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Talk:Amber/Archive 1

Untitled
I'm not sure how to handle the "folklore" stuff. Certainly it's all nonsense (aside from being badly written), but if it's nonsense that some specific group of people believe, there's no reason not to report on that belief. I suspect that all of this comes from a single source, so that source should be named. Otherwise, there's no way to know whether this is actual folklore or just one man's ramblings. --Lee Daniel Crocker
 * yes, Lee - see my entry on Corvus's page. I think it's from a source.  If Corvus is capitalizing this way himself, he's an exception.  --MichaelTinkler.

What makes you say it's badly written?

No, it's not from one source, it's from several years' worth of research and study, and I wrote it myself --corvus13

"...leading to the general formula C10H16O": shouldn't this be "empirical formula"? Dweir

Might want to separate the Amber (fantasy world) section from the Amber (fossilised resin) stuff. Are we going to have entries for fictional countries such as Oz, Narnia, Middle-Earth, Lilliput, Brobdingnag, etc? Might have to decide on qualifier for the name "Amber" (eg. Amber (fictional country) ). I'll leave it in the hands of a Wikipedia expert. Michael Green - mfg@mfgreen.net

- The Baltic Amber is old resin from Pseudolarix amabilis.

- "Might want to separate the Amber (fantasy world) section from the Amber (fossilised resin) stuff." What would the differences be? It would be make sense to make a separate section for any differences of note in fantasy,or perhaps a separate page altogether. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:18D:8402:2D1F:85AC:9FCD:FAA:B61F (talk) 20:53, 14 February 2016 (UTC)

Quick Question
"'Sap is the fluid that circulates through a plant's vascular system, while resin is the semi-solid amorphous organic substance secreted in pockets and canals through epithelial cells of the plant.'"

It seems to me that this is either not properly cited, or it is plagiarized...from here:. (Second paragraph; second sentence.)

Plumberman032 (talk) 03:01, 6 August 2008 (UTC)

How about this:

Sap is like blood and resin is like pus. In terms of function, anyway. John Elson ★ 3Dham ★  WF6I A.P.O.I. 17:32, 28 November 2011 (UTC)

 * Not so sure - pus arises as a result of infection. Resin exists already, even if it does have this scar-covering function too. It's maybe more like platelets, but that's an analogy too far. Andy Dingley (talk) 18:47, 28 November 2011 (UTC)

-

Isn't saying resin is not sap like saying a scab isn;t made of dried blood? Maple syrup is a particularly tastey example of denser/thicker/drier sap. Its pretty apparent to me that resin IS sap simply in a drier state. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:18D:8402:2D1F:85AC:9FCD:FAA:B61F (talk) 20:49, 14 February 2016 (UTC)

Etymology
English people usually call burnstones “amber”. Etymologists suggest the Arabian word anbar = Ambre gris, describing the secretions of a sperm whale, may be the source for a great number of amber-like words in modern languages, but with “burneability” in our minds another Latin word "Amb-urus" = "the burning (stone)" may be much more suitable for explanation.

The Latin verb amb-uro, ambussi, ambustum is related to combustion and is translated into the English word “to burn”. The word “amburus” in the sense of “Amber” did belong to vernacular language and will not be found in Latin scriptures. Historic documents are using the Germanic word “Glaesum” instead.

The etymology of the verb „amburo“ is rather complicated. Amburo sources from the Latin verb “uro”:

Latin: uro – ussi - ustum,

1.	to burn something or somebody,

2.	to dry up, to scorch

3.	to passion

Besides uro also buro developed in time, eg. in comburo, bussi, bustum, translated: to burn / to scorch or to bust.

In contrast we find also de-uro, translated: to burn down, indicating the original core must be read "uro" and not "buro".

Maybe/Probably the English verb "burn" sources from "buro".

The word amber is spread accross a great number of people and modern languages, like French (ambre jaune), Italian (ambra gialla), Spanish (el ambar). Unlike the British sailors they certainly were not familiar with walefishing and some early language, maybe Latin, must have provided the word.

Originally the adjective “amburus” in Latin accompanied the male word “Lapis” (Stone) and checking the gender in languages we do not find any discrepancies.

See for complete details:

English Version:

http://www.joannesrichter.homepage.t-online.de/Androgyn/SpellingTUI.pdf

German/Deutsche Version:

http://www.joannesrichter.homepage.t-online.de/Androgyn/DasBuchTuisco.pdf

—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 217.248.171.161 (talk • contribs) 04:45, 23 May 2005. / —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 217.248.175.62 (talk • contribs) 03:03, 24 May 2005.

Sorry, these were my contributions. I just forgot to log in

Johannes.Richter 07:11, 19 Jun 2005 (UTC)

 * re: Greek etymology: Electrum refers to an alloy of gold and silver. Disambiguation? Ancient sources?
 * It'sWhom (talk) 17:40, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

Electricity and amber
i read somewhere that archemedies or someone like that rubbed amber with fur and he noticed small objects started to stick to it and he "discovered" static electriicity. could someone verify that?Omgwt..bbq (talk) 02:15, 2 April 2008 (UTC)

 * Well, should you wish to look him up, it's Archimedes. The article on electricity says that the effect was known to ancient Mediterranean cultures.  It says that one Thales of Miletos studied it, but it doesn't actually say he discovered the effect.  That's the sort of thing that could easily be discovered by accident, a thousand times over, by anonymous individuals handling amber.  140.147.236.195 (talk) 20:20, 3 November 2008 (UTC)Stephen Kosciesza

Ambergris has nothing to do with sperm oil or sperm wax (spermacetti). It is a waxy exudate from the intestines, as described in the "ambergris" Wiki page. I corrected this in the article. Altroman — Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.55.200.20 (talk) 15:31, 13 July 2012 (UTC)

Gdansk/Danzig
I actually think that it's reasonable to mention "Danzig" in this article, since there are many connections from historical Danzig to amber. E.g. the famous Amber Room, built in 1701, was created by ethnic German amber artisans from Danzig (as they presumably would have called it, and as Wikipedia policy calls for it to be named at that point in time). The entry for "Gedanite" may not the best place to mention it, though; perhaps the paragraph which mentions the amber room could mention that some of the amber workers came from "Danzig (now Gdansk)". Noel (talk) 19:35, 6 Jun 2005 (UTC)

 * Royal Prussia was an integral part of Poland, and so the proper name is Gdansk not Danzig. Space Cadet 20:47, 6 Jun 2005 (UTC)

 * I (naively) assumed that Royal Prussia was the same thing as the Kingdom of Prussia. I have modified my comment (above) to take this into account. Noel (talk) 21:56, 6 Jun 2005 (UTC)

 * Space Cadet: Gdansk is not the Polish name of the city, smartarse. Gdańsk is, and I doubt you can pronounce that. And given that Polish is not the indigenous language of the area, the Kashubian name, Gduńsk, would be the proper name by that standard. But since we do not call Warsaw Warszawa only because the region was an integral part of Poland, your reasoning makes no sense in the first place. People need to finally come to terms (again) with the concept of exonyms, dammit! --Florian Blaschke (talk) 18:09, 2 April 2014 (UTC)
 * Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.) says: "DANZIG, or DANTSIC (Polish _Gdansk_), a strong maritime fortress and seaport of Germany, capital of the province of West Prussia", by the way. --Florian Blaschke (talk) 18:15, 2 April 2014 (UTC)

Hey, you guys. No need to call people names.

IceDragon64 (talk) 19:17, 14 August 2014 (UTC)

Jurassic Park
I think the use of amber as a major plot point in Jurassic Park is notable and should be included in the article, although I don't know where. --Grouse 10:53, 8 June 2006 (UTC)

A 'Trivia' section?

The use of Dominican amber in the movie "Jurassic Park" was awesome, except for this one scientific fact: at the time the movie was made it was understood Dominican amber was up to 40 million years old. That is still minimum 20 to 30 million years AFTER the dinosaurus died out. Most current scientific data puts Dominican amber as 15-20 milion years old fossil resin. Spielberg is a master of fiction, not science. (````)

Well, the Dominican amber dealers probably cut a check to the movie makers to popularize their national product so to speak, since they are one of largest amber producers. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.171.160.135 (talk) 05:03, 26 May 2009 (UTC)

There are other problems with the Jurassic parks scenario as well. Mosquitoes aren't actually that common as amber inclusions, and very few have been found in cretaceous Burmite or other dinosaur era amber. It should be noted, however, that biting midges are actually quite common and engorged ticks are occasionally found as well. The blood meals of such insects are seldom preserved even in Dominican amber and the chances of finding it in the much rarer dinosaur era inclusions are slim indeed.

Most authorities now agree that even if such blood meals were found, the DNA of the source would not be found. Even the people who first reported finding insect DNA in Dominican amber now admit that they were mistaken.

There are other issues such as the fact that DNA reconstructed artificially is unstable and breaks down by the time a few hundred base pairs are added, as well as this issue of how you construct an embryo from its DNA even once you have all its chromosomes fully built, but this is getting off topic for this article. John Elson (talk) 05:43, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

I agree that amber's use in the Jurassic Park stories is notable, because they were popular enough that many people probably know of amber specifically through the Jurassic Park books or films.

It also caused the price of amber to shoot up. 24.188.139.135 (talk) 01:38, 13 December 2015 (UTC)

Value
what is the value of raw amber?

