This Wednesday, Ajax face off against Manchester United in the Europa League final. If they win, the Dutch club will have picked up their first European trophy since winning the Champions League in 1994/95. That victory saw them defeat the holders, Italy’s AC Milan, by one goal to nil.
The Ajax side of 1994/95 was a special one. A mix of Dutch veterans and youngsters alongside some international players, Louis van Gaal’s team were idolised across the world at the time. Growing up in the 90s in the UK, when European football was just gaining a higher profile, they were the first team that I really remember being amazed by. The majority of football fans were enthralled by Ajax and their system.
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It was for good reason. The 1994/95 Ajax team that won the Champions League saw practically every player go on to have massive success once the side broke apart following a loss in the 1995/96 Champions League final to Juventus. Here’s what happened to them thereafter...
Goalkeeper: Edwin van der Sar
Van der Sar was just 24 when Ajax defeated Milan. By that stage, he was already the number one keeper for the Netherlands, and went on to feature in four European Championships and two World Cups. By the time of his international retirement in 2010, he’d achieved 130 caps – a record for a Dutch player.
Van der Sar stayed at Ajax until the end of the 1998/99 season, before a move to England with Fulham, where he could easily have faded out. Instead, he became one of the Premier League’s most consistent goalkeepers over four seasons at Craven Cottage. Eventually, he was signed by Manchester United where he acted as their #1 for six seasons, winning the 2008 Champions League along the way – in a penalty shoot-out nonetheless, saving the key spot-kick from Nicolas Anelka.
A brief 2016 comeback notwithstanding, he retired at Manchester United in the summer of 2011. Van der Sar now acts as Ajax’s chief executive – which means he’ll be rooting against his old club United on Wednesday!
Defence
Right-Back: Michael Reiziger
Reiziger had turned 22 just weeks before the 1995 Champions League final. Loan stints at Volendam and FC Groningen preceded his establishment in the Ajax first-team but by the time of the final, he was a mainstay for both club and country.
In 1996 Reiziger became one of the first high-profile players to move on a free transfer due to the Bosman ruling. His destination? AC Milan, the team he helped beat in the 1994/95 final. Unfortunately, he only made 10 appearances at Milan due to injuries and departed after one season to Barcelona, where he’d re-unite with his former coach at Ajax, Louis van Gaal.
Reiziger appeared more than 200 times for the Catalan giants and helped them win back-to-back La Ligas in 1997/98 and 1998/99. As he hit his 30s he moved on to Middlesbrough, before heading to PSV Eindhoven in 2006/07 where his career ended. Since then, he’s gotten into the world of coaching, most recently serving as an assistant coach at Sparta Rotterdam.
Left-Back: Frank de Boer
Recognised as one of the finest defenders of his era, De Boer – alongside his twin brother Ronald – went on to become the most capped outfield player for the Netherlands with 112 caps.
De Boer stayed with Ajax for three seasons after the Champions League triumph before moving to Barcelona in January 1999. There, he had mixed results – he won La Liga with the Catalans in his first season, but then went on to test positive for nandrolone in 2000 and received a 12-month ban.
After a successful appeal allowed him to return, he spent two more seasons at Barca before moving to Rangers and then Galatasaray, before finally ending his career in Qatar. After retiring, De Boer moved into the world of management and interestingly, his first job was at his old club Ajax.
De Boer led the club to four successive Eredivisie championships before a downturn in form saw him resign in May 2016; he was then appointed the manager of Internazionale. A disastrous start meant that he was fired after just 85 days in charge, and hasn’t re-emerged in football since.
Centre-Back: Danny Blind
Ajax’s captain at the time of their Champions League win, Blind was one of the senior members of the side at 33 years old. One of the few Ajax players from that great team to not move elsewhere, he stayed at the club until his retirement at the end of the 1998/99 season. Blind also won five Eredivisie championships with the club.
After retiring, Blind went into coaching and acted as Director of Football at Sparta Rotterdam and then took the same role at Ajax for a short period. After leaving Ajax in 2012, he went on to become the assistant coach for the Netherlands, and finally took the top job in July 2015.
Unfortunately for him, the Dutch side suffered a massive downturn and after failing to qualify for Euro 2016 and with their qualification for the 2018 World Cup in doubt, Blind was fired just eight weeks ago.
Midfield
Defensive Midfield: Frank Rijkaard
Another of the veterans of the 1994/95 Ajax side, Rijkaard was already in the twilight of his career in 1995 and the Champions League final turned out to be his final game as an active player. Following his retirement, Rijkaard immediately moved into the coaching side of the game, where he was appointed as an assistant coach for the Netherlands national team.
