Ajax was paired with Bodø/Glimt in the draw for the interim round of the Conference League on Monday afternoon. The first leg (at home) is scheduled for Thursday, February 15, the return will be played a week later. If the Amsterdam team manages to win the diptych, they will qualify for the eighth finals of the Conference League.

Ajax secured third place in Group B of the Europa League on Thursday evening. The team from Amsterdam won 3-1 against AEK Athens, and were therefore assured of wintering in Europe.

All numbers two from the Conference League were paired with a number two from the Europa League. Regulations stipulate that teams from the same country cannot meet each other. All teams that descended from the Europa League first play at home, after which the diptych is decided away.

In the interim round of the Conference League, coach John van 't Schip's team will meet Bodø/Glimt, which finished second in its own Conference League group. It left Besiktas and Lugano behind, Club Brugge came first.

Kjetil Knutsen is at the helm of Bodø/Glimt. Before the appointment of Alfred Schreuder, the head coach was strongly associated with a move to Amsterdam, but ultimately stayed in Norway.

AZ was eliminated last season by Knutsen's men. In the eighth finals of the Conference League, coach Pascal Jansen's team ultimately collapsed in the diptych. After a 2-1 defeat in Norway, the Alkmaarders drew 2-2 at home.

Bodø/Glimt is also first in the Norwegian competition. With seventy points from thirty games, it has built up a distance of nine points on number two SK Brann. By the way, it is still winter at the European meeting and the national competition in Norway has not yet started.

With the draw, Ajax avoids the teams Eintracht Frankfurt, AA Gent, Slovan Bratislava, Dinamo Zagreb, Legia Warschau, Ferencváros, and Ludogorets, who previously defeated the Amsterdam team in a diptych this season.

Full Conference League intermediate round draw:
SK Sturm Graz – Slovan Bratislava
Servette FC – Ludogorets
Union St. Gilloise – Eintracht Frankfurt
Real Betis – Dinamo Zagreb
Olympiacos – Ferencvaros
Ajax – Bodø/Glimt
Molde – Legia Warsaw
Maccabi Haifa – AA Ghent

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