Value of rough amber is difficult to explain. First of all what is "amber"? You have to specify: Baltic amber, Dominican amber etc., in my opinion whenever just the word "amber" is used, it has to mean Baltic amber. This is the fossil resin humans used since 30000 years ago, the one that played such important role in shaping European civilisation. Only recently other fossil resins became more known and scientists for ease of communication started calling other fossil resins "amber"- dealers and public after "Jurassic Park" made this word common without caring for what it means. Value? Well, Baltic amber obtained by excavation in Kalliningrad in its heyday, was 1000 tons a year. Only about 300 tons of it were jewellery quality. Today that mine produces mere 200 tons per year. So quality rough Baltic amber is scarce. Poland's jewellery industry uses about 200 tons of it every year. Sure Ukraine has deposits of Baltic amber that in recent years were began to be mined. But there is like, only one legal operation, the rest is gray market. This equals to supply in the tens of tons per year. Dominican and Mexican amber, excavated by hand is a specialty item in global view. An output of aprox. 5 tons per year from each locality has no effect on jewellery market, but is important for its animal inclusions. Its red, green and blue varieties are highly sought after and pricey. For Baltic amber, of course value depends on size of pieces. The larger the more rare and more expensive. I have held in my hands a 3 kilo piece- it looked just like a loaf of bread! Market prices are often published in Bursztynisko, a magazine of International Amber Association. Amberif, an amber and jewellery fair organised in Gdansk, Poland every March is a great place to sense the amber industry trends. There, two years ago the Russian rough amber dealers changed prices from US$ to Euro currency- same numbers, but a 30% jump in price! (this, if I remember it correctly without checking records. Also, any numbers quoted above- I have quotable sources for and can provide the details). ```` —Preceding unsigned comment added by Kuczman (talk • contribs) 03:33, 20 July 2008 (UTC)
 * For quite a while it was $1 a gram.77.100.108.4 (talk) 16:42, 6 February 2010 (UTC)

Sub-fossil
What is meant by sub-fossil at end of first paragraph? This must be a slang (i.e., non-scientific) term. SNP 22:43, 10 February 2007 (UTC)

 * Why "must" it be? At a guess it is a "sub-scientific" term.  Fossilisation is not an absolute and instant process. One can find things part-way through the process of fossilisation and speaking as an amateur geologist, I think it is quite a reasonable and meaningful one.

IceDragon64 (talk) 19:22, 14 August 2014 (UTC)

age of most amber?
The statement in the first paragraph: “Most of the world's amber is in the range of 30–90 million years old” is puzzling, and as far as I can tell is un-verifiable. Science does not know when plants first evolved the ability to produce biopolymers for defensive purposes, but for sure, they have not lost the ability; consequently, unless data disputes the obvious, there should be a greater amount of younger than older resinites in sediments. Does anyone know where this statement cam from? SNP 01:27, 11 February 2007 (UTC)

There have been several studies to investigate the age and pretty much every sample has yielded a different result. As far as I can tell the age range should be more like between 20-120 million years, but as you stated correctly it is pretty much unverifiable. That may be because the age samples tested where not the amber itself but the sediment it is found in. Talk about incongruent. There are a few examples on amber dating technique here here.
 * Your reference includes the statement "time and the environment influence the decaying speed" in reference to radiodating, which is utter nonsense. This reference is linked from the blue amber page, and thus appears to be commercial link spam. SNP 00:19, 14 February 2007 (UTC)

Yeah, ya might want to be careful. The statement was probably a misunderstanding of the statements made here and here and here. But you would know better.--The Singularity 21:41, 15 February 2007 (UTC)

Some schmuck has been reediting the amber article to include "F... you" and some such. I reverted it, but what on earth?! --The Singularity 17:39, 13 February 2007 (UTC)
 * Just divide them by zero. SNP 00:19, 14 February 2007 (UTC)

i found an amber that might be pretty old judging by the high specific gravity and hardness. see this video i posted please http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CD-GXQZVlk —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.171.160.135 (talk) 11:41, 25 May 2009 (UTC)

expert tag
Is there a "outdated tag"? The bulk of that page is from the 1911 EB. Is all of that still true? -lysdexia 07:19, 15 May 2007 —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 69.108.161.118 (talk) 07:19, 15 May 2007 (UTC).

Errata: tides in the Baltic
The sentence "Pieces of amber torn from the seafloor are cast up by the waves, and collected at ebb-tide." is clearly erroneous. I live by the Baltic Sea, and the tides are 10 cm, tops, and along most of the Baltic coast, this is not visible to the naked eye. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 90.231.89.46 (talk) 16:29, 5 November 2007 (UTC)

Citation?
"Most of the world's amber is in the range of 30–90 million years old. Semi-fossilized resin or sub-fossil amber is called copal. It can hold insects or even small mammals."

Woah, small mammals? Can anyone provide a source for that? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.199.20.98 (talk) 23:05, 16 May 2008 (UTC)

What exactly constitutes "fossilized"?
I came to this article looking to find out how amber differs from fresh resin that has hardened recently. The article says it is "fossilized," but it also says it is not "mineralized." So I take it the original resin has not been replaced by other substances. But the article does not give a clue beyond that. Browsing various links and other articles, I've tentatively gathered that the substances that make up the resin, over time, become polymerized. Is that correct? Is that what goes into fossilization (in this case) to make amber different from hardened resin? If so, I think someone who knows should put it in the article somehow. 140.147.236.195 (talk) 20:07, 3 November 2008 (UTC)Stephen Kosciesza

yes that is also the question i have. can an amber be completely mineralized to a point where hardness will jump drastically from 2-3 moh's scale to 5-6? most articles found on web doesn't point this out? so once again what exactly constitutes "fossilized"? please see this video of my mineralized amber find in Omaha, NE. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CD-GXQZVlk —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.171.160.135 (talk) 11:47, 25 May 2009 (UTC)

 * I think this is really important. They now sell "immature amber" which is becoming harder and denser, but is definately not what we would call amber.  I can be hundred of years old, but not millions of years old like typical Baltic amber.  We definately need to express what is amber and what is not yet amber etc - and yes, we need to define the chemical & physical processes.  Sorry, I don't really know.

IceDragon64 (talk) 19:28, 14 August 2014 (UTC)

In Popular Culture
I'm thinking this article could use a section on amber in pop. culture. Jurassic Park is the obvious example, but the Golden Compass series features amber in connection with electricity ("anbar") as well as in The Amber Spyglass. 65.96.201.130 (talk) 02:09, 2 March 2009 (UTC)

"Amber Frog Violin Bow"
This section seems slightly random and overtly specific. It could possibly be generalized to "Amber in Musical Instruments" or something of that sort. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.126.237.183 (talk) 01:44, 26 May 2009 (UTC)

 * Agreed, I can't imagine why it's been included. I'm going to remove it along with the accompanying photo. Dbarefoot (talk) 02:16, 14 December 2009 (UTC)
 * Photo restored, with less confusing caption. The linked reference has some things to say about the difficulty of shaping structural parts from amber. __ Just plain Bill (talk) 18:58, 9 April 2010 (UTC)
 * Seriously, why is the "amber frog bow" given its own subsection under "Uses?" The linked reference doesn't seem to work, and I can't seem to find the referenced article anywhere using Google. I think the significance of the amber frog bow has been blown way out of proportion. VDanger (talk) 03:18, 28 November 2011 (UTC)

Agreed, it was a bizarre inclusion and I have removed it. 75.5.203.149 (talk) 08:26, 28 November 2011 (UTC) FROG refers to that part of the bow, this one being made from Amber, without a frog inclusion. 121.127.198.87 (talk) 04:10, 21 July 2014 (UTC)

translation?
This reads like a faulty translation and at best, makes no sense. " in the Polish language, despite still correct, it is used very rarely" 4.249.63.41 (talk) 21:52, 8 April 2010 (UTC)
 * . Thanks for pointing it out. __ Just plain Bill (talk) 18:38, 9 April 2010 (UTC)

Something missing
This is an interesting (if not well knit) article so far. But it leaves me with big questions. OK amber comes from trees; ok it has bugs in it, is used for this & that. But *how* does it get from A to D? Where in trees does it come from? What kinds of trees? Where are they? How long does that take for huge chunks? Where are they found (are they still found?) What happens to it then? How long does it take to harden? How does it trap a bug? Does it need to be buried to last 30 million years? Where can I find some? Twang (talk) 07:29, 9 April 2010 (UTC)

I'll try to answer a few of your questions:

How long does it take to harden? It depends on the conditions, but it takes anywhere from a few years to a few hundred years for resin to harden, at which point it is known as copal. It takes much longer for it to fully fossilize. Normally, resin that is out in the open or simply buried in the ground will begin to break down and in a few hundred years to a thousand years will be nothing but dust. It is only when copal finds it way into the right kind of sediment that copal is preserved and the process of fossilization, which takes millions of years, can take place. Once it is fully fossilized, the resin is then known as amber. Most resin never becomes amber just as most animals never become fossils.

How does it trap a bug? I'll assume that you actually mean "invertebrate" since most amber inclusions are not bugs but rather other kinds of insects and non insects such as spiders. There are actually two main ways this can happen:
 * 1) 1 The animal gets stuck in the resin, which is very sticky, much like flypaper, and either digs itself in deeper in the struggle to escape or after it gets stuck more resin flows over it till it is completely covered.
 * 2) 2 The animal gets caught in a resin flow after its death, making no attempt to escape simply because it is already dead. On rare occasions larger animals such as frogs and lizards have been submerged in resin after their death. These animals would usually be able to free themselves from the resin and so ordinarily aren't found in amber. The same is true of larger invertebrates such as cockroaches, centipedes and large scorpions. Sometimes the animal caught in the resin this way has already begun to decompose, and is preserved in a partially decomposed state. Parts of animals discarded by sloppy predators can also be submerged in resin the same way.

