Tuesday’s victory over AS Roma sets up the Amsterdames’ place in the round of sixteen, the first time in history that a Dutch women’s team has reached the milestone.
A crowd of almost 15.000 spectators witnessed an energetic victory for Ajax, their third consecutive home win in Europe. The three points secure progress to the next round, but more importantly work towards bringing the sport more into the mainstream.
“There’s a lot of negativity around women’s football here in the Netherlands,” explains Angelique Klieber, 24, a longtime supporter and match photographer of the Ajax women’s team, “so I think it’s really important because now they’ve shown that women can play a good game of football too and it’s not just a sport that men can do.”
“People in the Netherlands call football ‘Mannensport’ (‘man sport’) and I think we need to get rid of that.” Angelique continues, “All sports are for men and women.” Indeed, just recently football news outlet GOAL reported Dutch former pros Van Hooijdonk and Sneijder's suggestion that a woman could not manage a men's team.
Ajax’s success in the group stage has come as a welcome surprise, says Melvin Kailey, 23, founder of supporters group Ajax Women Fanatics. “It has been incredible, I think we all didn’t expect this to happen, because even the UEFA called this ‘the group of death’” he reflects, referring to a group containing experienced European sides Bayern, PSG, and Roma.
The momentous occasion played out at the Johan Cruyff Arena, with this season marking the first time that the historic venue has opened its gates for a women’s team in European football. Until now, the venue was almost exclusively used by the men’s team, apart from De Klassieker last season, when Ajax played against their rivals Feyenoord.
“We prefer the atmosphere at De Toekomst (the home stadium) because we can be louder,” says Melvin, “but it is for sure great to be in such a nice stadium.”
The fact that the women’s team had barely played there before this season has not been lost on the fans. “Most of the young female fans could only dream of it because there wasn’t even an Ajax women's team when they grew up,” explains Melvin.
Fans who attended the match on Tuesday point out the safe and inclusive atmosphere that women’s football can generate. “Some fans of AS Roma were among the Ajax fans and that wasn’t a problem at all,” Melvin says. Angelique describes the environment at women’s matches as “more inclusive and accessible for everyone” but attributes part of this to the significant part of the crowd consisting of children.
It was at the same stadium in September last year that the Ajax men’s team had to suspend their match against Feyenoord following severe crowd disturbances both before and during the game. The incident occurred just months after the KNVB (the Dutch Football Federation) promised to tackle the growing problem of football hooliganism in the Netherlands.
Despite the barriers that still exist in women’s football, fans have reason to be optimistic. Angelique feels there is growing trust in Ajax, “not just from the KNVB but also from the supporters, the tickets that were available were almost sold out.” Ajax’s official website states that the season tickets for this campaign sold out in less than 24 hours.