Tag Archives: Ajax

Midweek Mashup – Ajax, 2014

07 Wednesday Feb 2018

Posted by in Change kits, Clashes, Midweek Mashup

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Like Real Madrid, Liverpool and Arsenal (well, most of the time), Ajax tend to avoid wearing change shorts or socks with their famous white and red shirts.

Most of the time, it’s no issue as they just wear their full away kit, which is usually a darker colour. That was the case in 2013-14, but the trip to Vitesse Arnhem in the league in April provided them with a problem.

Vitesse wear black and yellow shirts, sometimes with black shorts, but often with white shorts and socks, as was the case in 2013-14. Added to that was the fact that the back of their shirt had a large black panel for the number, meaning that Ajax’s away shirt wasn’t an option.

Ajax’s 2012-13 away shirt wasn’t a possibility either, and, rather than coming up a with special third kit, they took the plunge and wore red shorts and socks.

Ajax-2013-2014-home-kit-red-shorts-socks-Vitesse-01.png

A 1-1 draw meant that Ajax couldn’t clinch the title, but they were confirmed as champions soon after that.

The red shorts and socks would be worn at Vitesse in 2014-15 and 2015-16 as well, but last season Ajax wore their away kit as Vitesse had a yellow-dominated home shirt.

The sides meet again in Arnhem in March – but Vitesse have black shorts and socks this season so Ajax’s full home should be okay.

Season’s Meetings, no. 2 – Ajax v AC Milan, 1994-95

13 Wednesday Dec 2017

Posted by in Change kits, Clashes, Kit history, Season's Meetings

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While the first part of this series saw an instance of two teams wearing three kits against each other in the same season, this one is only a 3-2 split (technically 3-3 if sleeve patches are taken into account but that’s a hard sell, we accept).

The emergence of Patrick Kluivert’s son Justin with Ajax this season has made everyone feel very old, as the father’s winner against AC Milan in the 1995 Champions League final seems a lot more recent than 22 years ago.

That was the clubs’ third meeting in the competition that season, as they were paired together in the group stage too, Ajax winning 2-0 on each occasion, with an interesting approach taken to the kits.

In Amsterdam’s Olympic Stadium in September, home shirts were worn, with Milan in change black shorts and socks to provide differentiation (in the 1969 final, Milan had worn black socks).

Incidentally, the Ajax shirt had to be modified for Europe, with the domestic version having extra Umbro trim on the sleeves.

 

When the teams met again in Italy in November, the scoreline was the same but this time both teams were in their away kits.

It’s not as if Milan refused to wear black shorts and socks at home – they did so against PSV in 1992-93 – so there must have been an official mandate. Maybe it was because both teams were ‘away’ – the game, and Milan’s home tie with AEK Athens, took place in Trieste as they were punished following crowd trouble in their opening home game against Casino Salzburg.

 

Ajax comfortably topped the group and easily saw off Hajduk Split and then Bayern Munich to reach the final.

Milan finished level on five points with Casino Salzburg in second place (two points for a win, and they were deducted two for the crowd trouble) and had a worse goal difference than the Austrians but advanced thanks to a better head-to-head record.

They picked up form in the spring, though, and beat Benfica and then Paris St-Germain in the knockout stages to make the decider. Perhaps seeking to summon good fortune, they wore white for all four games, but a plain white shirt rather than the red-heavy away.

As was traditional, they kept that kit for the final, with Ajax once again in their navy change kit, both teams using the new Champions League ‘Starball’ sleeve patches.  Sponsors’ logos were also allowed in the final for the first time.

This time, though, the luck deserted Milan as Kluivert came off the bench to earn the win for the Dutch side.