In 1998, Rijkaard was surprisingly handed the top job with his country and despite his inexperience, he was able to guide them to the semi-finals of the 2000 European Championships. A loss to Italy on penalties caused him to resign, though, and from there he went on to take over at Sparta Rotterdam. Relegation followed and Rijkaard was fired.
Surprisingly, his next job came at Barcelona, and while his reign isn’t looked upon greatly today due to the success that Pep Guardiola brought to the club later on, he did win the La Liga in 2004/05 and 2005/06, and then the Champions League in 2006/07.
After his reign at Barca came to an end in 2008, Rijkaard went on to manage Galatasaray and Saudi Arabia before retiring from football completely in December 2016.
Right Midfield: Clarence Seedorf
Seedorf was one of the younger members of the side and he arguably went on to become the most successful player of the entire squad. The triumph over Milan turned out to be Seedorf’s final game for Ajax and he moved to Sampdoria for the start of the 1995/96 season.
After a year, he moved to Real Madrid where he enjoyed huge success, winning the La Liga in his first season and helping the side capture the Champions League in 1997/98. The end of 1999 saw a move to Internazionale, where he spent two years before moving across the city to AC Milan.
At Milan, he won his third Champions League in 2002/03, becoming the first player to win the trophy with three different clubs. Another Champions League – in 2006/07 – as well as two Serie A titles followed for him.
After retiring from active competition in 2014, he took over at Milan as their new manager, a baffling move considering his lack of experience. Seedorf lasted just four months in the job and then took over Chinese side Shenzhen, where he was equally unsuccessful and was fired after five months, in December 2016.
Left Midfield: Edgar Davids
Davids – just 22 at the time of the Champions League win – went on to become one of the game’s most iconic players thanks to his trademark dreadlocks and the protective goggles he wore on the pitch, designed to help him deal with glaucoma. Nicknamed ‘The Pitbull’, Davids was one of the most combative midfielders of his day.
A move to AC Milan in 1996/97 ended his time at Ajax, but it was an unsuccessful move and after just one season, he moved to Juventus, where he enjoyed his greatest successes, winning three Serie A titles. Moves to Barcelona, Internazionale, Tottenham Hotspur and another run at Ajax followed.
In a somewhat bizarre ending to his career, Davids ended up moving back to England – a short run with Crystal Palace apparently signalled his retirement in 2010, but he re-emerged in 2012 as player-manager at League Two side Barnet.
Davids inexplicably stayed at Barnet for the best part of two seasons before resigning in January 2014, not before he’d caused some inadvertent comedy by swearing on live UK television.
Central Midfield: Jari Litmanen
Probably the greatest player Finland ever produced, Litmanen broke into Ajax’s first team a couple of years prior to the Champions League victory as a replacement for the departing Dennis Bergkamp. 1994/95 was probably Litmanen’s finest season for Ajax, although he played a huge part in the side getting to the 1995/96 Champions League final too.
After nine seasons at Ajax, Litmanen moved to Barcelona for the 1999/00 season. Injuries hampered his time at Barca though and he only made 21 appearances for the club before moving to England with Liverpool.
He fared better for the Reds, playing a part in the side that Gerard Houllier led to a treble of the League Cup, FA Cup and UEFA Cup in 2000/01. He remained injury prone, however, and didn’t actually play in any of the final matches.
A return to Ajax followed his run at Liverpool but it proved largely fruitless and the Finn then settled into almost a journeyman-type role, heading to his native Finland, Germany, Sweden, back to England, and finally to HJK Helsinki where he ended his career in 2011. Since his retirement, he has not been involved in the world of football.
Attack
Right Forward: Finidi George
For the school friends of mine who idolised this Ajax team, for some reason, Nigerian attacker Finidi was probably the most popular player due to his all-action style. He’d arrived at Ajax in the 1993/94 season alongside compatriot Nwankwo Kanu and had an immediate effect, scoring four goals as Ajax won the Eredivisie in his first season at the club.
After Ajax, Finidi moved to Spain with Real Betis, where he spent four seasons. After leaving Betis he stayed in Spain with Mallorca, and as his career began to wane, he had a short run in England with Ipswich Town. Returning to Mallorca in 2003/04, Finidi helped the club avoid relegation before retiring at the end of the season. At the international level with Nigeria, he played in both the 1994 and 1998 World Cups.
After almost a decade away from the sport, Finidi returned in 2010 in a coaching role, and had brief stints at his old clubs Betis (as director of international football) and Mallorca (as a youth team coach). Right now though he appears to be out of the game again.
