Ajax fires trainer Schreuder after a draw against FC Volendam

26 jan 2023 om 23:48Update: 2 uur geleden

Ajax fired trainer Alfred Schreuder on Thursday evening. Earlier in the evening, the team from Amsterdam played a 1-1 draw against FC Volendam in the Johan Cruijff ArenA, so that the national champion is provisionally fifth in the Eredivisie.

“It is a painful decision, but also a necessary one,” explained general manager Edwin van der Sar. “After a good start to the season, we then lost an unnecessary number of points. I am mainly concerned with the game shown. We have had a number of matches that could have turned around, but that did not happen.”

Ajax was unable to win in the Eredivisie for the seventh time in a row on Thursday and now has seven points less than leader Feyenoord. The collaboration with assistant coach Matthias Kaltenbach will also be terminated immediately. The other assistant trainers, Michael Reiziger and Richard Witschge, will lead training on Friday.

Fifty-year-old Schreuder has been working at Ajax since this summer. He came over from Club Brugge and was appointed as successor to Erik ten Hag, who left for Manchester United.

It is not yet known who will be on the bench on Sunday during Ajax’s away match against Excelsior. “Tomorrow we will meet again and then we will make a decision about that,” Van der Sar said at a press conference an hour after the draw. Schreuder, who was fired just before, did not speak to the press.

Supporters van Ajax riepen in de vijfde minuut van het thuisduel met FC Volendam op om trainer Alfred Schreuder te ontslaan.

Foto: Pro Shots

Van der Sar does not yet have a successor for Schreuder

Under the leadership of Schreuder, Ajax was ingloriously eliminated from the Champions League earlier this season and lost 5-3 to PSV in the battle for the Johan Cruijff Scale. Low point in the ball of millions was the 1-6 home defeat against Napoli, the biggest defeat ever for Ajax in a European context.

It also went badly in the Eredivisie. The last victory dates back to October and the draw against Volendam was fatal to Schreuder. It is the first time in 58 years that Ajax has not won seven Eredivisie matches in a row.

In the fifth minute of the match against Volendam, the Ajax supporters with white handkerchiefs and banners called for Schreuder to be fired. Later in the game, chants also frequently asked for Schreuder’s dismissal. Shortly after the draw, the trainer was told that his time at Ajax is actually over.