What happens to it then? I'm not sure exactly what you mean by this but amber remains preserved only as long as it is in a rock matrix. Once amber is removed from the matrix it begins to break down. Within a hundred years, the surface crusts over and the amber will begin to crack. After a few hundred to a thousand years or so it will be reduced to dust. An amber necklace buried in a tomb for 1500 years which originally had over a hundred stones had only a few broken pieces left when it was unearthed, most of the pieces having turned to dust. Museums are looking for ways to arrest this process in their prized amber pieces.

Note that some features of amber are even more ephemeral than this. Occasionally an inclusion in Dominican amber will show a small hint of color when first polished, but in a couple of years it is gone. Enhydros, moving air bubbles contained in pockets of water (or other liquid), will sometimes disappear in just a few months.

'Where can I find some? ' Dominican amber is found in mines in the Dominican republic. Extracting amber from the rock in these mines is a dangerous activity and I don't recommend it. Baltic amber is contained in rock deposits beneath the Baltic sea. It isn't practical to dive down there and mine it directly, but geological activity occasionally liberates amber from the rock and, because it is lighter than sea water (albeit heavier than fresh water) it will float to the surface where it can either be skimmed up in nets or picked up off the beach. It hardly seems worth the trip though!

Probably the best place to find amber is where I got most of mine, on sites such as eBay.

John Elson (talk) 04:45, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

This is great material and more of it should be in the Page.

IceDragon64 (talk) 19:57, 14 August 2014 (UTC)

Indonesian blue amber
I reverted the addition of a new section on blue amber from Indonesia as it was unsupported by sources and I have been unable to find any - it read a bit like an advert. Mikenorton (talk) 09:47, 15 May 2010 (UTC)

Historic medicinal uses
The reference for this section was non-working - found another link for the source (I think) a museum website/book. The site however failed WP:RS (self-pub'd and promotional). So I removed it and some content and added a citation needed tag. Vsmith (talk) 23:54, 17 April 2011 (UTC)

really?

(rvt: please look for images without severe color distortion (refraction) and with a more straightforward interpretation)

Are you really that clueless? Where have you been the last ten years? John Elson (talk) 03:55, 2 August 2011 (UTC)
 * I'm willing to explain my revert, but it might be a good idea you first contemplate that image and then formulate your question. Materialscientist (talk) 03:59, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

Obviously it is a stereoscopic (3D) anaglyph, the kind that you view with colored glasses. Your explanation seems to suggest you didn't realize that, which is kind of hard to believe. The alternative is that you have issues with such images, in which case you didn't do a very good job of explaining your actions and this clearly represents a personal prejudice on your part, which doesn't justify your actions. John Elson (talk) 05:57, 2 August 2011 (UTC) 05:08, 2 August 2011 (UTC)
 * I have not explained my revert well, that is absolutely right; I had no hard feeling about that and wish you have a second thought. (i) The article is already overloaded with images (their placement is screen-resolution dependent); (ii) anaglyph adds confusion in this case as many readers won't understand what it is and why it is necessary here, when depth contrast can be better seen in other, conventional photos; (iii) the caption says "amber containing debris but without recognizable conclusions. While not rare or valuable.. " - so the reader should wonder why is it included? In this case, the image could simply be replaced by its caption. Further ".. such pieces can be fascinating to view in stereoscopic detail." - this phrase does call for a fascinating image :-), which this one is not. Materialscientist (talk) 06:51, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

Actually there is a very good reason to include it, though you seem to have missed the point. The images of amber included in the article are all of pieces that have large inclusions or are of jewelry grade. This gives a misleading impression. There are many amber pieces such as this one which contain miscellaneous debris and are fascinating to look at, especially through a stereo microscope or in a large stereoscopic image. The description probably could have explained that a little better, and "conclusions" should have been "inclusions" but that is no reason for removing the image altogether.

As for anaglyph, I myself prefer stereo pairs, but anaglyphs are more accessible to most people. The larger image seen when this one is clicked on does a much better job of showing the "depth contrast", as you put it, then a conventional photograph would. This large image can't be shown in the article itself, but is available to anyone who cares to click on the thumbnail. John Elson (talk) 07:36, 2 August 2011 (UTC)
 * My point is that there are so many amber images around that it is possible to find a few conventional photos of a non-gem with all kinds of inclusions here, like this (surely, photographers like insects around :). Materialscientist (talk) 07:49, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

Perhaps, but there are recognizable ants in that image, and just because there are conventional photos around, doesn't mean that all the illustrations need to be conventional photos. I'm sure there are plenty of black and white images around, but that doesn't mean color images can't be used. John Elson (talk) 07:56, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

The image is rather ugly without 3d glasses and as 99.99% + of page viewers aren't using 3d specs it is simply distracting. I see it is also used on the scanography page where it is more fitting perhaps. I've also removed an ugly 3d scan from wavellite for different reasons. Vsmith (talk) 10:56, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

Surely you have no problem with the new version of the image. John Elson (talk) 20:44, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

File:Amber2.jpg to appear as POTD soon
Hello! This is a note to let the editors of this article know that File:Amber2.jpg will be appearing as picture of the day on July 13, 2012. You can view and edit the POTD blurb at Template:POTD/2012-07-13. If this article needs any attention or maintenance, it would be preferable if that could be done before its appearance on the Main Page so Wikipedia doesn't look bad. :) Thanks! — howcheng  {chat} 17:16, 12 July 2012 (UTC)

Inconsistencies
So if this word originates in Middle Persian, and was brought to Europe by the Crusaders,   then what was Pytheas talking about in 330 BC ?

And who says the use of ambergris was "waning" around 1400 CE ? There was surely a lot more whaling of sperm whales in the second half of the last millenium, than the first half of the last millenium.Eregli bob (talk) 03:14, 14 May 2013 (UTC)

Another inconsistency: geological record section claims oldest arthropod inclusions are Cretaceous (~120mya) but subsequent section cites mites in much older Triassic Amber (~230mya). Mites are Arthropoda. QED. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2602:306:311E:D930:AD34:1133:DA94:A54 (talk) 03:41, 4 July 2015 (UTC)

retsina
There is Greek wine, retsina, which has amber in it.121.127.198.87 (talk) 04:07, 21 July 2014 (UTC)

Caption for the Amber Room picture is wrong
The amber from the Amber Room was never found. It was most likely accidentally burned by the Soviet soldiers. There isn't enough evidence for that one way or another. The point is though that while the Amber Room was reconstructed, it was done so using old black and white photographs and using amber mined from the same region as the original. 71.119.62.232 (talk) 00:00, 22 December 2014 (UTC) Nick F. Spanlopis Jr.

Use in parfumes
I suspect a confusion between Amber and Ambergris here. As far as I could tell from the rest of the internet, no actual Amber has been used in parfumes. I am not an expert on this part, so I won't edit it, but the text itself also speaks about Ambergris. At least it was rather confusing to me. — Preceding unsigned comment added by VDhorses (talk • contribs) 07:01, 17 June 2015 (UTC)

Copyvio removed
I've removed the section ==Classification of Baltic amber by the IAA== as it was a copy paste of copyrighted content from this website added five years ago by a now inactive user. If someone wishes they are welcome to rewrite the removed section with attribution to avoid the copyvio problem. Vsmith (talk) 01:11, 21 August 2015 (UTC)

Oldest Amber
Oldest amber with microfossils is as old as 220 Ma, from the Triassic of the Dolomites (Italy). Reference: Furins (talk) 12:19, 6 October 2015 (UTC)

Assessment comment
Substituted at 14:12, 1 May 2016 (UTC)

title: Talk:Amber/Archive 1


text:
AFC Ajax

Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax, also known as AFC Ajax, Ajax Amsterdam, or commonly Ajax, is a Dutch professional football club based in Amsterdam, that plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football. Historically, Ajax (named after the legendary Greek hero) is the most successful club in the Netherlands, with 36 Eredivisie titles and 20 KNVB Cups. It has continuously played in the Eredivisie since the league's inception in 1956, and along with Feyenoord and PSV Eindhoven, it is one of the country's "big three" clubs that have dominated that competition.

Ajax was one of the most successful clubs in the world in the 20th century. According to the International Federation of Football History & Statistics, Ajax was the seventh-most successful European club of the 20th century and The World's Club Team of the Year in 1992. According to German magazine Kicker, Ajax was the second-most successful European club of the 20th century. The club is one of five teams that have earned the right to keep the European Cup and to wear a multiple-winner badge. In 1972, they completed the continental treble by winning the Eredivisie, KNVB Cup, and the European Cup. They also won the first (albeit unofficial) European Super Cup against Rangers in January 1973. Ajax's most recent international trophies are the 1995 Intercontinental Cup, 1995 UEFA Super Cup and the 1995 Champions League, where they defeated Milan in the final; they lost the 1996 Champions League final on penalties to Juventus. In 1995, Ajax was crowned as World Team of the Year by World Soccer magazine.

Ajax is also one of four teams to win the continental treble and the Intercontinental Cup or Club World Cup in the same season/calendar year; this was achieved in the 1971–72 season. Ajax is one of five clubs to have won all three major UEFA club competitions. They have also won the Intercontinental Cup twice, the 1991–92 UEFA Cup, as well as the Karl Rappan Cup, a predecessor of the UEFA Intertoto Cup in 1962. Ajax plays at the Johan Cruyff Arena, which opened as the Amsterdam ArenA in 1996 and was renamed in 2018. They previously played at De Meer Stadion and the Amsterdam Olympic Stadium (for international matches). Throughout their history, Ajax have cultivated a reputation for scouting, spotting and developing young talent, and have remained focused on developing a youth system.

