Ajax first played in the European Cup in 1957 when it met East German side Wismut Karl Marx Stadt. A 3-1 win away was followed by a 1-0 win in Amsterdam. In the quarter-finals it met Hungarian side Vasas. It blew a 2-0 lead at home to only draw 2-2. Vasas were just too strong and scored four goals in the first half of the return leg.
Ajax returned three years later when it met the Norwegian Fredrikstad in the opening round. The opening match was a 4-3 win to the Norwegians amateurs and the return leg was a 0-0 draw to see the Dutch crash out.
Ajax returned for the 1966-67 competition. In the opening rounds it got past Turkish Besiktas 4-1. In the second round, it thrashed Liverpool 5-1 in the first leg at home and a 2-2 draw away gave it a 7-3 win. This instilled the young side with confidence but it came unstuck to Dukla Prague. A 1-1 win at home was followed by a 2-1 loss in Prague.
The following year, Ajax received a horrible draw in the shape of Real Madrid. Both legs finished 1-1 which sent the tie into extra time. Madrid scored a winner but Ajax won a lot of respect and new fans with its strong showing.
The maturity of the side was apparent when it eased past Nuremburg and Fenerbahce to get into the last eight. Here it met Benfica and both sides lost 3-1 at home. A replay was played in Paris and won it 3-0 before edging past Spartak Trnava to make its first appearance in the final.
Ajax was the first Dutch side to make the final and in Johan Cruyff, Velibor Vasovic and Piet Keizer it had a very strong side. Milan was too strong though and scored two goals in each half. Vasovic scored a penalty but it was too little too late.
The following year, Ajax was keen for redemption and easily got past Albania’s 17 Nentori Tirana and Basel in the first two rounds. It defeated Celtic 3-1 in the quarter finals before defeating Athletic Madrid in the semi-finals by the same score. Ajax was looking to make it Double-Dutch after Feyenoord had won the year before.
The final was to be played at Wembley against Greek side Panathinaikos. Ajax scored in the fifth minute courtesy of Dick van Dijk and then in the 87th minute courtesy of substitute Arie Haan.
Ajax began its title defence with a comfortable 2-0 win over Dynamo Dresden. It then edged a feisty Marseille and defiant Arsenal team to make it to the semi-finals. Each of the semi-finallists had been previous winners with Benfica, Inter Milan and Celtic the other combatants.
Ajax defeated Benfica 1-0 at home before a 0-0 draw away got it back to the final. The final was as good as a home game for the Dutch with it being played in Rotterdam. The final was an even contest but two second half goals for Cruyff sealed the win.
Ajax were then trying to become just the second team after Real Madrid to win the European Cup on three straight occasions. After a first round bye, it cruised past CSKA Sofia and Bayern Munich. It met Real Madrid in the semi-finals and a 2-1 home win was followed by a 1-0 win in Madrid.
Only Juventus stood between it and making history. The final was in Belgrade and was to be Cruyff’s last match for Ajax until his move to Barcelona. The Juventus side featured the likes of Dino Zoff and Fabio Capello. A fourth minute Johnny Rep goal remained the only goal of the match.
It definitely was the end of an era and after a first round bye, Ajax was knocked out by CSKA Sofia. Its hopes making it four in a row were over before they had begun.
It was back for the 1977-78 competition and defeated Norway’s Lillestrom 4-2 in the opening round. Victory by the same score followed against Levksi Spartak. Ajax found itself in the semi-finals against old foe Juventus. A pair of 1-1 matches saw the tie go to penalties and Juventus inflicted revenge for the 1971 final it lost to Ajax.
In 1979-80, Ajax opened its campaign with a pair of 8-1 wins over HJK of Finland. It was in a mean mood and smashed Cyprus’ Omonia 10-0 in the opening leg of their tie. A 4-0 win over Strasbourg got Ajax back into the final four. It ran into Nottingham Forest who was too good winning the tie 2-1.
The next year it met Bayern Munich in the second round and after a 5-1 thrashing in Munich the tie was over. That was a sign that times had moved on as it was in the opening round of the 1982-83 tournament when Ajax lost 4-3 to Celtic in the first round. A 2-2 draw in Celtic was followed by a 2-1 away win to Celtic in Amsterdam.
In the years to come, Ajax would be knocked out in the opening round by Olympiacos and Porto.
In 1994-95, a new decade, a new format and a new name brought with it a change of fortune. Ajax found itself in a group of four with AC Milan, Austria Salzburg and AEK Athens. It topped the group and got past Hadjuk Split and Bayern Munich to find itself back in the final in Vienna. There it would meet AC Milan who it had met in the final 26 years earlier.
Ajax was a mix of the old and the new. The old was Danny Blind and Frank Rijkaard while the new was the youngs guns of Edgar Davids, Clarence Seedorf, Jari Litmanen, Marc Overmars and the de Boer twins. On the bench sat Patrick Kluivert and Nwankwo Kanu.
Milan was a strong side and looking for its sixth title. It featured the likes of Paolo Maldini, Alessandro CostaCurta, Franco Baresi, Zvonimi Boban and Marco Simone. With extra time looming, Kluivert poked home the winner to give Ajax’s its fourth triumph.
Ajax’s hopes of defending its title began well. It topped the group containing Real Madrid, Ferencvaros and Grasshopper. It then brushed past Borussia Dortmund and Panathinaikos to find itself back in the final. 23 years after they first met in the final, Ajax was against facing Juventus in the decider. The final was in Rome which meant Juventus was the nominal home side. Fabrizio Ravanelli opened the scoring only for Litmanen to level it up. It stayed 1-1 until penalties. Davids and Sonny Silooy missed and not a single Juventus played did to give the Italians the trophy.
The following year it was again eliminated by Juventus - this time in the semi-finals. It hasn’t done this well since. Since then it has been knocked out in the group stage three times and hasn’t even made it to the group stage on another three occasions.
For a proud club with a record like this, this is simply unacceptable.