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The Soccer Dispatch

🇳🇱 Have Ajax betrayed Cruyff and their traditions to become Dutch champions again?

Ajax are back, but not as you remember them!

Graham Ruthven's avatar
Graham Ruthven
Apr 10, 2025
∙ Paid

From the start of next season, Ajax will wear a new crest on their shirts that isn’t new at all.

Indeed, the Amsterdam club has re-adopted a badge they last wore 34 years ago. It’s a symbol that harks back to the days of Rinus Michels and Johan Cruyff when Ajax set the zeitgeist for a generation.

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On the pitch, though, there has been very little to evoke Ajax’s glory days even as the club has moved closer to winning the Eredivisie title for the first time in three seasons.

Francesco Farioli’s team aren’t playing Total Football. Instead, they have adopted a more pragmatic style that questions whether Ajax will be able to play the way Cruyff envisaged ever again.

Ajax are back, but only sort of.

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