History
Ajax was founded in Amsterdam on 18 March 1900. The club achieved promotion to the highest level of Dutch football in 1911 and had its first major success in 1917, winning the KNVB Beker, the Netherlands' national cup. The following season, Ajax became national champion for the first time. The club defended its title in 1918–19, becoming the only team to achieve an unbeaten season in the Netherlands Football League Championship.

Throughout the 1920s, Ajax was a strong regional power, winning the Eerste Klasse West division in 1921, 1927 and 1928, but could not maintain its success at the national level. This changed in the 1930s, with the club winning five national championships (1931, 1932, 1934, 1937, 1939), making it the most successful Dutch team of the decade. Ajax won its second KNVB Cup in 1942–43, and an eighth Dutch title in 1946–47, the last season the club was managed by Englishman Jack Reynolds, who, up to this point, had overseen all of its national championship successes as well as its 1917 KNVB Cup win.

In 1956, the first season of the Netherlands' new professional league, the Eredivisie, was played with Ajax participating as a founding member. The Amsterdam club became the first national champions under the new format and made its debut in the European Champion Clubs' Cup the following year, losing to Hungarian champions Vasas SC 6–2 on aggregate at the quarter-final stage. The team was again Eredivisie champions in 1960 and won a third KNVB Cup in 1961.

In 1965, Rinus Michels, who had played for the club between 1946 and 1958, was appointed manager of Ajax, implementing his philosophy of Total Football which was to become synonymous with both Ajax and the Netherlands national team. A year earlier, Johan Cruyff, who would go on to become widely regarded as the greatest Dutch footballer of all time, made his debut. Between them, Michels and Cruyff led Ajax through the most successful period in its history, winning seven Eredivisie titles, four KNVB Cups and three European Cups.

Ajax won the Dutch championship in 1966, 1967 and 1968, and reached the 1969 European Cup final, losing to Milan. During the 1966–67 season, Ajax scored a record 122 goals in an Eredivisie season and also won the KNVB Cup to achieve its first league and cup double. In 1969–70, Ajax won a fourth Dutch league championship and second league and cup double in five seasons, winning 27 out of 34 league matches and scoring 100 goals.

The 1970–71 season saw Ajax retain the KNVB Cup and reach the 1971 European Cup final, where they defeated Panathinaikos 2–0 with goals from Dick van Dijk and Arie Haan to become continental champions for the first time, with Cruyff being named European Footballer of the Year. After this success, Michels departed to become manager of Barcelona and was replaced by the Romanian Ștefan Kovács. In Kovács' first season, Ajax completed a treble of the European Cup, the Eredivisie and a third consecutive KNVB Cup. The following season, the team beat Argentine Club Atlético Independiente to win the 1972 Intercontinental Cup and retained their Eredivisie and European Cup titles, becoming the first club to win three consecutive European Cups since Real Madrid in the 1950s.

In 1973, Michels' Barcelona broke the world transfer record to bring Cruyff to Catalonia. Kovács also departed to become manager of the France national team, signalling the end of this period of international success.

In 1976–77, Ajax won its first domestic championship in four seasons and recorded a double of the Eredivisie and KNVB Cup two years later.

The early 1980s saw the return of Cruyff to the club, as well as the emergence of young players Marco van Basten and Frank Rijkaard. The team won back-to-back Eredivisie titles in 1982 and 1983, with all three playing a significant role in the latter. After Cruyff's sale to rivals Feyenoord in 1983, van Basten became Ajax's key player, top scoring in the Eredivisie for four seasons between 1983–84 and 1986–87.

In 1985, Cruyff returned to Ajax as manager and the team ended his first season in charge with 120 goals from 34 matches. However, Ajax still finished as runner-up to PSV by eight points. The following season, Ajax again lost out on the Eredivisie title to PSV, but won the European Cup Winners' Cup, its first continental trophy in 14 years. After this, Cruyff left the club to become manager of Barcelona and Rijkaard and van Basten were sold to Sporting CP and Milan respectively. Despite these losses, Ajax reached a second consecutive Cup Winners' Cup final in 1988, where they lost to Belgian club KV Mechelen.

The 1988–89 season saw Dennis Bergkamp, a young forward who had first appeared under Cruyff in 1986, establish himself as a regular goalscorer for Ajax. Bergkamp helped Ajax to the Eredivisie title and was the top scorer in the division in 1990–91, 1991–92 and 1992–93. Under the management of Louis van Gaal, Ajax won the UEFA Cup in 1992 to become the second club, after Juventus, to have won all three major European club competitions.

After the sale of Bergkamp to Internazionale in 1993, van Gaal re-signed the experienced Rijkaard to complement his young Ajax team featuring academy graduates Frank and Ronald de Boer, Edwin van der Sar, Clarence Seedorf, Edgar Davids, Michael Reiziger and Winston Bogarde, as well as mercurial foreign talents Finidi George, Nwankwo Kanu and Jari Litmanen, and veteran captain Danny Blind. The team regained the Dutch championship in 1993–94, and won it again in 1994–95 and 1995–96 to become the first Ajax side to win three back-to-back championships since 1968. The height of van Gaal's success came in 1994–95, where Ajax became the first, and to date only, team to complete an entire Eredivisie season unbeaten. The team also won its first European Cup since its 1970s era, defeating Milan in the 1995 UEFA Champions League final 1–0, with the winning goal scored by 18-year-old Patrick Kluivert. Ajax again reached the final one year later, and was defeated on penalties by Juventus.

Ajax's return as a European force was short-lived, as van Gaal and several members of the squad soon departed to some of the continent's biggest clubs. The 2000s was a lean decade for the club, with only two Eredivisie championships won. However, Ajax's academy continued to produce star players such as Wesley Sneijder and Rafael van der Vaart.

In 2010, Frank de Boer was appointed manager of Ajax and led the club to its first league title in seven years, and record 30th title overall, in the 2010–11 season. This was followed by back-to-back wins in 2011–12 and 2012–13 to match his three consecutive titles as a player in the 1990s. In 2013–14, Ajax was again Eredivisie champions, winning four consecutive league titles for the first time in club history. After finishing as runner-up to PSV in both 2014–15 and 2015–16, de Boer resigned as Ajax head coach in May 2016.

Peter Bosz took over the club and led them to the 2017 UEFA Europa League final, their first European final in 21 years. They lost to Manchester United with a lineup that was the youngest ever in a European final, averaging an age of 22 years and 282 days. For the third consecutive season, they finished runner-up in the Eredivisie, this time to Feyenoord.

The 2018–19 season for Ajax involved a remarkable run in the UEFA Champions League. Due to their runner-up finish in the 2017–18 Eredivisie, Ajax entered the tournament in the second qualifying round. After successive victories against Sturm Graz, Standard Liège and Dynamo Kyiv, they qualified for the group stage. Ajax was drawn in a group with German champions Bayern Munich, Portuguese side Benfica and Greek champions AEK Athens. Ajax finished runner-up in this group, qualifying for the knockout stages, where it was drawn against three-time defending champions Real Madrid. After losing 1–2 in the first leg, they defeated Real Madrid 4–1 in the away match, stunning the defending champions in their own stadium, the Santiago Bernabéu, with an aggregate score of 5–3. Dušan Tadić was awarded a perfect score of 10 by L'Équipe following the match. Thus, Ajax progressed to the quarter-finals and was drawn with Italian champions Juventus. In the first leg in the Johan Cruyff Arena, they drew 1–1. In the second leg at the Juventus Stadium, Ajax came from behind to win 2–1 and 3–2 on aggregate. Matthijs de Ligt scored the winning goal for Ajax to help the team advance to its first Champions League semi-final since 1997. There, they would face English side Tottenham Hotspur.

In the first leg of the semi-final, Ajax beat Tottenham 1–0 away from home. In the second leg, Ajax scored twice in the first half to generate a 3–0 lead on aggregate. However, in the second half, Lucas Moura scored three times, including in the 6th minute of added time, resulting in Ajax losing via the away goals rule.

Ajax was in first place on goal difference when the Eredivisie was declared void, preventing them being Dutch champions for the 35th time, but still qualified for the 2020–21 UEFA Champions League.

Academies
The club is also particularly famous for its renowned youth programme that has produced many Dutch talents over the years – Johan Cruyff, Edwin van der Sar, Gerald Vanenburg, Frank Rijkaard, Dennis Bergkamp, Rafael van der Vaart, Patrick Kluivert, Marco van Basten, Wesley Sneijder, Maarten Stekelenburg, Nigel de Jong, Frenkie de Jong, and Matthijs de Ligt have come through the ranks and are just some of the talents who have played for Ajax. Ajax also regularly supplies the Dutch national youth teams with local talent.

Due to mutual agreements with foreign clubs, the youth academy has also signed foreign players as teenagers before making first team debuts, such as Belgian defensive trio Jan Vertonghen, Toby Alderweireld and Thomas Vermaelen along with winger Tom De Mul, all of whom are full internationals, as well as Dutch international Vurnon Anita and Javier Martina, representing Curaçao.

Ajax has also expanded its talent searching programme to South Africa with Ajax Cape Town. Ajax Cape Town was set up with the help of Rob Moore. Ajax has also had a satellite club in the United States under the name Ajax America, until it filed for bankruptcy. There are some youth players from Ajax Cape Town that have been drafted into the Eredivisie squad, such as South African internationals Steven Pienaar and Thulani Serero and Cameroonian international Eyong Enoh.

