Club boss throws down before kick-off
Ajax lost more than ever against Feyenoord
September 27, 2023, 5:08 p.m
Feyenoord Rotterdam celebrates a record victory in the continuation of the Dutch football classic against Ajax Amsterdam in front of empty stands. Right at the start of the 35 minutes left to play, Santiago Gimenez scores. The Mexican had already scored two goals in the first part of the game.
Ajax Amsterdam has experienced the next low point in the continuation of the football classic that was canceled due to riots. The game against Feyenoord Rotterdam ended 0:4 (0:3) for the traditional club. It was the next setback for Ajax, which is in deep sporting misery as well as a serious leadership crisis after Sven Mislintat was eliminated. The 4-0 marks Feyenoord’s highest win in a championship game at Ajax, the previous record being 4-1 in 1936.
The game was abandoned on Sunday with the score 3-0 for Feyenoord in the 55th minute after fans threw fireworks onto the pitch. The Dutch football association KNVB then decided that the remaining 35 minutes of this Wednesday would be played without spectators. The Mexican Santiago Giménez, who had already scored two goals on Sunday, also scored the fourth goal for the champions. Ajax are in 14th place in the Eredivisie after this defeat. Feyenoord is third behind PSV Eindhoven and AZ Alkmaar.
After violent protests from their own fans, the chairman of the supervisory board, Pier Eringa, resigned shortly before the game. He explained that he was not “deaf and blind” to the criticism. On Sunday evening, Ajax parted ways with its German football director Sven Mislintat after just four months. Mislintat no longer has full support in the club, it was said. He is in focus because of a possible conflict of interest in the move of Croatian Borna Sosa from Mislintat’s former club VfB Stuttgart to Ajax. Eringa was accused, among other things, of not closely monitoring Mislintat’s business connections
The date for the continuation had caused discontent, among other things, the game between Ajax and FC Volendam, originally scheduled for Wednesday, had to be postponed. Volendam’s chairman Jan Smit spoke of a “distortion of competition”, and Ajax also expressed incomprehension.