlem during the Open Day). Interesting detail:
FC Omniworld, from the Amsterdam 'commuter town' of Almere, are
about to 'go professional' and make the jump to the First
Division of Dutch football. If that happens the club are
generally expected to enter into a partnership with Ajax. Ajax
still have a similar, but now extremely
low-key partnership with FC Haarlem. Ajax also played FC
Omniworld in pre-season friendly
last summer.
After the final friendly fixture Ajax will have to be
ready for the 2005-2006 season. It is as yet unknown if Ajax's
first 'official' game of the season will be the Dutch 'Super
Cup' match for the Johan Cruyff Shield. Normally the champions
and the cup winners of the previous season play each other in
that game. If PSV beat Willem II in the final of the Amstel Cup
on May 29th, however, the champions and the cup winners
will be the same team. In that case the cup winners (PSV) will
play the runners-up from the Eredivisie (Ajax).
As usual Ajax USA will 'launch' new index pages for match
and news reports on 01 July. Until that date the
pre-season campaign will only be viewable on this page of
Ajax USA, which can be found via the 2004-2005 news
index. (MP)
Update 30 June: The friendly with Borussia
Mönchengladbach, scheduled for Wednesday 20 July in
Bocholt, Germany has been cancelled. Official reason: Interest
for the game is enormous and the local ground at Bocholt is
deemed too small. Ajax are expected to add a new fixture
to the agenda for 20 July.
Source: Ajax.nl
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