In 1995, the year Ajax won the UEFA Champions League, the Netherlands national team was almost entirely composed of Ajax players, with van der Sar in goal; players such as Michael Reiziger, Frank de Boer and Danny Blind in defence; Ronald de Boer, Edgar Davids and Clarence Seedorf in midfield; and Patrick Kluivert and Marc Overmars in attack.

In 2011, Ajax opened its first youth academies outside the Netherlands when the club partnered up with George Kazianis and All Star Consultancy in Greece to open the Ajax Hellas Youth Academy. The offices are based in Nea Smyrni, Attica, with the main training facility located on the island of Corfu, hosting a total of 15 football youth academies throughout Greece and Cyprus. Eddie van Schaik heads the organization as coach and consultant, introducing the Ajax football philosophy at the various Greek football training camps.

In 2016, Ajax launched the ACA (Ajax Coaching Academy) with the intention of sharing knowledge, and setting up a variety of camps and clinics for both players and coaches.

Stadiums
Ajax's first stadium was built in 1911 out of wood and was called Het Houten Stadion (English: The Wooden Stadium). Ajax later also played in the Olympic Stadium built for the 1928 Summer Olympics hosted in Amsterdam. This stadium, designed by Jan Wils, is known in Dutch as het Olympisch Stadion. In 1934, Ajax moved to De Meer Stadion in east Amsterdam, close to the location of Het Houten Stadion. It was designed by architect and Ajax-member Daan Roodenburgh, who had also designed the club's first stadium. It could accommodate 29,500 spectators and Ajax continued to play there until 1996. For big European and national fixtures, the club would often play at the Olympic Stadium, which could accommodate about twice the number of spectators.

In 1996, Ajax moved to a new home ground in the southeast of the city known as the Amsterdam Arena, since 2018 known as the Johan Cruyff Arena. This stadium was built by the Amsterdam city authority at a cost of $134 million. The stadium is capable of holding 55,865 spectators. The Arena has a retractable roof and set a trend for other modern stadiums built in Europe in the following years. In the Netherlands, the Arena earned a reputation for a terrible grass pitch caused by the removable roof that, even when open, takes away too much sunlight and fresh air. During the 2008–09 season, ground staff introduced an artificial lighting system that finally reduced this problem considerably.

The much-loved De Meer Stadion was torn down and the land was sold to the city council. A residential neighbourhood now occupies the area. The only thing left of the old stadium are the letters "AJAX", which nowadays is in place on the façade of the entrance at the Johan Cruyff Arena and a replica of the letters are at De Toekomst, near the Johan Cruyff Arena.

Crest
In 1900, when the club was founded, the emblem of Ajax was just a picture of an Ajax player. The crest was slightly altered following the club's promotion to the top division in 1911 to match the club's new outfits. In 1928, the club logo was introduced with the head of the Greek hero Ajax. The logo was once again changed in 1990 into an abstract version of the previous one. The new logo still sports the portrait of Ajax, but drawn with just 11 lines, symbolizing the 11 players of a football team.

Colours
Ajax originally played in an all-black uniform with a red sash tied around the players' waists, but that uniform was soon replaced by a red/white striped shirt and black shorts. Red, black and white are the three colours of the flag of Amsterdam. Under manager Jack Kirwan, however, the club earned promotion to the top flight of Dutch football for the first time in 1911 (then the Eerste Klasse or 'First Class', later named the Eredivisie), Ajax was forced to change its colours because Sparta Rotterdam already had exactly the same outfit. Special kits for away fixtures did not exist at the time and according to football association regulations the newcomers had to change their colours if two teams in the same league had identical uniforms. Ajax opted for white shorts and white shirt with a broad, vertical red stripe over chest and back, which still is Ajax's outfit.

AFC Ajax N.V.
AFC Ajax is the only Dutch club with an initial public offering (IPO). The club is registered as a Naamloze vennootschap (N.V.) listed on the stock exchange Euronext Amsterdam, since 17 May 1998. With a launch price of ƒ25,- (Guilders) the club managed to a bring its total revenue up to €54 million (converted) in its first year on the market. After short-lived success, however, the rate dropped, at one point as low as €3.50. Criticism was brought forth that the legal grid for a naamloze vennootschap would not be suitable for a Football club, and that the sports related ambitions would suffer from the new commercial interests of the now listed Ajax. Shares of the company in the year 2008 were valued at approximately €5.90 per share.

In 2008, a Commission under guidance of honorary member Uri Coronel concluded that the IPO was of no value to the club, and that measures should be taken to exit the stock exchange by purchasing back all public shares. Ajax remain on the stock exchange.

Sponsorship
Ajax's shirts have been sponsored by TDK from 1982 to 1991, and by ABN AMRO from 1991 to 2008. AEGON then replaced ABN AMRO as the new head sponsor for a period of seven years. On 1 April 2007, Ajax wore a different sponsor for the match against Heracles Almelo, Florius. Florius is a banking programme launched by ABN AMRO who wanted it to be the shirt sponsor for one match.

The shirts have been manufactured by Le Coq Sportif (1973–1977), Puma (1977–1979), Cor du Buy (1979–1980), Le Coq Sportif (1980–1984), Kappa (1985–1989) and Umbro (1989–2000) in the past, and by Adidas since 2000 (until at least 2025).

At the conclusion of the 2013–14 season, Ajax won the Football shirt of the Year award for its black and rose colored away shirt by Adidas. The annual award was presented by Subside Sports, which had previously given the award to Internazionale, Juventus and the Belgium national team. It was Ajax's first time winning the award.

On 7 November 2014, it was announced that Ajax had agreed to a four-and-a-half-year contract worth €8 million annually with Dutch cable operating company Ziggo as the new shirt sponsor for the club. Having extended its contract with AEGON for half a season until December, the club featured Fonds Gehandicaptensport, a charitable fund for handicapped sports on its away shirts for a six-month period before transitioning to Ziggo in 2015.

Reserves team
Jong Ajax (formerly more commonly known as Ajax 2) is the reserve team of AFC Ajax. The team is composed mostly of professional footballers, who are often recent graduates from the highest youth level (Ajax A1) serving their first professional contract as a reserve, or players who are otherwise unable to play in the first team.

Since 1992, Jong Ajax competed in the Beloften Eredivisie, competing against other reserve teams such as Jong PSV, Jong FC Groningen or Jong AZ. They have won the Beloften Eredivisie title a record eight times, as well as the KNVB Reserve Cup three times, making them the most successful reserve squad in the Netherlands. By winning the Beloften Eredivisie title, Jong Ajax was able to qualify for the actual KNVB Cup, even advancing to the semi-finals on three occasions. Its best result in the Dutch Cup was under manager Jan Olde Riekerink in 2001–02, when a semi-final loss to Utrecht in a Penalty shoot-out after extra time, which saw Utrecht advance, and thus preventing an Ajax–Jong Ajax Dutch Cup final.

The 2013–14 season marked the Jupiler League debut of the Ajax reserves' squad, Jong Ajax. Previously playing in the Beloften Eredivisie (a separate league for reserve teams, not included in the Dutch professional or amateur league structure), players were allowed to move around freely between the reserve team and the first team during the season. This is no longer the case as Jong Ajax now registers and fields a separate squad from that of Ajax first team for the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of professional football in the Netherlands. Its home matches are played at Sportpark De Toekomst, except for the occasional match in the Johan Cruyff Arena. Now regarded a semi-professional team in its own respect, the only period in which players are able to move between squads are during the transfer windows, unless the player has made less than 15 appearances for the first team, then he is still eligible to appear in both first team and second team matches during the season. Furthermore, the team is not eligible for promotion to the Eredivisie or to participate in the KNVB Cup. Jong Ajax was joined in the Eerste Divisie by Jong Twente and Jong PSV, reserve teams who have also moved from the Beloften Eredivisie to the Eerste Divisie, in place of VV Katwijk, SC Veendam and AGOVV Apeldoorn, increasing the total number of teams in the Jupiler League from 18 to 20.

Ajax reserve squad Jong Ajax left the Beloften Eredivisie in 2013, having held a 21-year tenure in the reserves league, having also won the league title a record eight times (1994, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2009).

Women's team
AFC Ajax Vrouwen (English: AFC Ajax Women) is the women's team of AFC Ajax, competing in the women's eredivisie, the highest level of women's football in the Netherlands. Founded on 18 May 2012, the women's team saw Ajax attracting many of the Netherlands top talents, with International players such as Anouk Hoogendijk, Daphne Koster and Petra Hogewoning joining the Amsterdam club in its maiden season in women's professional football. The team won its first piece of silverware when they defeated PSV/FC Eindhoven 2–1 in the final of the KNVB Women's Cup.

Amateur team
AFC Ajax Amateurs, better known as Ajax Zaterdag, is a Dutch amateur football club founded 18 March 1900. It is the amateur team of the professional club AFC Ajax, playing its home matches at the Sportpark De Toekomst training grounds to a capacity of 5,000. The team was promoted from the Eerste Klasse to the Hoofdklasse ahead of the 2011–12 season, the league in which it is currently competing. The team has won the Eerste Klasse title twice, as well as the *KNVB District Cup West I on two occasions as well.

Furthermore, Ajax Zaterdag has also managed to qualify for the KNVB Cup on its own accord on three occasions, namely in 2004, 2005, 2008 and 2021. Even advancing to the second round before bowing out to Vitesse on 24 September 2008.

