The Sad and Dramatic Decline of this European Giant has Shocked Europe

A Fallen Giant: What on Earth has Happened to Ajax?

AFC Ajax are etched in history as the most successful and most well-supported club in the Netherlands with 36 top flight titles and four UEFA Champions League wins.

However, on Wednesday night, Ajax were knocked out of the Dutch Cup away at AZ Alkmaar. A result which may not have drawn too many headlines in normality, but it was the extent of the defeat that got social media talking.

We're out of the Cup. #azaja pic.twitter.com/zFnyBvysx6

— AFC Ajax (@AFCAjax) January 14, 2026

The side from Amsterdam were thrashed 6-0 in Alkmaar, an embarrassing result for such an iconic club. But the sad truth is that Wednesday's cup smashing is just the latest embarrassment in what has been a turbulent few years at the Johan Cruyff ArenA. But what exactly has caused the dramatic slump of a European great?

Young Stars Stun Europe

The 2018-2019 season will forever be one to live long in the memories of anyone connected to Ajax. Led by Erik ten Hag, captained by teenage wonderkid Matthijs De Ligt and boasting talent such as Frenkie De Jong, Dusan Tadic, Hakim Ziyech and more, Ajax would dominate domestically winning the Eredivisie title and KNVB Cup to complete the double.

159 - @AFCAjax have scored 159 goals in all competitions in 2018-19, the highest ever tally for a Dutch side in a single season. Stars. pic.twitter.com/LlwHsGUq36

— OptaJohan (@OptaJohan) April 23, 2019

But it was their exploits on the European stage that caught headlines. Ten Hag's young squad shocked the continent, to reach the semi-final stage of the UEFA Champions League, knocking out both Juventus and Real Madrid on the way, beating the record holders of the competition 1-4 at the Santiago Bernabeu in the process.

And fate nearly had them going all the way, as Ten Hag's team were leading Tottenham Hotspur in the semi-final 2nd leg in Amsterdam with just minutes to spare, but a dramatic last minute strike from Lucas Moura broke their hearts and sent Tottenham to Madrid instead, where they were defeated by Liverpool.

Ajax's XI in 2018–19:

GK: Onana – £0.1m

RB: Veltman – £0
RCB: de Ligt – £0
LCB: Blind – £14.4m
LB: Tagliafico – £3.6m

RCM: Schöne – £0
LCM: de Jong – £0
AM: van de Beek – £0

RW: Ziyech – £9.9m
ST: Tadić – £10.3m
LW: Neres – £10.8m

£49.1m – incredible business. pic.twitter.com/TTichOhGTq

— UtdArena (@UtdArena) August 14, 2019

Serbian forward Dusan Tadic, signed after a solid but unspectacular stint in the Premier League with Southampton, shocked the world to score a stunning 38 goals in all competitions. With nine of those strikes coming in the Champions League.

The Beginning of the End

However, as is often seen when a young, talented side overperforms on the European stage, that team and it's star talent often is torn apart by the continent's elite fairly quickly, and this particular Ajax side were no different.

De Jong and de Ligt, both recognised at the time as two of the best young talents on the earth, left for Barcelona and Juventus respectively in the summer following that stunning season's conclusion.

Over the next two years, Ziyech and Donny van de Beek all also departed Amsterdam for the Premier League. Whilst goalkeeper Andre Onana, and full-backs Nicolas Tagliafico and Noussair Marzraoui all also left the club.

2018-19's Ajax were One of The Best Teams in Europe, They Knocked Out Giants Like Real Madrid & Juventus to Reach The UCL Semifinals. The Mastermind Behind that young team was Ten Hag. 👏🏻

Unfortunately Majority of The Players from that team were sold in the following seasons. pic.twitter.com/hFdMByyooZ

— AZR (@AzrOrganization) October 25, 2021

Despite that, Ajax's initial recruitment, led by sporting director Marc Overmars and CEO Edwin Van der Sar, who had both been central to the success under ten Hag, was strong and helped Ajax retain another domestic double in 2020-21, and were champions the following season.

However, in February 2022, Overmars resigned from his position at Ajax after admitting to sending a series of inappropriate messages to female employees at the club. And it's with his dismissal from the club where the tide at Ajax began to turn.

Director of Football Affairs Marc Overmars will leave Ajax with immediate effect. He made this decision after discussions in recent days with the Supervisory Board and CEO Edwin van der Sar and communicated his intentions to them.

— AFC Ajax (@AFCAjax) February 6, 2022

The following summer, ten Hag departed to Manchester United, and Alfred Schreuder, who had previously been Ten Hag's assistant, took over as first team manager. However, Schreuder failed to get Ajax to the knockout stage of the Champions League, including being beaten 1-6 at home to Napoli, and were knocked out of the knockout play-off stage of the Europa League, leading to his sacking in January.

John Heitinga was appointed as interim until the end of the season, and despite an upturn in results and performances, Ajax only managed a third place finish in the Eredivisie, and lost in the final of the KNVB Cup, ending a season trophy-less for the first time since 2017.

