Season 1956-57

Summary

Season Results
Competition Mat Total points Win Drw Loss GF GA F-A Res
Eredivisie 34 49 22 5 7 64 40 24 Endranking: 1
Dutch Cup 3 2 1 11 7 4 Lost in Tussenronde
Friendly 6 4 1 1 14 8 6

Results

Endranking Eredivisie
Pos Club Mat Win Drw Loss Total points GF GA F-A
1 Ajax 34 22 5 7 49 64 40 24
2 Fortuna '54 34 20 5 9 45 76 48 28
3 SC Enschede 34 15 11 8 41 81 47 34
4 MVV 34 15 10 9 40 53 42 11
5 Feijenoord 34 15 9 10 39 79 58 21
6 PSV 34 18 3 13 39 93 71 22
7 VVV 34 16 6 12 38 50 53 -3
8 Sparta 34 12 12 10 36 66 59 7
9 NAC 34 14 8 12 36 59 61 -2
10 DOS 34 17 1 16 35 79 75 4
11 Rapid JC 34 13 7 14 33 64 63 1
12 NOAD 34 12 7 15 31 54 64 -10
13 BVC Amsterdam 34 11 8 15 30 49 67 -18
14 GVAV 34 9 10 15 28 52 66 -14
15 BVV 34 11 4 19 26 70 76 -6
16 Elinkwijk 34 10 4 20 24 52 87 -35
17 Willem II 34 8 6 20 22 59 79 -20
18 EVV 34 8 4 22 20 39 83 -44

Matches

Match Details
Date Competition Round Match Sum. Video Full Video Match Report
8/12/1956 Friendly - Ajax - Fortuna Düsseldorf 2 - 2
8/19/1956 Friendly - Ajax - First Vienna 2 - 1
8/26/1956 Dutch Cup 1 Ajax - Zeeburgia 6 - 1
9/2/1956 Eredivisie 1 Ajax - NAC 1 - 0 (1 - 0)
9/9/1956 Eredivisie 2 Sparta - Ajax 1 - 2 (1 - 1)
9/16/1956 Dutch Cup 2 Ajax - Stormvogels 3 - 2 (2 - 2)
9/23/1956 Eredivisie 3 Ajax - GVAV 4 - 2 (2 - 1)
9/30/1956 Eredivisie 4 EVV - Ajax 0 - 3 (0 - 2)
10/7/1956 Eredivisie 5 Ajax - MVV 2 - 0 (1 - 0)
10/14/1956 Dutch Cup Tussenronde RKSV Volendam - Ajax 4 - 2 (2 - 0)
10/21/1956 Eredivisie 6 Rapid JC - Ajax 4 - 2 (0 - 1)
10/28/1956 Eredivisie 7 Ajax - Elinkwijk 1 - 0 (0 - 0)
11/11/1956 Eredivisie 8 Feijenoord - Ajax 7 - 3 (5 - 0)
11/18/1956 Eredivisie 9 Ajax - Willem II 5 - 0 (1 - 0)
12/2/1956 Eredivisie 11 Ajax - SC Enschede 1 - 2 (1 - 1)
12/9/1956 Eredivisie 12 PSV - Ajax 2 - 3 (0 - 1)
12/16/1956 Eredivisie 13 Ajax - Fortuna '54 0 - 2 (0 - 2)
12/23/1956 Eredivisie 14 VVV - Ajax 0 - 0 (0 - 0)
12/26/1956 Eredivisie 10 BVV - Ajax 3 - 1 (3 - 0)
12/30/1956 Eredivisie 15 Ajax - DOS 1 - 2 (1 - 0)
1/6/1957 Eredivisie 16 Ajax - BVC Amsterdam 2 - 3 (1 - 0)
1/13/1957 Eredivisie 17 NOAD - Ajax 1 - 4 (0 - 4)
1/20/1957 Eredivisie 18 NAC - Ajax 1 - 1 (1 - 1)
1/27/1957 Eredivisie 19 Ajax - Sparta 2 - 1 (1 - 0)
2/3/1957 Eredivisie 20 GVAV - Ajax 1 - 1 (1 - 1)
2/10/1957 Eredivisie 21 Ajax - EVV 3 - 1 (2 - 1)
2/17/1957 Eredivisie 22 MVV - Ajax 1 - 1 (1 - 1)
2/24/1957 Eredivisie 23 Ajax - Rapid JC 1 - 0 (0 - 0)
3/3/1957 Friendly - De Graafschap - Ajax 1 - 3
3/10/1957 Eredivisie 24 Elinkwijk - Ajax 1 - 2 (1 - 0)
3/17/1957 Eredivisie 25 Ajax - Feijenoord 1 - 0 (0 - 0)
3/24/1957 Eredivisie 26 Willem II - Ajax 0 - 1 (0 - 1)
3/31/1957 Eredivisie 27 Ajax - BVV 1 - 0 (1 - 0)
4/7/1957 Eredivisie 28 SC Enschede - Ajax 0 - 1 (0 - 0)
4/14/1957 Eredivisie 29 Ajax - PSV 1 - 0 (0 - 0)
4/22/1957 Eredivisie 30 Fortuna '54 - Ajax 2 - 3 (0 - 2)
4/30/1957 Friendly - Ajax - PSV 2 - 0
5/5/1957 Eredivisie 31 Ajax - VVV 1 - 1 (0 - 0)
5/12/1957 Eredivisie 32 DOS - Ajax 0 - 2 (0 - 1)
5/19/1957 Eredivisie 33 BVC Amsterdam - Ajax 1 - 5 (1 - 0)
5/22/1957 Friendly - Ajax - Sheffield United 1 - 2 (0 - 0)
5/30/1957 Eredivisie 34 Ajax - NOAD 2 - 1 (0 - 0)
6/10/1957 Friendly - Ajax - Wupperthal SV 4 - 2