Baseball
Ajax HVA (1922–1972) was the baseball team of AFC Ajax founded in 1922, and competed as founding members of the Honkbal Hoofdklasse, the top flight of professional baseball in the Netherlands. Ajax won the national baseball title a total of four times (1924, 1928, 1942, 1948) before the club opted to no longer field a baseball team, and to focus solely on football in 1972. Ajax spent a total of 50 years at the top flight of Baseball in the Netherlands from 1922 to 1972. The dissolution of Ajax baseball club resulted in the players finding a new sponsor in a mustard manufacturing company called Luycks, while merging with the Diemen Giants to become the Luycks Giants, thus replacing both former clubs.

Esports
In 2016, Ajax launched an esports team, with Koen Weijland as the club's first signing, making its debut on the Global stage of professional gaming. They have since signed the likes of Dani Hagebeuk, Lev Vinken, Joey Calabro and Bob van Uden, the latter spent his first season on loan to the esports team of Japanese club Sagan Tosu.

Affiliated clubs
The following clubs are currently affiliated with AFC Ajax: The following clubs were affiliated with AFC Ajax in the past:
 * 🇳🇱 Almere City (2005–present)
 * 🇪🇸 Barcelona (2007–present)
 * 🇧🇷 Cruzeiro (2007–present)
 * Beijing Guoan (2007–present)
 * 🇧🇷 Palmeiras (2010–present)
 * 🇸🇰 AS Trenčín (2012–present)
 * Guangzhou R&F (2017–present)
 * 🇯🇵 Sagan Tosu (2018–present)
 * Sharjah FC (2020–present)
 * 🇦🇺 Sydney FC (2018–present)
 * 🇳🇱 Sparta Rotterdam (2019–present)
 * 🇳🇱 Various HETT-clubs (See main article)
 * 🇧🇪 Germinal Beerschot (1999–2003)
 * 🇬🇭 Ashanti Goldfields (1999–2003)
 * 🇺🇸 Ajax Orlando Prospects (2003–2007)
 * 🇳🇱 HFC Haarlem (2006–2010)
 * 🇳🇱 Volendam (2007–2010)
 * 🇿🇦 Ajax Cape Town (1999–2020)

Rivalries
''As one of the traditional big three clubs in the Netherlands, Ajax have amassed a number of intense rivalries over the years. Listed below are the most significant of the rivalries involving Ajax.''

Rivalry with Feyenoord
Feyenoord from Rotterdam is Ajax's archrival. Every year both clubs play the De Klassieker ("The Classic"), a match between the teams from the two largest cities of the Netherlands. Till the 1973/74-season, Ajax and Feyenoord were the only two clubs in the Netherlands who were able to clinch national titles, as well as achieve continental and even global success. From the 1974/75-season on, PSV (Eindhoven) and AZ (Alkmaar) too, competed with Ajax and Feyenoord. A meeting between the two clubs became the measure for who was truly the best club in the Netherlands. The Klassieker is the most famous of all the rivalries in the Netherlands and the matches are always sold out. The fixture is seen in the public eye as "the graceful and elegant football of Ajax, against the indomitable fighting spirit of Feyenoord"; the confidence of the capital city versus the blue collar mentality of Rotterdam. Matches are known for their tension and violence, both on and off the pitch. Over the years, several violent incidents have taken place involving rival supporters, leading to the current prohibition of away supporters in both stadiums. The lowest point was reached on 23 March 1997, when supporters of both clubs met on a field near Beverwijk, where Ajax-supporter Carlo Picornie was fatally injured, the incident is commonly referred to as the "Battle of Beverwijk".

Rivalry with PSV
PSV is also a rival of Ajax, but in terms of tension and rivalry, these matches are not as loaded as the duels with Feyenoord. The rivalry has existed for some time with PSV and stems from various causes, such as the different interpretations of whether current national and international successes of both clubs correlates and the supposed opposition between the Randstad and the province. The matches between these two teams is commonly referred to as "De Topper" ("The Topper"), and involves the two most trophy-laden sides in Dutch football and is essentially a clash of two competing schools of thought in Dutch football. Historically, PSV compete with a workmanlike ethic, preferring a more robust 4–3–1–2 or 4–2–3–1, typically shunning the frivolous 4–3–3 approach favoured in Amsterdam. While Rinus Michels and Johan Cruyff helped to innovate Total Football in the sixties and seventies, a different philosophy was honed in Eindhoven by Kees Rijvers and Guus Hiddink in the late 1970s and '80s. This in turn has created one of the more philosophical rivalries in football, an ideological battleground, which is gradually becoming as heated and intense as the matches Ajax and Feyenoord partake in.

Rivalries with other clubs
Aside from Feyenoord and PSV, Ajax have several other rivalries, although in most cases the sentiment is mostly felt by the opposition and is more directed towards Ajax, with one of them being Utrecht. Although the rivalry is more felt on the Utrecht side then with Ajax, matchups between the two sides are often quite intense. Both teams have fanatic supporters, and clashes off the pitch are more often the rule than the exception. The same goes for ADO Den Haag, with both supporter groups often getting in conflicts, when ADO-Hooligans set fire to the supporters home of Ajax, and Ajax hooligans subsequently broke into the Supporters home of ADO tensions between the two clubs rose. In 2006, supporters from both clubs were banned from attending away matches for five years due to frequent violent outbreaks and clashes.

Further teams who share a rivalry with Ajax include Twente, Vitesse Arnhem, Groningen and AZ, although the latter is often regarded by Ajax supporters as the club's "little brother". With AZ being from nearby Alkmaar and therefore situated in the same province as Ajax, match-ups between the two sides are commonly known as the "De Noord-Hollandse Derby" ("North Holland Derby") and are often very competitive, intense and loaded fixtures.

Past rivalries include local Amsterdam derbies between Ajax and clubs such as Blauw-Wit, DWS and De Volewijckers (which later merged to become FC Amsterdam in 1972). However, the tension between the local sides lessened as the division of the clubs through playing in different leagues over time became greater. Years of not competing in the same league resulted in less frequent match-ups, until tensions finally settled between the Amsterdam clubs. The last Amsterdam derby to take place in an official league match was when Ajax defeated FC Amsterdam 5–1 on 19 March 1978.

Supporters
Ajax is known for having fanatic core supporter-groups, of which F-Side and VAK410 are the most famous. The F-Side was founded on 3 October 1976, and is situated right behind the goal in the Johan Cruyff Arena, on the southern end of the stadium in rows 125–129. Its name is derived from the group's former location on the F-side of the old De Meer Stadion. The F-side supporters are responsible for a big part of the atmosphere in the stadium, and are also known for rioting during and after matches. If in any match Ajax should win the coin toss, the second half of the match Ajax always play towards the south-end of the stadium. VAK410 (English: Row 410) was founded in 2001 and is situated in the Zuidhoek (South corner) of the stadium on the upper ring in rows 424–425. The group was originally situated on the North-West side of the stadium in row 410, from where it derives its name, until relocating to their current place in the stands in 2008. Members of VAK410 are known to perform various stunts, which include massive banners, to enhance the atmosphere in the stadium. Neither F-Side or VAK410 have seats in their sections of the stadium, and both groups stand for the duration of the match.

Through the official Football Top 20 of Dutch sports research group SPORT+MARKT, it was revealed in 2010 that Ajax had approximately 7.1 million supporters throughout Europe. This is significantly more than rivals Feyenoord and PSV (each 1.6 and 1.3 million, respectively), which puts Ajax as the club with the 15th-most supporters across Europe. The study also revealed that approximately 39% of the Netherlands were Ajax supporters. Not only does Ajax have many supporters, but several fans attend their matches in European competition, with an average attendance of 48,677 spectators for every international match Ajax played, putting the team at 12th place in Europe for highest attendance, ahead of high-profile clubs such as Milan and Chelsea. It is noteworthy that not all stadiums share the capacity of the Johan Cruyff Arena.

Supporters clubs
The Supporters Club Ajax (Supportersvereniging Ajax) is officially the largest supporters club in the Netherlands with 94,000 members. Founded on 7 May 1992, the supporters club organize big monthly events throughout the Netherlands, and particularly around the official Ajax Open Training Day, which attracts thousands of supporters each year. Furthermore, the supporters group is responsible for the Ajax Life website, as well as the fanzine which is issued 20 times a year.

In 2006, the AFCA Supportersclub was introduced as the club's second official supporters' association, through the merger of the Onafhankelijke Fanclub Ajax (OFA) and the Ajax Supporters Delegatie (ASD). The AFCA Supportersclub has a reported 42,000 members, as well as a former member on the Board of Administration of Ajax, in Ronald Pieloor.

The third official supporters club is the Ajax Business Associates (ABA). Founded in 1991 the ABA is the Business club of Ajax. Members occupy the skyboxes in the Stadium and can make use of the clubs' amenities and luxury suites including the ABA club and lounge. The ABA is also responsible for hosting the annual Ajax Business Golf Trophy, an amateur golf tournament where several active and former Ajax players, as well as prominent people and members of the ABA, participate.

Average attendance
This graph displays the average attendance for home matches of Ajax from 1988 to 2018, whereby the difference in capacity of the De Meer Stadion and the Johan Cruyff Arena (est. 1996) is clearly visible.

