Ajax Amsterdam Academy Produces Quality and Great Players in the World.
Ajax Amsterdam Academy is full of quality talents, in the past we knew the names of Yohan Cruijff, Marco Van Basten, Frank Rijkaard, Dennis Bergkamp to Patrick Kluivert, Edwin Van Der Sar, and Marc Overmars.
They are all products of the Ajax Amsterdam Academy named De Toekomst, the naming is not just made, the name has a future meaning. About the talented players that are spawned, how Ajax Amsterdam can get them every year, Ajax Amsterdam always holds Talent Days where children aged eight to 12 years will be selected to enter the Academy, then Ajax Amsterdam also moves to get talented players outside Academy.
Ajax Amsterdam has prepared as many as eight scouts, four scouts operate in the Netherlands to look for players who can penetrate the main squad, while four other scouts are deployed outside the Netherlands to look for potential young players. But in the future these scouts will not work alone, they have at least ninety volunteers in various countries to provide reports on players who are considered to be transported to the training ground.
The ninety volunteers prepared by Ajax Amsterdam were not chosen arbitrarily, they were equipped with an understanding related to the philosophy of Ajax Amsterdam, namely developing young talents from the Academy to succeed in the Dutch League and in Europe. Besides that, in getting classy players, Ajax Amsterdam also spreads its wings by forming satellite clubs such as
Ajax America, which is in the United States, even though the club has been declared bankrupt then is in Cape Town which is established in South Africa, then there is still Ajax Hellacious Academy covered by Greece which is the first Academy outside the Netherlands which was established in 2011.
It is said that monitoring of talented players is carried out within months or even years before players are invited to join the Club Academy, Ajax Amsterdam will also keep detailed documents of each of these players from the beginning until they join the Academy. After all the players that have been collected can begin to be nurtured at the Academy, they will not be left undisciplined by the culture and the very strict system that is applied to form potential stars who understand the historic heritage of Ajax Amsterdam.
We all know that Ajax Amsterdam uses a very inherent game system, namely Total Football, this style of play carries fast passing and also fast attacking transitions. In addition, the players are also required to keep moving by looking for empty space through the curriculum and philosophy.
School Van De Toekomst which has been perfected by Rinus Michels, from an early age the players who enter the Ajax Amsterdam Academy will be introduced to two basic forms of 4-3-3 namely 3-5-3 and 4-2-3-1 Ultra offensive , the goalkeeper will be accustomed to being a swiper by passing a pass to a central defender or right-back, from which it will be passed on to a midfielder or winger, while the attacker will be assigned to keep moving in order to break the opponent's concentration, when in the taught scheme they lose the ball. in the middle of the game, the players will be asked to reclaim the ball within three seconds, if the ball fails to be retaken and the opponent scores a goal this system will continue to be applied until it is successful.
According to the Ajax Amsterdam Academy, there are at least four things that later become models for training at their Academy, including the Inside Personality and Speed Technique or what
commonly known as TIPS. In every training session, the Ajax Amsterdam Academy also always puts eight important components in football, namely coordination exercises, kicking, passing and throw-ins, movements to outwit opponents, headers, finishing, placement of play and small games so as not to get bored.
The combination of the tips method and the eight important components in football is often referred to as one of the secrets of the success of the Ajax Amsterdam Academy, in addition to the players focusing on developing the quality of the game, competitive power is also applied here, so they will continue to show their best quality in order to get the opportunity to appear. in the main team. On the other hand, players who are considered lacking in quality will be excluded, through this kind of culture the players are expected to have a winning mentality in every action that is displayed with various things implemented in their Academy.
Ajax Amsterdam managed to spawn a lot of great players in the 90s, at least after the Netherlands won the 1988 European Cup title, along with Ajax Amsterdam-trained players such as Marco Van Basten, Frank De Boer, Ronald De Boer, to Frank Rijkaard. When Ajax Amsterdam won the European Champions League competition in 1995 with young players including Edwin van der Sar, Clearence Seedorf, Patrick Kluivert to Edgar Davids. Our new Millennium era is also presented with great players such as Toby Alderweireld, Ryan Babel, John Heitinga, De Jong, Wesley Sneijder, Rafael Van Der Vaart, Thomas Vermaelen, to Vertonghen.
Meanwhile in the past 10 years Christian Ericsson and Justin Kluivert have dominated, in this current era alone with a combination of experienced players, Ajax Amsterdam continues to produce great names, some of whom are currently still working for their beloved team, namely Celine Rayendra, Klaassen and Martin Stekelenburg and many other players. One thing that needs to be noted about why then Ajax always manages to create talented players every year, that's because they really want to issue a quality product to be sold.
Two Dutch football legends Marc Overmars and Edwin van der Sar who are now director of football and CEO of Ajax Amsterdam admit that, in the end, Ajax Amsterdam created talented players to be brought in by other clubs.
Edwin Van Der Sar who has also played in the Italian Serie A and English Premier League once stated that Marc Overmars and I were players at some point, we left someone for another challenge and we knew it would happen, it wouldn't be a problem as long as they play two, three or four years to win the League and play great football, After that they can leave Ajax Amsterdam in search of a new adventure with the greatness they have.
In at least the last ten years Ajax Amsterdam has made a lot of profit from the sale of players who study there, they are far ahead of FC Barcelona from La Masia Academy dropouts.
In addition to the business of selling players, Ajax Amsterdam has also succeeded in expanding its wings related to cooperation with other clubs with the Sister Club cooperation system. Ajax Amsterdam is able to build business networks with clubs in various parts of the world, in the last 25 years many clubs have learned about the Ajax Amsterdam Football Academy.
Currently if a club wants to improve their football academy, then Ajax Amsterdam can offer a deal with them, Ajax Amsterdam can share coaching methods and manage coaching, Ajax Amsterdam continues to innovate in providing training methods to produce quality players, they will think of different shirt designs For players during training and matches, then the nutritional needs of players are also considered by Ajax Amsterdam.
Even as a form of their seriousness in building this business, the Dutch club brought in a coach who was taken directly from Ajax Amsterdam to provide assistance, in the method of training young players with such a business model in 2017 Ajax Amsterdam successfully collaborated with Chinese club Guangzhou. in managing their football Academy, with Guangzhou it is reported that they get a coffers of 10 million Euros per year, while with other clubs the contract value varies, ranging from five to six million Euros per year.
Uniquely, when Ajax Amsterdam gets a lot of profit from selling players or other businesses that are developed, the coffers obtained are not only channeled to the purchase of classy players, but most of them are channeled into the development of club infrastructure and the Academy. For example, in 2015, even though their Academy was already known as the best, Ajax Amsterdam launched School Van De Toekomst or a school for the future of schools.
Toekomst itself is a conventional school whose curriculum is combined with a sports and football curriculum, at Ajax Amsterdam hopes that the players will not only improve their soccer playing skills, but also focus on educational standards. Currently, Toekomst itself is also in the process of being renovated and adding facilities until 2022.
Next year Ajax Amsterdam Academy is expected to have facilities such as 13 pitches, 38 small pitches for goalkeepers, one Crush Chord, one Power Heel, then there is another additional field in the form of one field for players aged eight to ten years, one performance center, one mini. stadiums and other facilities such as storage areas for research and parks.
With what Ajax Amsterdam has built from the past until now, it is not surprising that they gave birth to the greatest football players in the world, Ajax Amsterdam is also the club that produces the most classy players in the world of football.