Edwin van der Sar is leaving as general manager of Ajax. The 52-year-old former top goalkeeper no longer sees a future for himself after the dramatic season that the team from Amsterdam went through.
Van der Sar has been general manager of Ajax since November 2016. He experienced many successes with the club, but also had difficult periods. Last season, things did not go well for the 36-time national champion, who finished third in the Eredivisie despite a lot of investments. With that, Champions League football was missed.
“After almost eleven years on the board, I am finished. We have experienced very nice things, but it has also been an incredibly difficult period. I am very fond of the people I met and worked with during my second career at Ajax. grateful for what we have achieved and experienced,” says Van der Sar on the Ajax site on Tuesday.
“I now need to distance myself, relax and do other things. It doesn’t feel right to have to make decisions about the future of this beautiful club in the coming period. Hence my decision to start now. fuses.”
Ajax no longer dominated last season
The decline of Ajax, which took shape after the departure of director of football affairs Marc Overmars and success coach Erik ten Hag in 2022, led to pressure on Van der Sar. The general manager failed to (quickly) appoint adequate replacements and push the club in the right direction.
Under the leadership of Van der Sar, it was decided at the end of January to fire Ten Hag’s successor Alfred Schreuder and to put Jong Ajax coach John Heitinga in front of the group. That ultimately did not lead to much improvement. With the arrival of Sven Mislintat last month, Overmars’ position was only filled again after more than a year.
As a player, Van der Sar played 130 times for the Dutch national team and wore the shirts of Ajax, Juventus, Fulham and Manchester United as part of a club. He was active as a director for the first time in the Johan Cruijff ArenA.
His departure is part of a changing of the guard at Ajax. Recently, technical manager Gerry Hamstra, assistant coach Michael Reiziger, chief scout Henk Veldmate, head of youth academy Saïd Ouaali, commissioners Leen Meijaard and Danny Blind and the entire board also left.
2023-05-30 07:32:28
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