Mascot

 * Lucky Lynx, is the official team mascot. (2000–present)

Jewish connection

Historically, Ajax was popularly seen as having "Jewish roots". While it had fewer Jewish players than WV-HEDW, Ajax has had a Jewish image since the 1930s when the home stadium was located next to a Jewish neighbourhood of Amsterdam-Oost and opponents saw many supporters walking through the Nieuwmarkt/Waterloopleinbuurt (de Jodenhoek—the "Jews' corner") to get to the stadium. The city of Amsterdam was historically referred to as a Mokum city, Mokum (מקום) being the Yiddish word for "place" or "safe haven", and as anti-Semitic chants and name calling developed and intensified at the old De Meer Stadion from frustrated supporters of opposing clubs, Ajax fans (few of whom are actually Jewish) responded by embracing Ajax's "Jewish" identity: calling themselves "super Jews", chanting "Jews, Jews" ("Joden, Joden") at games, and adopting Jewish symbols such as the Star of David and the Israeli flag.

This Jewish imagery eventually became a central part of Ajax fans' culture. At one point, ringtones of "Hava Nagila", a Hebrew folk song, could be downloaded from the club's official website. Beginning in the 1980s, fans of Ajax's rivals escalated their anti-Semitic rhetoric, chanting slogans like "Hamas, Hamas/Jews to the gas" ("Hamas, hamas, joden aan het gas"), hissing to imitate the flow of gas, giving Nazi salutes, and other things. The eventual result was that many genuinely Jewish Ajax fans stopped going to games.

In the 2000s, the club began trying to persuade fans to drop its Jewish image. In 2013, a documentary titled Superjews was released by NTR and Viewpoint Productions which premiered at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA). The film was directed by Nirit Peled, an Israeli living in Amsterdam, and an independent film maker who offers a very personal view into the game, the lore of Ajax and its relation to Judaism from both the supporters as well as from a Jewish perspective.

Retired numbers

 * 14 – 🇳🇱 Johan Cruyff (Forward, 1964–73, 1981–83). Number retired on 25 April 2007 at Cruyff's 60th birthday celebration match.

Notes:

Youth/reserves squad
For the reserve squad of Ajax see: Jong Ajax.

Current board

 * Executive Board
 * Chairman: 🇳🇱 Ernst Boekhorst
 * Board members: 8 – (🇳🇱 John Busink, 🇳🇱 Marjon Eijlers, 🇳🇱 Giovanni Fränkel, 🇳🇱 Sirik Goeman, 🇳🇱 Pim van Dord, 🇳🇱 René Zegerius, 🇳🇱 Edo Ophof, 🇳🇱 Christian Visser.

 * Board of Directors
 * Chief executive officer: 🇳🇱 Menno Geelen (ad interim)
 * Chief financial officer: 🇳🇱 Susan Lenderink
 * Chief commercial officer: 🇳🇱 Cas Biesta (ad interim)
 * Technical Director: 🇳🇱 Alex Kroes
 * Director of Transfers: Vacant
 * Director of Football: 🇳🇱 Marijn Beuker

 * Supervisory Board
 * Chairman: 🇳🇱 Michael van Praag
 * Board members: 5 – (🇳🇱 Danny Blind, 🇳🇱 Annette Mosman, 🇳🇱 Cees van Oevelen, 🇳🇱 Georgette Schlick, 🇳🇱 Leo van Wijk)

Current staff
🇳🇱 Dave Vos 🇪🇸 Felipe Sanchez Mateos
 * Coaching staff
 * Head coach: 🇮🇹 Francesco Farioli
 * Assistant coaches: 🇮🇹 Daniele Cavalletto
 * First-team coach: 🇳🇱 Richard Witschge
 * Goalkeeping coach: 🇫🇮 Jarkko Tuomisto
 * Performance coach: 🇳🇱 Alessandro Schoenmaker
 * Video analist: 🇹🇷 Osman Kul

 * Medical staff
 * Team doctor: 🇳🇱 Bas Peijs
 * Team doctor: 🇳🇱 Don de Winter
 * Physiotherapist: 🇳🇱 Ralph van der Horst
 * Physiotherapist: 🇳🇱 Pim van Dord
 * Physiotherapist: 🇳🇱 Frank van Deursen
 * Fitness coach: 🏴 Callum Walsh

 * Accompanying staff
 * Team manager: 🇳🇱 Jan Siemerink
 * Players supervisor: 🇳🇱 Herman Pinkster
 * Loan coach: 🇳🇱 Michel Kreek
 * Press officer: 🇳🇱 Miel Brinkhuis

List of Ajax chairmen

 * 🇳🇱 Floris Stempel (1900–08)
 * 🇳🇱 Chris Holst (1908–10)
 * 🇳🇱 Han Dade (1910–12)
 * 🇳🇱 Chris Holst (1912–13)
 * 🇳🇱 Willem Egeman (1913–25)
 * 🇳🇱 Frans Schoevaart (1925–32)
 * 🇳🇱 Marius Koolhaas (1932–56)
 * 🇳🇱 Wim Volkers (1956–58)
 * 🇳🇱 Jan Melchers (1958–64)
 * 🇳🇱 Jaap van Praag (1964–78)
 * 🇳🇱 Ton Harmsen (1978–88)
 * 🇳🇱 Michael van Praag (1989–2003)
 * 🇳🇱 John Jaakke (2003–08)
 * 🇳🇱 Uri Coronel (2008–11)
 * 🇳🇱 Hennie Henrichs (2011–20)
 * 🇳🇱 Frank Eijken (2020–2023)
 * 🇳🇱 Ernst Boekhorst (2023–present)

List of Ajax coaches

 * Jack Kirwan (1910–15)
 * 🏴 Jack Reynolds (1915–25)
 * 🏴 Harold Rose (1925–26)
 * 🏴 Stanley Castle (1926–28)
 * 🏴 Jack Reynolds (1928–40)
 * 🇭🇺 Vilmos Halpern (1940–41)
 * Wim Volkers (1941–42)
 * Dolf van Kol (1942–45)
 * 🏴 Jack Reynolds (1945–47)
 * 🏴 Robert Smith (1947–48)
 * 🏴 Walter Crook (1948–50)
 * Robert Thomson (1950–52)
 * Karel Kaufman (1952–53)
 * 🏴 Walter Crook (1953–54)
 * 🇦🇹 Karl Humenberger (1954–59)
 * 🏴 Vic Buckingham (1959–61)
 * 🏴 Keith Spurgeon (1961–62)
 * 🇦🇹 Joseph Gruber (1962–63)
 * 🏴 Jack Rowley (1963–64)
 * 🏴 Vic Buckingham (1964–65)
 * Rinus Michels (1965–71)
 * 🇷🇴 Ștefan Kovács (1971–73)
 * George Knobel (1973–74)
 * Bobby Haarms (1974, interim)
 * Hans Kraay (1974–75)
 * Jan van Daal (1975, interim)
 * Rinus Michels (1975–76)
 * Tomislav Ivić (1976–78)
 * Cor Brom (1978–79)
 * Leo Beenhakker (1979–81)
 * Aad de Mos (1981, interim)
 * Kurt Linder (1981–82)
 * Aad de Mos (1982–85)
 * 🇱🇺 Antoine Kohn, Tonny Bruins Slot and  Cor van der Hart (1985, interim)
 * Johan Cruyff (1985–88)
 * Kurt Linder (1988)
 * 🇱🇺 Antoine Kohn, Bobby Haarms and  Barry Hulshoff (1988–89, interim)
 * Leo Beenhakker (1989–91)
 * Louis van Gaal (1991–97)
 * Morten Olsen (1997–99)
 * Jan Wouters (1999–2000)
 * Hans Westerhof (2000, interim)
 * Co Adriaanse (2000–01)
 * Ronald Koeman (2001–05)
 * Ruud Krol (2005, interim)
 * Danny Blind (2005–06)
 * Henk ten Cate (2006–07)
 * Adrie Koster (2007–08, interim)
 * Marco van Basten (2008–09)
 * John van 't Schip (2009, interim)
 * Martin Jol (2009–10)
 * Frank de Boer (2010–16)
 * Peter Bosz (2016–17)
 * Marcel Keizer (2017)
 * Erik ten Hag (2017–2022)
 * Alfred Schreuder (2022–2023)
 * John Heitinga (2023)
 * Maurice Steijn (2023)
 * Hedwiges Maduro (2023, interim)
 * John van 't Schip (2023–2024, interim)
 * 🇮🇹 Francesco Farioli (2024–present)

National

 * Netherlands Football League Championship / Eredivisie (36; record):
 * 1917–18, 1918–19, 1930–31, 1931–32, 1933–34, 1936–37, 1938–39, 1946–47, 1956–57, 1959–60, 1965–66, 1966–67, 1967–68, 1969–70, 1971–72, 1972–73, 1976–77, 1978–79, 1979–80, 1981–82, 1982–83, 1984–85, 1989–90, 1993–94, 1994–95, 1995–96, 1997–98, 2001–02, 2003–04, 2010–11, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2018–19, 2020–21, 2021–22

 * KNVB Cup (20; record):
 * 1916–17, 1942–43, 1960–61, 1966–67, 1969–70, 1970–71, 1971–72, 1978–79, 1982–83, 1985–86, 1986–87, 1992–93, 1997–98, 1998–99, 2001–02, 2005–06, 2006–07, 2009–10, 2018–19, 2020–21

 * Johan Cruyff Shield (9):
 * 1993, 1994, 1995, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2013, 2019

European

 * European Cup / UEFA Champions League (4; Dutch record):
 * 1970–71, 1971–72, 1972–73, 1994–95

 * European Cup Winners' Cup (1; Dutch record):
 * 1986–87

 * UEFA Cup (1):
 * 1991–92

 * Super Competition / UEFA Super Cup (2; Dutch record):
 * 1973, 1995

Ajax also won in 1972, however UEFA only sanctioned the UEFA Super Cup for the first time in 1973 so the 1972 edition was an unofficial one. Played against Rangers, winners of the 1971–72 European Cup Winners' Cup, it actually went ahead as 'a celebration of the Centenary of Rangers F.C.' (see below) because Rangers was serving a one-year ban at the time, imposed by UEFA for the misbehaviour of its fans. That victory meant Ajax had won every tournament (5 in total) they entered that year, a feat Celtic achieved in 1967 (with 6 trophies), Barcelona in 2009 (6 trophies), and Bayern in 2020 (also 6 trophies).

