Founded on 18 March 1900 by a couple of friends in a café near the Dam in Amsterdam, Ajax – or Amsterdamse Football Club Ajax to give them their original full name - started life playing in red and black. However, a year later they changed to the familiar red vertical band on white background, which has since become one of the most iconic football kit designs in the world.

The club has been in the top flight ever since first gaining promotion to the Eredivisie in 1917. To date, they have won the championship 29 times, to go with 16 Dutch cups; together with PSV Eindhoven and Feyenoord they are regarded as one of the three traditional giants of Dutch football.

Won three consecutive finals
Their first European Cup final appearances came in 1969, when they lost out to AC Milan, but it was the start of the most successful period in the history of the club. Spearheaded by one of the game’s all-time greats, Johan Cruyff, and under the guidance of Rinus Michels, Ajax won three consecutive finals between 1971 and 1973 with a team of largely homegrown players who adopted an entertaining and innovative approach to the game, which has come to be known as ‘total football’.

In 2004, in a poll by Champions, the official magazine of the UEFA Champions, an expert panel voted Johan Cruyff as the best European player of all time. That team of Cruyff & Co made the club a household name with fans all over the world. Among the other many great names who have graced Ajax teams of the past are Piet Keizer, Johan Neeskens, Ruud Krol and Sjaak Swart. All in all, over one hundred Dutch internationals have represented Ajax.

Back on the highest pedestal
Cruyff also went on to enjoy success as Ajax coach, guiding them to the European Cup Winners Cup in 1987, with a team that featured Marco van Basten, Frank Rijkaard and Dennis Bergkamp. However, it was actually another coach, Louis van Gaal who brought the club back on the highest pedestal.

Despite the fact that they did not feature any superstars, they managed to defeat AC Milan in the 1995 Champions League final, thanks to a goal from Patrick Kluivert. And the following year they made it all the way to the final again, this time losing out to Juventus in a penalty shoot-out.

Sons of the Gods
By then the team of talents – labelled as ‘the Sons of the Gods’, in reference to the fact that they were viewed as worthy heirs of the total football generation – had disintegrated. Players like Clarence Seedorf, Edgar Davids, Ronald and Frank de Boer, Edwin van der Sar and Finnish international forward Jari Litmanen all moved on to top clubs in Europe’s richest leagues.

In addition to their four European Cup/Champions League titles, the Ajax honours list includes one UEFA Cup (1992), three European Super Cups (1973, 1974, 1996), and two Club World Cup titles (1972, 1995).

A common feature of the 1970s and 1990s generations was that they were both largely products of the Ajax youth academy, which has firmly established itself as a one of the best football talent factories in the world over a period of many decades.

Farewell to their old stadium
In 1996 Ajax bid farewell to their old stadium and moved into the impressive new multi-functional Amsterdam Arena.

The club continues to produce a steady flow of super talented players, the latest generation including Johnny Heitinga, Wesley Sneijder (now Real Madrid), Ryan Babel (Liverpool), Rafael van der Vaart (SV Hamburg) and Maarten Stekelenburg. They continue to battle it out for domestic honours with PSV Eindhoven, though have in recent years found it harder to compete on the European front.

Eredivisie winners (29): 1918, 1919, 1931, 1932, 1934, 1937, 1939, 1947, 1957, 1960, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1970, 1972, 1973, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1985, 1990, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 2002, 2004

KNVB Cup (17): 1917, 1943, 1961, 1967, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1979, 1983, 1986, 1987, 1993, 1998, 1999, 2002, 2006, 2007

Johan Cruyff Shield (7): 1993, 1994, 1995, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2007

Intercontinental Cup: (2): 1972, 1995

Europacup I/Champions League (4): 1971, 1972, 1973, 1995

European Cup Winners' Cup (1): 1987

UEFA Cup (1): 1992

UEFA Supercup (2): 1973, 1995

UEFA Intertoto Cup (1): 1962