FILE PHOTO: Ajax Amsterdam players pose for a team group photo in Amsterdam, Netherlands, March 6, 2025. REUTERS/Stephane Mahe/File Photo
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) -Ajax Amsterdam are within touching distance of securing the league championship in the Netherlands, putting behind them a horror two-season spell where they briefly flirted with relegation and suffered embarrassing setbacks.
A nine-point lead over second-placed PSV Eindhoven, with five rounds left of the Eredivisie season, sees Ajax on the brink of a return to glory with a record-extending 37th title.
Ajax need seven points out of a possible 15 from their last five fixtures to return to the summit of Dutch football.
They could clinch the title as early as April 27 when they host Sparta Rotterdam but would need to win away at fourth-placed Utrecht on Sunday and see other results go their way, if they are to set up a home celebration.
A bold gamble on 34-year-old Italian coach Francesco Farioli at the start of the season looks to have paid off as he returned lustre to the ailing giant, prioritising rotation with 39 players used this campaign, improving fitness and tightening the defence.
While he has been criticised for dispensing with the fabled 'Total Football' approach, Ajax have won 13 of their last 14 league games to long overtake defending champions PSV in the title race.
"We have five finals left to play," Farioli said after last weekend's away victory at Willem II.
"It was a very important victory. With it, we've at least secured a top-three finish. That means we've qualified for the preliminary round of the Champions League, which is crucial for the club."
TURMOIL
Ajax last won the title in 2022, after which their coach Erik ten Hag left for Manchester United and many key players were sold, precipitating a period of unprecedented turmoil for the former European champions.
While Ten Hag's replacement Alfred Schreuder made a perfect start with six successive league wins, results quickly tapered off and a 6-1 home loss to Napoli in the Champions League saw a drop in form and turmoil in the changing room.
Ajax went on a record seven-match winless streak, which saw Schreuder fired, but they still ended the season third and won the Dutch Cup.
Starting last season with the unheralded Maurice Steijn in charge, Ajax had hopes of bouncing back after spending some 100 million euros ($114 million) in the transfer market. But after three months, the new coach was gone as they languished in last place in the Dutch league for the first time.
Two months later, they were tumbled out of the Dutch Cup by amateur side USV Hercules with the 3-2 loss hailed as the biggest upset in the competition's 126-year history.
Ajax worked their way out of trouble but not before suffering a 6-0 loss to Feyenoord, ending the season fifth, 35 points adrift of champions PSV.
Farioli's appointment looked risky, but his rebuild has been swift, if not totally convincing.
"They do win, but as an Ajax supporter you never know which way it's going to go," said former star Ronald de Boer.
But John Van 't Schip, who was caretaker coach last season, said Ajax deserved to take this season's title.
"It's just great what Farioli has done. If you can beat Feyenoord and PSV twice, then, in my eyes, you are the deserved champion."
($1 = 0.8792 euros)
(Writing by Mark Gleeson in Cape Town; Editing by Joe Bavier)
