On the ball with PSL team Ajax Cape Town

Urban Soccer Warriors from Amsterdam in Cape Town

The local soccer club Ajax Cape Town was established as the result of a merger between two smaller Capetonian soccer clubs in 1998, when Seven Stars and Cape Town Spurs joined forces. This merge was initiated by the management team from world class soccer club Ajax Amsterdam, who were looking to expand their worldwide pool of soccer talent to South Africa. They were hoping to “find the new Benni Mc Carthy” on the soccer fields in Cape Town.

However, the Dutch project ‘Ajax Cape Town’ was less than succesful during those first years. Ajax did not perform well in the PSL and few people came to watch soccer games when Ajax Cape Town was playing. People generally blamed it on negligence of the Cape Town club by its founding fathers at Ajax Amsterdam, as well as a lack of proper schooling for local soccer coaches and trainers in South Africa.

The fact that team Ajax Cape Town was trained and mentored by professional Dutch soccer coaches Leo van Veen and Henk Bodewes didn’t make a significant difference. Besides winning the Rothmans Cup – a rather insignificant soccer cup – no real achievements were accomplished by the ‘Dutch Capetonians’.

Loss of star player Steven Pienaar

Nevertheless, the Dutch Ajax didn’t take their eyes off the ball on the South African field, nor off the players. Steven Pienaar, Ajax Cape Town’s star player, caught their eye almost straight away. In 2002 he was one of the first soccer players from Cape Town to make the big step to the Mother City of soccer in Amsterdam in 2002.

While Gordon Igesund, Ajax Cape Town coach from 2002-2006 managed to lead the Ajax Cape Town club to a second place in the PSL once, they remained in their silent and not-so-well-performing mode. That is until the season 2006-2007, when the team – managed by their new Turkish coach Muhsin Ertuğral – achieved the fourth position in the Premier Soccer League. In the same year they also won the ABSA Cup, which is the South African Cup. In style, we might add, by defeating the reigning champions of that league – the Mamelodi Sundowns - with 2-0. Muhsin Ertuğral had officially put Ajax Cape Town on the map of South African soccer!

Cape Town on the South African soccer map

Turkish coach Ertuğral didn’t only successfully lead Ajax Cape Town, but also managed to bring out the best in the Kaizer Chiefs – Johannesburg’s biggest soccer club, which he managed a few years earlier.

Currently Ajax Cape Town is under Dutch coaching supervision again, since Dutchman Foppe de Haan started as head coach of the soccer club in 2009. His sidekick is assistent-coach Wilfred Mugeyi.

Whoever wants to see an Ajax Cape Town game must drive to the Athlone Stadium a short distance out of Cape Town, or to the Newlands Stadium in the suburbs. Over the last few years Ajax didn’t have a ‘home stadium,’ to their regret.

Home stadium of Ajax Cape Town

After enjoying the honours of playing the January 2010 opening game at Cape Town’s pride and joy  – the Cape Town Stadium, built especially for the 2010 World Cup – the players of Ajax Cape Town expressed their desire to call the brand new multifunctional stadium in Cape Town’s Green Point ‘their home’.

Seeing a game at the Cape Town Stadium is a pleasure, even for those who despise the game itself. Anyone who has had the privilege of seeing a game at this world class stadium during the 2010  World Cup, will surely agree on that.

Despite not having a home stadium, Ajax Cape Town does have a very professional training complex in Parow, just a twenty minute drive out of the centre of Cape Town. During the week the soccer fields at ‘Ikamva’ are used for first team practices; while over the weekends the Ajax Cape Town youths plays matches at Ikamva.

Read more on the history, general information, performances, stadiums and famous players of other Capetonian soccer clubs: Engen Santos and Vasco da Gama.

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For CapeTownMagazine.com the saga of soccer in South Africa didn’t end with the 2010 World Cup. Stay on the ball with sports in Cape Town by visiting our Sport Section.

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