The first European trip of Ajax (1957)
An article in a series about the first European encounters of the topclubs for Champions, the Official magazine of the UEFA Champions League.
Ajax’s first European trip in november 1957, having started with a bye in the first round, could have easily been to Warschau. Until three minutes to the end of the First Round play-off match in Berlin, Polish champions Gwardia were one goal ahead, then Willy Tröger headed home the equalizer for DDR-champions Wismut Karl-Marx-Stadt. The game had started late after Gwardia forgot to take their kits from the hotel so darkness restricted extra-time to ten minutes in which no one scored. It left the Czech referee Korelus no other option to decide a winner than to toss a coin. The silver piece favored Wismut.
So Ajax had to travel to 'the Sovjet-zone' as East-Germany was called in the Holland during the fifties. Initially Ajax should have hosted the first game, but the board of the club preferred to start with an away leg. Wismut needed some convincing but when a delegation saw the poor display of Ajax against BVV (Den Bosch) in the Dutch league, all doubts disappeared. This team should not bother their Wismut on the way to the quarter finals, so they thought. A home start would surely not dent their chances.
Ajax had suffered a lean spell, especially after Dutch football turned professional in 1954, when they did not provide any player to the national team in three years. Rinus Michels had been the last, but in his five caps, he never scored and lost them all. In the autumn of 1957 the burly striker suffered from hernia problems which made him miss the European trip and the injury would soon mean the end of his playing career.
The trip beyond the Iron Curtain
A group of about thirty men, among them nine supporters, set of from Amsterdam the day before the game to travel fifteen hours by train and bus. Having arrived in Karl-Marx-Stadt (Aue today), the tourists were warmly welcomed with a first-class hotel and a fine diner. The team took to bed in time, but the supporters enjoyed the company of the hosts until deep into the night. Sjaak Swart, who went on to play in three European Cupfinals with Ajax near the end of this career, remembers Karl-Marx-Stadt as a grey and gloomy mining town though, all set for a freezing winter. ”The day before the game we checked the pitch to find out out it was covered with ice.”, remembers Sjaak Swart,. ”That had not changed at kick-off time Wednesday afternoon. We were prepared and on the day, we dealt better with the slippery circumstances than Wismut and were two goals up in no time.”
The Ajax game revolved around quicksilver, nippy rightwinger Piet van der Kuil who had spurned flirtations from the Spurs, Internazionale en Racing Club Paris as a youth international to finish school. He was the first real purchase for Ajax in history when he came from VSV Velsen in 1955. Van der Kuil worked in the steel mills of Hoogovens, while most of his teammates were either office workers or agents. Four years later Van der Kuil joined PSV as a full professional, lured by the prospect of an education at Philips in Eindhoven. In Karl-Marx-Stadt he showed his class. His remembrance of the trip is restricted to the awareness that he played well. His first goal came from a dribble after five minutes, soon followed by Ajax’s second from a powerful shot by Wim Bleijenberg. Despite the score, the Germans dominated the game completely but could only get past the excellent goalkeeper Eddy Pieters Graafland once. By then, Van der Kuil had scored their third goal.
The return in Amsterdam
The next week, Wismut arrived in Amsterdam after a twelve hour delay in Hannover where they had missed the connecting train. Despite the tiring trip, the East-Germans took command of the game, yet again without pouncing on their domination, while Ajax, playing in white shirts and orange shorts, sat back in defense. The only goal by Piet Ouderland, set up by Swart, was against the run of play, which left the visitors a heartfelt round of applause for their efforts as a consolation after the final whistle.
In the quarter final Ajax succumbed to Vasas Budapest with a clear 4-0 drumming in Hungary. Sjaak Swart missed the trip. ”My militairy duty had started just after the game in East-Germany and I was not allowed to go abroad by my sergeant.” Three years later, Swart scored his first European goal away at Norwegian champions FK Frederikstad in Ajax’s second European campaign, but a 4-3 defeat and a goalless draw in Amsterdam send them out of the tournament at the first hurdle. Only when Rinus Michels took over the coaching halfway the sixties, along with the arrival of Johan Cruyff, Piet Keizer and Wim Suurbier, Ajax would set its exquisite mark on European football.
