Tuesday, May 10, 2022 at 12:38• Jordi Tomasowa

Edwin van der Sar is not pleased with the threats that Amsterdam mayor Femke Halsema has received. The municipality of Amsterdam announced on Monday evening that a celebration on the museum square in the event of a possible championship this year is not possible due to a shortage of security guards. Mayor Halsema subsequently faced many threats with the announcement.

“Of course I strongly disapprove of those insults and threats,” the general manager of Ajax told the AP† “It doesn’t solve anything and it’s bad for the name of our club. But I think it’s really worthless, especially to our mayor.” Why do you do such a thing?” Van der Sar wonders. “She does her work for the city of Amsterdam in good conscience. I find it really incomprehensible that people react to it that way. If we become champions, we celebrate that preferably on the Museumplein, that should be clear, but she explained why that is not possible and we have to deal with that.”

Halsema was ‘burdened with threats and name-calling’ after the announcement by the municipality of Amsterdam that Ajax will only be honored in the Johan Cruijff ArenA in the event of a possible championship. The mayor of Amsterdam made it clear in a statement on Instagram that she has tried in vain to make a celebration on the Museumplein possible. “Since we (the City of Amsterdam, ed.) published this message, I have been personally bombarded with threats and name-calling. I rarely respond to that. Now I want to ask urgently: hold back! I am also in favor of celebrating sporting successes in a big way.”

Minister of Justice and Security and Ajax fan Dilan Yesilgöz-Zegerius also does not have a good word for the threats Halsema has received. “As an Ajax player and Amsterdammer in heart and soul, I also want nothing more than a championship party on the museum square,” writes Yesilgöz-Zegerius on her Instagram account. “Like everyone else, I’m disappointed that it can’t go on in that place. But the mayor has no choice but to put the safety of all those Ajax players and Amsterdammers first. That deserves respect. The dredge she gets instead is really shame on you and unworthy of our club!”