A Dramatic Decline

Following the end of the 2022-23 season, Van Der Sar resigned as CEO of Ajax in what was a surprise decision, and one reacted too with strong disappointment from fans due to the strong job the former goalkeeper had done in the role.

Ajax Chief Executive Officer Edwin van der Sar has decided to leave the club 👇 pic.twitter.com/oThQ735jLy

— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) May 30, 2023

Alex Koes was later named as his successor, whilst Maurice Steijn was named as the new first team manager at the start of the 2023-24 campaign by Sven Milintant, who had replaced Marc Overmars as the club's Director of Football in April.

However, Ajax then started the season in horrible fashion. Winning just three of their first ten games in the Eredivisie, which included a 0-4 home thrashing in De Klassieker vs Feyenoord, and a 5-2 away defeat to PSV.

To add to the club's problems, Mislintat was removed from his position as Director of Football after just four months, with many within the club disliking his methods, whilst an investigation went ahead regarding a signing the German had made for Ajax, where the player was signed through a broker in which mislintat held a 35% stake in.

Ajax has ended the collaboration with Director of Football Sven Mislintat with immediate effect. The lack of broad support within the organisation is the reason behind this decision.

— AFC Ajax (@AFCAjax) September 24, 2023

On the pitch, Steijn was sacked after a 4-3 loss to Utrecht in October, just nine games into the Eredivisie season with Ajax second from bottom in the table. John van't Schip took charge until the end of the campaign and saw a strong upturn in form, with Ajax going unbeaten throughout the next eleven league matches, winning eight, although were embarrassingly knocked out the Dutch Cup in the second out in December.

In April, Ajax would see a new CEO in the role, as Alex Koes stepped down from the role to become the club's Technical Director, with Menno Geelen obtaining the position on an interim basis.

From February until the end of the season, Ajax would endure mixed results, but were again embarrassed by Feyenoord, losing 6-0 in Rotterdam, resulting in a humiliating 10-0 aggregate loss to their great rivals home and away that season. The club would end the season in 5th place, their worst finish since the 1999-2000 season.

Home and away, Feyenoord have beaten Ajax by an aggregate scoreline of 10-0 this season 🤯 pic.twitter.com/7YRnQ8tpmW

— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) April 7, 2024

With Van 't Schip leaving his interim role as head coach, another replacement had to be found for the beginning of the 2024/25 season, with Italian coach Francesco Farioli being chosen to succeed the Dutch coach in the Ajax dugout.

Despite losing some key players in the summer window such as Francisco Concenciao and Georges Mikauatadze, Farioli had Ajax back on the right road and in strong form in the league throughout the majority of the campaign, losing just twice, drawing four times and winning the rest of the matches from the start of the season to early April.

Although a round of 16 cup defeat to AZ Alkmaar and a disappointing UEFA Europa League exit to Union Saint-Gilloise meant that with Ajax top of the league, nine points clear with five games to go and looking strong, the Eredivise title surely had to be going back to Amsterdam for the first time in three seasons.

However, what happened next shocked everyone, and perhaps summed up the last three seasons both on and off the pitch for Ajax, as despite dropping just two points since early December, Ajax lost two and drew two heading into the final game of the season, meaning that a win for PSV - who had won every match in that period - would see them win the league and Ajax would finish second despite leading the charge the majority of the campaign.

PSV were victorious in Eindhoven, claiming back-to-back titles, with Ajax claiming one of the worst title collapses in Dutch football history.

Ajax manager Francesco Farioli was in tears after their final game as Ajax bottle the league despite being 9 points clear with 5 games to go… pic.twitter.com/kHdWUZlqaf

— george (@StokeyyG2) May 18, 2025

Farioli was visibly distraught come the final whistle of the final match, and despite improving things on the pitch, disagreements off it led to the Italian resigning as coach of Ajax shortly after the season's conclusion.

The Situation Now, and Can It be Recovered?

The start of the 2025-26 season began in familiar fashion for Ajax, as they again searched for a new manager. John Heitinga accepted to return to the club, in a move which was met with disappointed from fans. As despite Heitinga's general popularity, it was seen as an uninspiring choice.

Ajax's opening weeks of the season saw inconsistency, with a pattern of a win being followed by a draw being repeated four times in a row, before a run of three defeats in five saw Heitinga fired from his position in November after just five months in charge.

Fred Grim took charge as interim, and at the time of writing is still in his position. With Ajax currently on a run of five wins in six in the league, however find themselves far off leaders PSV and unlikely to mount a genuine title challenge.

🇸🇪❤️ Zlatan Ibrahimović's son Maximilian has signed for Ajax. ✨

Maximilian: "Ibrahimović is just a name. I am Maximilian. We are both very different. I am my own person and player, and I want to write my own story." 👏 pic.twitter.com/cJhjfl1MOQ

— EuroFoot (@eurofootcom) January 15, 2026

As a result, the damaging defeat to AZ Alkmaar in the cup will hurt Ajax, as a fourth straight trophyless season beckons. But the club still boasts one of Europe's best youth setups, and with talent once again emerging, Ajax supporters will be hoping the last few years on and off the pitch can be put behind them as they look to get back to their former glory.