Left Forward: Marc Overmars
Unlike the majority of his teammates from the famous side, speedy winger Overmars remained with Ajax following the Champions League win and even signed a new four-year deal in 1996. It wouldn’t last long though as he was signed by Arsenal in the summer of 1997.
Overmars proved to be a pivotal signing for the Gunners and helped them win the Premier League in his first season. He also scored in the FA Cup final that year as Arsenal went on to complete a league and cup double.
After three seasons at Arsenal, Overmars moved to Barcelona along with his teammate Emmanuel Petit. Unfortunately, though, his move coincided with one of the leanest periods in Barcelona history as he didn’t win a single trophy during his four seasons at the Nou Camp, and ended up retiring prematurely due to recurring knee injuries at the end of the 2003/04 season.
A brief comeback with his first club Go Ahead Eagles in 2008/09 was also cut short by the same knee problems.
Following his retirement, Overmars became both a shareholder and a technical director at Go Ahead Eagles, but he left those posts in 2012 due to the club’s disappointing form. He has since become Technical Director at Ajax, a position he remains in to this day.
Centre-Forward: Ronald de Boer
When Ajax won the Champions League in 1994/95, it meant that Ronald de Boer and his twin brother Frank became the first set of brothers to win the trophy with the same side. Along with his brother, he remained at the club until midway through the 1998/99 season when he made a move to Barcelona.
The move proved to be a disappointing one for Ronald as he only made 33 appearances for the Catalans and scored just one goal in the La Liga. A move in 2000 to Scottish side Rangers proved far more successful, as he won the Scottish Premier League in 2002/03, a season that saw him score 16 league goals in 33 appearances.
Once his Rangers career ended after four seasons in Scotland, he moved to Qatar where he ended his career with Al-Rayyan following a neck injury.
Like a number of his contemporaries, De Boer went into coaching following the end of his active career, and also ended up back at Ajax, as an assistant coach with their under-19 side and the full youth team. He left the post in the summer of 2014 and now seems to emerge every now and then to make comments in the media on the career of his brother Frank.
The substitutes
Substitute keeper Fred Grim didn’t play much of a part in Ajax’s triumphant season due to the presence of Edwin Van Der Sar. He stayed with Ajax for the remainder of his career though, retiring in 2002 to become a coach at the club. He has since gone on to become the manager of the Netherlands under-21 team and is currently the caretaker boss of the full national team.
Defender Winston Bogarde followed Ajax teammates Edgar Davids and Michael Reiziger to Milan for the 1997/98 season, but only appeared three times before moving to Barcelona halfway through the season. He then became infamous following his move to Chelsea – a move that saw him earn £40,000 a week despite barely playing. Bogarde apparently refused any further move as he recognised that no other club would pay him a comparable amount! He retired in 2005 and has barely surfaced since.
Attacking midfielder Nwankwo Kanu won Olympic gold with Nigeria in 1996 before a move to Internazionale, where he won the UEFA Cup with them in 1997/98. A move to Arsenal followed and saw him win two Premier League titles as well as two FA Cups, and he played out the remainder of his career in England by moving first to West Bromwich Albion and finally to Portsmouth, where he scored the winning goal in their 2008 FA Cup win. He retired in 2012 and has gone into coaching.
Striker Patrick Kluivert had the biggest impact as a substitute in the 1994/95 final as he came off the bench to score the winning goal. At just 18 he seemed to have a massively bright future and did go on to huge success at Barcelona following a short time at AC Milan.
Kluivert won the La Liga with Barca in 1998/99 and went on to play for Newcastle United, Valencia, PSV Eindhoven and Lille. Following his retirement, he acted as assistant coach for the Netherlands national team, managed Caribbean national side Curacao and is now Paris St. Germain’s Director of Football.
Forward Peter Van Vossen was fantastic on the Sensible World of Soccer video game but in real life he was more of a journeyman; after leaving Ajax following the Champions League win, he went on to represent clubs such as Rangers, Vitesse and Feyenoord. He’s since gone into management, most recently taking charge of Dutch side Fortuna Sittard before leaving in 2015.
The Manager: Louis van Gaal
One of the most successful managers of the modern era, van Gaal moved from Ajax to Barcelona in 1997 where he reunited with many of his former charges from the Champions League winning side.
He won two La Liga titles with Barca in his initial three seasons in charge, before returning for a less successful time there following a brief period as manager of the Netherlands national side – during which they missed qualification for the 2002 World Cup.
Van Gaal then won the Eredivisie with AZ Alkmaar in 2008/09, the Bundesliga with Bayern Munich in 2009/10 and then led the Netherlands to the World Cup semi-finals in 2014. Most recently, he was fired by Manchester United after an unsuccessful run there and has since spoken openly about retirement.
