Klassieker

De Klassieker (English: "The Classic") is considered as the national football derby of the Netherlands. It is an encounter between Ajax, of Amsterdam and Feyenoord, of Rotterdam. Clashes between the two sides are highly-contested.

The record attendance for a Klassieker was set on 9 January 1966, when 65,562 watched in Rotterdam. [http://www.ajax.nl/show/id=1322/contentid=32090]

Malicious pleasure

When Feyenoord managed to beat Ajax both home and away in the 2005/06 season, the Rotterdam side launched a DVD celebrating 'the double' over their archrivals from Amsterdam. [http://www.ad.nl/sport/article280595.ece] However, Feyenoord enjoyed the prevalence only for a short period, because later in the campaign, they were defeated twice in the space of less than a week by the same opponents, during a play-off deciding who would qualify for the Champions League the following season. But Ajax also failed to qualify for the Champions League, because they lost to Danish underdogs Copenhagen in a decisive qualifying match.

Violence

There have been many clashes between the supporters of both clubs, of which the Beverwijk clash in 1997 was the most infamous. One Ajax fan, Carlo Picornie, was beaten to death by rival supporters, triggering more strict policies from the Dutch football association KNVB to tackle hooliganism.As a result of the tragic incident, the two Klassiekers in the 1997/98 season were played without the presence of away fans.Nevertheless, in April 2005, serious riots took place around Feyenoord's ground involving hooligans from both sides and the riot police. Travelling Ajax fans had demolished the train transporting them to Rotterdam, and were forced to wait outside the stadium until the match was over. Meanwhile, Feyenoord supporters who had just seen their team lose, were determined to clash with rival hooligans from Amsterdam, who had not even seen the match.In the aftermath, hooligans who had been filmed by the police were shown on national TV in a bid to trace back those individuals who were responsible for the riots. It proved to be a success. Virtually every hooligan who'd appeared on TV, handed himself in to the police.

tatistics (since 1921)

Results (since 1921)

Transfers

From Ajax to Feyenoord:

*Eddy Pieters Graafland (1958,retired)

*Henk Groot (1963,retired)

*Johan Cruijff (1983,retired)

*Arnold Scholten (January 1990,retired)

*Evander Sno (2005,now playing for Ajax again)

*Angelos Charisteas (2006)

=From Feyenoord (r=returning) to Ajax:=

*Henk Groot (r,1965)

*Arnold Scholten (r,1995)

*Richard Knopper (1997,now playing for ADO)

*Henk Timmer (2002,now playing for Feyenoord again)

=(Former) Feyenoorders with an Ajax-past (r=retired):=

*Angelos Charisteas

*Johan Cruijff (r)

*Serginho Greene

*Evander Sno

*Dwight Tiendalli

*Henk Timmer

*Peter van Vossen (r)

*Tim de Cler

(Former) Ajacieden with a Feyenoord-past:

*Ruud Geels (r)

*Dean Gorré (r)

*Richard Knopper

*Leonardo Santiago

External links

* [http://www.ajax.nl/ AFC Ajax]
* [http://www.feyenoord.nl/ Feyenoord]