Worldwide

 * Intercontinental Cup (2; Dutch record):
 * 1972, 1995

Other trophies
Ajax have won numerous friendly tournaments, unsanctioned by UEFA or FIFA, including the Amsterdam Tournament, Bruges Matins Trophy, Trofeo Santiago Bernabéu, Eusébio Cup, Ted Bates Trophy, Jalkapalloturnaus and Chippie Polar Cup (for a complete list, see: list of AFC Ajax honours).

Club Awards

 * World Soccer World Team of the Year : 1
 * 1995

 * France Football European Team of the Year : 4
 * 1969, 1971, 1972, 1973

 * Dutch Sports Team of the Year : 5
 * 1968, 1969, 1972, 1987, 1995

 * Sports Team of the Year : 1
 * 1990

 * Dick van Rijn Trophy : 1
 * 1995

 * Amsterdam Sportsteam of the year: 3
 * 2011, 2013, 2014

 * ING Fair Play Award : 2
 * 2013, 2014

 * Fair Play Cup : 1
 * 1995

 * FIFA Club of the Century : shared 5th place
 * 20th Century

 * kicker Sportmagazin Club of the Century: 2nd place
 * 20th Century

 * Best Dutch club after 50 years of professional football : 1
 * 2004

 * Football shirt of the Year : Ajax away shirt by adidas
 * 2013–14

 * The Four-Four-Two Greatest Club Side Ever : Ajax (1965–1973)
 * 2013

 * VVCS Best Pitch of the Year : 1
 * 2012

Honorary club members
Ajax have a total of 45 honorary club members, from people who have been invested within the club's administrative engagements, to committed players who have excelled in the athletic department. Of those 45 members 40 have since died. Five members still remain, having been reduced from eight members after Piet Keizer renounced his membership, seven after the passing of Johan Cruyff and six after the passing of Uri Coronel.

 * 🇳🇱 Hennie Henrichs
 * 🇳🇱 Arie van Os
 * 🇳🇱 Michael van Praag
 * 🇳🇱 Rob Been
 * 🇳🇱 Sjaak Swart

The remaining 40 honorary members who have since died:

 * 🇳🇱 Floris Stempel
 * 🇳🇱 Han Dade
 * 🇳🇱 Chris Holst
 * 🇳🇱 L.W. van Fliet
 * 🇳🇱 K.W.F. van der Lee
 * 🇳🇱 Henk Alofs
 * 🇳🇱 Frans Schoevaart
 * 🇳🇱 Jan Grootmeijer
 * 🇳🇱 J. Oudheusden
 * 🇳🇱 Willem Egeman
 * 🇳🇱 Jan Schoevaart
 * 🇳🇱 Marius Koolhaas
 * 🇳🇱 Jordanus Roodenburgh
 * 🇳🇱 Theo Brokmann
 * 🇳🇱 F.H.W. de Bruijn
 * 🇳🇱 Jan de Boer
 * 🇳🇱 Frans Couton
 * 🇳🇱 A.L. Desmit
 * 🇳🇱 Wim Anderiesen
 * 🇳🇱 Wim Volkers
 * 🇳🇱 Jan Elzenga
 * 🇳🇱 Roef Vunderink
 * 🇳🇱 Kick Geudeker
 * 🇳🇱 G. de Jongh
 * 🏴 Jack Reynolds
 * 🇳🇱 Ferry Dukker
 * 🇳🇱 Arie de Wit
 * 🇳🇱 W.F.C. Bruijnesteijn
 * 🇳🇱 Jan Westrik
 * 🇳🇱 Jaap van Praag
 * 🇳🇱 Henk Hordijk
 * 🇳🇱 M.J.W. Middendorp
 * 🇳🇱 Rinus Michels
 * 🇳🇱 Henk Timman
 * 🇳🇱 Jan Potharst
 * 🇳🇱 Bobby Haarms
 * 🇳🇱 André Kraan
 * 🇳🇱 Willem Schoevaart
 * 🇳🇱 Johan Cruyff
 * 🇳🇱 Uri Coronel

Domestic results
Below is a table with Ajax's domestic results since the introduction of the Eredivisie in 1956.

Team records

 * Most match appearances: 463 – Sjaak Swart
 * Most goals scored: 273 – Piet van Reenen
 * Most goals scored in a season: 41 – Henk Groot
 * First Ajax player to receive an International cap: Gerard Fortgens for the Netherlands in 1911
 * First Ajax player to score a goal for the national team: Theo Brokmann for the Netherlands in 1919

Club van 100
The Club van 100 is the official list of Football players who have appeared in one hundred or more official matches for AFC Ajax. The club currently has a total of over 150 members. The record for league appearances is held by Mr. Ajax himself Sjaak Swart, who appeared in 463 league matches for Ajax. There is a beneficiary team called Lucky Ajax, which was initiated by Sjaak Swart. Lucky Ajax participate in at least one match a year, usually in the name of charity, and commonly at football ceremonies to bid farewell to retiring players. One of the prerequisites for playing on Lucky Ajax, which is invitational only, is that you are a member of the Club van 100, having made at least 100 official match appearances for Ajax in the first team of the club.

Lucky Ajax
Lucky Ajax is a beneficiary team that was initiated by Sjaak Swart in the seventies, competing in at least one match a year, usually in the name of charity and/or to bid farewell to retiring former Ajax players. The team is made up of various members of the Club van 100 of Ajax who will come out of retirement for this match to face the Ajax squad that is current of that year. Past participants have included Barry Hulshoff, Sonny Silooy, Simon Tahamata, Ronald Koeman, Tscheu La Ling, Gerrie Mühren, John van 't Schip, Brian Roy, Stanley Menzo, Peter van Vossen and Fred Grim. The name Lucky Ajax is derived from the famous "Lucky Ajax" nickname from how people used to refer to the club when Ajax would either win a match by chance, by a decision of a referee, or by coincidence such as was said to be the case during the infamous Mistwedstrijd ("Fog Match").

Number 14 shirt
As of the 2007–08 season, no player could wear the number 14 shirt at Ajax after the club decided to retire the shirt out of respect for Johan Cruyff, "the legendary number fourteen". Cruyff himself laughed off the tribute, saying the club had to let its best player play with number 14. Spanish midfielder Roger was the last player to wear the number. Marvin Zeegelaar wore the shirt number In preparation for the 2011–12 season in one preseason match, while Aras Özbiliz wore the number 14 shirt in one pre-season match ahead of the 2011–12 season as well. The club stated that this was, in fact, not done in error.

Below is a list of all players to wear the number 14 shirt since Johan Cruyff's departure.

Amsterdam Tournament
Established in 1975 as the Amsterdam 700 Tournament to celebrate 700 years of history in the city. The tournament was hosted annually each summer by Ajax until 1992, when the last edition of the original tournament was played. It returned in 1999 with the backing of the International Event Partnership (IEP). Four teams participated in the competition, played in a league format since 1986. Since its return, the tournament used an unusual point scoring system. As with most league competitions, three points were awarded for a win, one for a draw, and none for a loss. An additional point, however, was awarded for each goal scored. The system was designed to reward teams that adopted a more attacking style of play. Each entrant played two matches, with the winner being the club that finished at the top of the table. The original competition was held at Het Olympisch Stadion where Ajax played the bigget games until 1996. The Amsterdam Arena (now Johan Cruyff Arena) played host to the event since its return until the last edition was played in 2009. Ajax is the most successful team of the tournament, having won it a record ten times, while Benfica from Portugal was the last team to win the tournament, in 2009.

Copa Amsterdam
Established in 2005, the Copa Amsterdam is an international friendly football tournament for Under-19 youth teams, that is organized by Ajax and the Amsterdam city council, which takes place at the Olympic Stadium as part of the annual Amsterdam Sports Weekend, a citywide sponsored initiative to promote 'sports and recreation' within the city of Amsterdam. Each Summer the city of Amsterdam and Ajax invite U-19 teams from various top clubs from around the World to participate in the tournament. Seven teams are invited and play in the competition every year. Over the years, clubs such as Barcelona, Juventus, Chelsea and Real Madrid have had their senior youth teams participate in the tournament. Cruzeiro from Brazil is the most successful club in the history of the tournament, having won it three times in total.

Future Cup
Established in 2010, the AEGON Future Cup is an international friendly tournament for Under-17 youth teams, which is organized by AFC Ajax and their main sponsor, the insurance company AEGON. The tournament is held each year at the Johan Cruyff Arena and at the Sportpark De Toekomst, the team's training ground, which also inspired the name of the competition, since De Toekomst in Dutch means The Future. Every year during the Easter weekend, six U-17 teams are invited to participate in the competition, while the seventh place for the contesters is reserved for the winners of the "Craques Mongeral AEGON Future Cup" in Brazil, the sister competition of the tournament in South America. Youth teams from top clubs such as Manchester United, Bayern Munich, Milan and many more have participated in the competition over the years. Ajax is the most successful club of the tournament, having won the trophy a total of five times.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: AFC Ajax