Ajax’s first European trip in november 1957, having started with a bye in the first round, could have easily been to Warschau. Until three minutes to the end of the First Round play-off match in Berlin, Polish champions Gwardia were one goal ahead, then Willy Tröger headed home the equalizer for DDR-champions Wismut Karl-Marx-Stadt. The game had started late after Gwardia forgot to take their kits from the hotel so darkness restricted extra-time to ten minutes in which no one scored. It left the Czech referee Korelus no other option to decide a winner than to toss a coin. The silver piece favored Wismut.
So Ajax had to travel to 'the Sovjet-zone' as East-Germany was called in the Holland during the fifties. Initially Ajax should have hosted the first game, but the board of the club preferred to start with an away leg. Wismut needed some convincing but when a delegation saw the poor display of Ajax against BVV (Den Bosch) in the Dutch league, all doubts disappeared. This team should not bother their Wismut on the way to the quarter finals, so they thought. A home start would surely not dent their chances.
Ajax had suffered a lean spell, especially after Dutch football turned professional in 1954, when they did not provide any player to the national team in three years. Rinus Michels had been the last, but in his five caps, he never scored and lost them all. In the autumn of 1957 the burly striker suffered from hernia problems which made him miss the European trip and the injury would soon mean the end of his playing career.
The trip beyond the Iron Curtain
A group of about thirty men, among them nine supporters, set of from Amsterdam the day before the game to travel fifteen hours by train and bus. Having arrived in Karl-Marx-Stadt (Aue today), the tourists were warmly welcomed with a first-class hotel and a fine diner. The team took to bed in time, but the supporters enjoyed the company of the hosts until deep into the night. Sjaak Swart, who went on to play in three European Cupfinals with Ajax near the end of this career, remembers Karl-Marx-Stadt as a grey and gloomy mining town though, all set for a freezing winter. ”The day before the game we checked the pitch to find out out it was covered with ice.”, remembers Sjaak Swart,. ”That had not changed at kick-off time Wednesday afternoon. We were prepared and on the day, we dealt better with the slippery circumstances than Wismut and were two goals up in no time.”
The Ajax game revolved around quicksilver, nippy rightwinger Piet van der Kuil who had spurned flirtations from the Spurs, Internazionale en Racing Club Paris as a youth international to finish school. He was the first real purchase for Ajax in history when he came from VSV Velsen in 1955. Van der Kuil worked in the steel mills of Hoogovens, while most of his teammates were either office workers or agents. Four years later Van der Kuil joined PSV as a full professional, lured by the prospect of an education at Philips in Eindhoven. In Karl-Marx-Stadt he showed his class. His remembrance of the trip is restricted to the awareness that he played well. His first goal came from a dribble after five minutes, soon followed by Ajax’s second from a powerful shot by Wim Bleijenberg. Despite the score, the Germans dominated the game completely but could only get past the excellent goalkeeper Eddy Pieters Graafland once. By then, Van der Kuil had scored their third goal.
The return in Amsterdam
The next week, Wismut arrived in Amsterdam after a twelve hour delay in Hannover where they had missed the connecting train. Despite the tiring trip, the East-Germans took command of the game, yet again without pouncing on their domination, while Ajax, playing in white shirts and orange shorts, sat back in defense. The only goal by Piet Ouderland, set up by Swart, was against the run of play, which left the visitors a heartfelt round of applause for their efforts as a consolation after the final whistle.
In the quarter final Ajax succumbed to Vasas Budapest with a clear 4-0 drumming in Hungary. Sjaak Swart missed the trip. ”My militairy duty had started just after the game in East-Germany and I was not allowed to go abroad by my sergeant.” Three years later, Swart scored his first European goal away at Norwegian champions FK Frederikstad in Ajax’s second European campaign, but a 4-3 defeat and a goalless draw in Amsterdam send them out of the tournament at the first hurdle. Only when Rinus Michels took over the coaching halfway the sixties, along with the arrival of Johan Cruyff, Piet Keizer and Wim Suurbier, Ajax would set its exquisite mark on European football.