Ajax Eyes Eredivisie Glory After Years of Chaos and Change

Ajax's Unexpected Revival: From Rock Bottom to Dominance

For fans of Ajax, the past couple of years felt like a never-ending nightmare. The club, once the pride of Dutch football, seemed to lose its soul after Erik ten Hag left for Manchester United in 2022. What followed was the kind of meltdown that big clubs usually read about in horror stories, not live through. It started with an exodus—top players and trusted staff packed their bags, leaving Ajax scrambling to pick up the pieces. Leadership changed hands so often it was hard to keep track, and the famous red-and-white kit suddenly looked weighed down with bad luck.

Who could forget the dreadful 6-1 drubbing handed to Ajax by Napoli at home? That game didn't just sting—it set off a domino effect: coach Alfred Schreuder was shown the door, and the team spiraled into a record seven fixtures without a victory. Even the faithful in Amsterdam started to wonder if the club’s glory days were over. The next man in, Maurice Steijn, barely lasted a quarter of a season before Ajax found themselves, unbelievably, at the bottom of the Eredivisie table. It went from bad to worse: Ajax stumbled out of the Dutch Cup after losing 3-2 to USV Hercules—an amateur team. The press called it the Cup's biggest ever upset, and honestly, it was hard to argue. By the end of the 2023-24 campaign, even loyal supporters felt deflated after a humiliating 6-0 thrashing by Feyenoord, with Ajax landing in fifth place—an astonishing 35 points behind the champions, PSV Eindhoven.

How Ajax Hit Reset—and the Man Who Changed Everything

The only thing keeping Ajax in the headlines last year was trouble. The club’s off-field problems were just as ugly—Marc Overmars, the club’s director, resigned amid a sexual harassment scandal that rocked Dutch football. What followed was a messy overhaul in the boardroom, bringing a sense of uncertainty from the office straight onto the pitch. The proud club seemed cursed by indecision, unable to settle on a plan or a leader for more than a few months at a time.

But sometimes, if you hit the absolute bottom, the only way is up. Enter John Farioli, hired last summer when the rest of Europe was still raising eyebrows at Ajax’s freefall. Pundits didn’t trust him. Supporters didn’t know him. But Farioli quietly got to work, blending Ajax’s tradition of attacking play with organizational discipline. Something clicked. Key wins against Feyenoord and PSV turned the atmosphere in the locker room—and the stands—from resignation to cautious hope. Ajax started stringing together results, climbing the table, and, before anyone even dared dream, they’d secured Champions League football again by finishing inside the league’s top three.

Doubts about John Farioli and the team haven’t completely vanished—old wounds take time to heal—but even club legends like Ronald de Boer and John Van ‘t Schip have spoken about “real, visible progress.” That’s not just nostalgia talking. With five matches left and a nine-point lead, Ajax can all but taste the Eredivisie crown. After weathering humiliating defeats, off-field scandals, and backroom chaos, this squad is proving that you can rebuild a football giant—even after it’s come to a grinding halt. If Ajax seal the deal, their Dutch football rivals will know: the giants of Amsterdam, battered but unbroken, are back—and this comeback is anything but ordinary.

Author: Themba Sweet

I am a news journalist with a passion for writing about daily news in Africa. With over 20 years of experience in the field, I strive to deliver accurate and insightful stories. My work aims to inform and educate the public on the continent’s current affairs and developments.

11 Comments

Orlaith Ryan said:

April 22, 2025 AT 07:52

This is the kind of story that makes football worth loving. 🙌
Mark L said:

April 23, 2025 AT 22:37

i cant believe how far theyve come 😭🔥
amrin shaikh said:

April 24, 2025 AT 09:01

Let’s be real-Farioli didn’t ‘turn things around.’ He inherited a squad with enough talent to win the league even if coached by a pub landlord. The real story? The board finally stopped hiring consultants who think 'tiki-taka' is a type of sushi. Ajax’s youth academy still produces world-class players. The problem wasn’t the players-it was the management’s chronic incompetence. And yes, I’ve watched every Eredivisie match since 2018. You’re welcome.
jai utkarsh said:

April 24, 2025 AT 10:03

Ah yes, the classic narrative arc: fall from grace, divine intervention via a mid-level Italian executive with no pedigree, and a miraculous redemption arc that ignores the structural rot beneath it all. Farioli is not a savior-he is a temporary bandage on a corpse. The true tragedy isn’t Ajax’s fall; it’s that their identity has been commodified into a brand for global investors who care about TV rights, not philosophy. The Dutch ‘total football’ ethos? Dead. Replaced by a spreadsheet-driven, data-obsessed machine that churns out players like IKEA furniture. And yet… somehow, against all logic, they’re winning. How poetic. How tragic. How utterly Dutch.
Hailey Parker said:

April 26, 2025 AT 03:33

So let me get this straight-Ajax hired someone who actually knows how to build a team, and suddenly people are acting like it’s a miracle? 🤦‍♀️ The real miracle is that it took this long for someone with basic organizational skills to get the job. Also, Farioli didn’t ‘invent’ attacking play-he just stopped letting midfielders pass backwards on purpose. Who knew that’d help?
Lawrence Abiamuwe said:

April 26, 2025 AT 09:42

The resilience of Ajax is a testament to the enduring spirit of football. A well-structured rebuild, grounded in tradition and modern discipline, is a rare and beautiful thing. 🌟
John Bartow said:

April 27, 2025 AT 11:34

You know, in Nigeria, we have a saying: 'When the leopard is down, even the antelope will step on him.' But Ajax? They didn’t just get stepped on-they got buried under a mountain of bad decisions, scandals, and bad coaching. And yet, here they are, not just rising-but reclaiming their soul. It’s not just football. It’s cultural resurrection. In America, we’d call this the 'Rocky' story, but this? This is more than that. This is the story of a club that refused to become a footnote. The Dutch don’t just play football-they live it. And now, after years of silence, the Amsterdam air is buzzing again.
Chandan Gond said:

April 27, 2025 AT 15:15

FARIOLI IS A GENIUS. I TOLD EVERYONE LAST SUMMER HE WAS THE ONE. WE WERE LOSING OUR IDENTITY BUT HE BROUGHT BACK THE HEART. I’VE BEEN WATCHING AJAX SINCE 1995 AND THIS IS THE MOST PROUD I’VE FELT IN A DECADE. 🇳🇱🔥
Jacquelyn Barbero said:

April 28, 2025 AT 21:22

I cried when they beat PSV. Not because they won-but because I remembered what it felt like to believe again. 💙🤍
toby tinsley said:

April 29, 2025 AT 19:32

There’s something deeply human about this story-not just the wins, but the silence after the losses, the patience in rebuilding, the quiet dignity in refusing to sell out. It’s rare to see an institution that once defined a style of play return to its roots without losing its soul. Farioli didn’t just fix tactics-he restored a sense of purpose. That’s leadership.
Dan Ripma said:

April 30, 2025 AT 08:21

Ajax’s revival is not merely a sporting triumph-it is a metaphysical reawakening. The club, once a temple of positional play and intellectual beauty, descended into the nihilistic chaos of modern football’s commodification. Farioli, an unlikely priest of order, performed a ritual not of acquisition, but of return. He did not import stars-he rekindled a covenant between club and culture. The stadium, once a mausoleum of regret, now breathes again. And so, in this quiet, unassuming rise, we witness not just a team’s redemption, but the enduring power of identity over expediency. The game has changed. But Ajax? Ajax remembers.