Wednesday, September 28, 2022 at 17:50• Guy Habets • Last update: 17:54

Michael van Praag, former chairman of Ajax, believes that the Amsterdam club is on a par with Real Madrid and Barcelona in terms of grandeur. In honor of his 75th birthday spoke Ajax TV with Van Praag, who is honorary chairman of the Johan Cruijff ArenA. In that interview he expressed his joy about the current state of Ajax.

The European successes and the ‘preconditions’ are present in Amsterdam, Van Praag sees. “I now dare to say that today the name Ajax is mentioned in the same breath as Barcelona and Real Madrid”, he says. “That is because of what is done here on the field, because that can also be seen abroad. They can now also watch Ajax matches and then they see fantastic football. That we also have such a beautiful stadium only strengthens it. This is a great situation for the club.”

According to the honorary chairman of the reigning national champion, much is due to the current board of the club. “A few years ago, the management and Supervisory Board of Ajax took the courageous decision to change the balance between players from outside and players from the youth academy. They saw then that if you really want to join the European top, you have to or you have to tap into something different. You have to think bigger if you want to play Champions League every year and Edwin van der Sar and the Supervisory Board have done that.”

Since Ajax raised the ‘salary ceiling’ and reached players like Dusan Tadic and Daley Blind, the reigning national champions are doing well, especially from a European perspective. In 2019, the semi-finals of the Champions League were reached and participation in the million-dollar ball is now more the rule than the exception. This season Ajax will take on Liverpool, Napoli and Rangers in the group stage. The Scots were already beaten 4-0, but the away game at Anfield resulted in a 2-1 loss.