A disappointing campaign for Ajax resulted in finishing the season on the second spot on the Eredivisie league table. The start of the season was not good, but this was somehow expected, after talented midfielder Abdelhak Nouri suffered from cardiac arrest during the summer training camp. This tragedy influenced especially the first half of the season for Ajax. An early deficit appeared towards PSV Eindhoven, but this was halved from ten points to five points shortly before the winter break, amongst others by beating PSV 3-0 on home soil.
Defeats on home soil against Vitesse and FC Utrecht, during the first half of the season, put the pressure on coach Marcel Keizer, but he was dismissed after Ajax had been eliminated from the KNVB Cup in the third round in Enschede against FC Twente. Erik ten Hag was taken over from FC Utrecht to become the new coach for the second half of the season. He started off with a deficit of five points towards PSV Eindhoven, but Ajax never came really close to claiming the championship. The most painful thing was that PSV claimed the league title by beating Ajax 3-0 in Eindhoven, as a result of which the gap between the two title contenders grew to ten points, with only three games left to play.
Hakim Ziyech became the player of the season by taking care of many assists and scoring several goals himself. He has already announced that he will leave the club for a new adventure outside the Netherlands. Nick Viergever will make a striking transfer to PSV Eindhoven. It looks likely that some more players, for example Justin Kluivert, will make a transfer, but the Amsterdam side has already signed some new players and it looks likely that there are more to follow. The main target for the new season will be to claim the league title, after having finished second for four straight years now.
