AJAX AMSTERDAM
AJAX AMSTERDAM
STRATEGIC IMPORTANCE › There are 4 pillars to the club’s business model: 1. develop academy players: 2. use former players to scout: 3 international scouting; 4. prepare next generation. › Formalised policies born from the city’s cultural identity of global trading. › Club identity is attacking, dominant and positive/arrogant game. › Influenced by Rinus Michels, Johan Cruyff, Louis van Gaal and others in 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. COMPETITION › Ajax's main unique selling point is that other Dutch clubs are not as › A im is to develop players who can impact at Champions League level. › D evelopment, not winning, is the main objective. › T hey also produce coaches: Frank de Boer, Danny Blind, Louis van Gaal, and Marcel Keizer. PRODUCTIVITY
QUALITY AREAS SNAPSHOT
› P rocess of transition: U18s > reserves/U19s > progress
communication > pre-season camps > first team. Success depends on the club’s philosophy, its willingness to promote players, the playing style, and promoting players at right time.
PHYSICAL CARE › All young players, but particularly the U17s and U18s, enjoy the same access to facilities as the first team. COGNITIVE CARE › Players are challenged by moving up the age groups. High-performing players receive additional attention. › Players play in different positions to identify strengths and weaknesses. › An individual approach used, with personality assessed as well as ability. › Players encouraged to find match solutions by themselves (creativity), then by learned mechanisms. › Players trained in comms/social media. › 5 player progress meetings a year (2 official moments with the parents). FINANCES › Academy budget: €11.5m (10% of overall club budget). › Academy receives transfer bonuses. FACILITIES › Facilities consist of 7 pitches (3 artificial, 4 hybrid), 1 half-size pitch, boarding fields, and 1 indoor pitch. › Host families accommodate players.
TALENT IDENTIFICATION › T he youth scouting department is separate from the first-team scouting department, and it has 14 pro scouts and 100 volunteers. › S hadow team for each generation. › Y oungest players targeted within a 40km radius of Amsterdam. The older the age group, the larger the radius (U15 upwards is international). Professional youth scouts recognise, assess and recruit all players up to U18s. › In terms of Talent ID, players are assessed by their technical skills, the choices they make within the Ajax playing principles, and their mental and physical capabilities. › They have links with 30+ clubs nationally and 5 internationally.
› KPI… each coach is evaluated and progress monitored 3 times a year. › Coaches educated internally. BUY-IN FROM CLUB › Similar principles and values in academy and first team, though first team more focused on winning versus academy development. › All technical policy decisions are made by the Technical Director, Academy Director and First Team Coach. C OMMUNITY CONNECTIVITY › Community work is important, and Academy has input from the Foundation. P ROFESSIONAL CONNECTIVITY › Football will be more ‘tailor made’. › ‘Space’ will be tighter. › ‘Creativity’ and ‘restarts’ will be increasingly important. › Aim is to make the opponent make more choices during a game.
successful transferring academy players to the first/national team.
HUMAN CAPITAL › They scout for coaches and have a profile of coach they are looking for. › They are not looking for best coaches, but best coaches for Ajax. › Keen to promote staff internally.
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YOUTH FOOTBALL 2021-23
YOUTH FOOTBALL 2021-23
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