Selection

All players who have played for Ajax 1 this season
Player Team Matches Goals Yellow Red Assists Minutes Own Goals Remark
Wim Anderiesen Jr. A 37 3323 1
Klaas Bakker A 37 2 3330
Luuk Bijker Unknown 2 105
Wim Bleijenberg A 33 21 10 2893
Gé van Dijk A 36 6 3 3106
Jan van Drecht Unknown 1 90
Loek den Edel A 18 8 4 1355
Henk Elzer Unknown 4 237
Cor Geelhuizen A 36 3225
Piet van der Kuil A 29 13 6 2550
Rinus Michels A 32 6 1 2688
Ger van Mourik A 36 3240
Piet Ouderland A 15 6 2 1099
Eddy Pieters Graafland A 36 3196
Albert Post Unknown 2 134
Frans Postma Unknown 5 247
Willy Schmidt A 35 12 3 3143
Sjaak Swart Unknown 6 466
Jaap van Veen Unknown 1 44
Ad Visser A 23 1995
Arie de Wit Jr. Unknown 1 90
Selection of Team A
Player Position Contract Type Contract From Contract To Loan Out From Loan Out To Remark
Eddy Pieters Graafland Keeper Contract
Wim Anderiesen Jr. Defender Contract
Cor Geelhuizen Defender Contract
Ger van Mourik Defender Contract
Ad Visser Defender Contract
Klaas Bakker Forward Contract
Wim Bleijenberg Forward Contract
Gé van Dijk Forward Contract
Loek den Edel Forward Contract
Piet van der Kuil Forward Contract
Rinus Michels Forward Contract
Piet Ouderland Forward Contract
Willy Schmidt Forward Contract
Selection of Team Unknown
Player Position Contract Type Contract From Contract To Loan Out From Loan Out To Remark
Jan van Drecht Keeper Unknown
Luuk Bijker Midfielder Unknown
Henk Elzer Midfielder Unknown
Bobby Haarms Midfielder Unknown
Albert Post Midfielder Unknown
Frans Postma Midfielder Unknown
Jaap van Veen Midfielder Unknown
Sjaak Brokx Forward Unknown
Hans Oldenziel Forward No Contract
Sjaak Swart Forward Unknown
Arie de Wit Jr. Unknown Unknown
Selection of Team Youth
Player Position Contract Type Contract From Contract To Loan Out From Loan Out To Remark
Wim Jesse Unknown No Contract
Selection of Team Youth B1
Player Position Contract Type Contract From Contract To Loan Out From Loan Out To Remark
Thijs Hazewindus Midfielder No Contract
Selection of Team Youth D
Player Position Contract Type Contract From Contract To Loan Out From Loan Out To Remark
Piet Keizer Forward No Contract
Selection of Team Youth F
Player Position Contract Type Contract From Contract To Loan Out From Loan Out To Remark
Johan Cruijff Forward No Contract 04/01/1957
Selection of Team Welpen
Player Position Contract Type Contract From Contract To Loan Out From Loan Out To Remark
Ben Hazewindus Forward No Contract
Others active at Ajax
Player Role Contract Type Contract From Contract To Remark
Karl Humenberger Head coach Contract
Wim Volkers President No Contract
Arie de Wit Sr. Vice president No Contract
Jan Elzenga Secretary No Contract
Roef Vunderink 2nd Secretary No Contract
Ferry Dukker Treasurer No Contract

Transfers

Players who left/will leave
Player Next Club Type Announced Start Duration End Amount Remark
Piet Burgers 't Gooi Transfer 07/01/1956 1,361
Joop Butter Go Ahead Transfer 07/01/1956
Jo Behrens VVA Transfer 07/26/1956 07/26/1956
Han Velder VVA Transfer 07/26/1956
Hans Winter Go Ahead Transfer 08/01/1956
Players who came/will come
Player Previous Club Type Announced Start Duration End Amount Remark
Wim Bleijenberg VV Rigtersbleek Transfer 04/20/1956 07/01/1956
Willy Schmidt EVV Transfer 08/04/1956 08/04/1956 18,151 Uit De Tijd (4/8/1956)
Youthplayers who joined the Ajax academy
Player Previous Club Announced Start Duration End Amount Remark
Ben Hazewindus Unknown 07/01/1956
Johan Cruijff Unknown 04/01/1957

Statistics

See this overview for an explanation of the categorization of the various competition types.

Seasons matches and goals per competition
Player Comp. Comp. Play Off Dutch Cup Europa Other Off. Off. Mat. Friendly Total
Mat Goals Mat Goals Mat Goals Mat Goals Mat Goals Mat Goals Mat Goals Mat Goals
Wim Anderiesen Jr. 34 3 37 1 38
Klaas Bakker 34 2 3 37 2 1 38 2
Luuk Bijker 1 1 2 2
Wim Bleijenberg 30 17 3 4 33 21 33 21
Gé van Dijk 33 5 3 1 36 6 36 6
Jan van Drecht 1 1 1
Loek den Edel 16 7 2 1 18 8 1 1 19 9
Henk Elzer 4 4 4
Cor Geelhuizen 34 2 36 1 37
Bertus Hoogerman 1 1 1
Piet van der Kuil 28 11 1 2 29 13 1 30 13
Rinus Michels 29 5 3 1 32 6 32 6
Ger van Mourik 34 2 36 1 37
Bennie Muller 1 1
Piet Ouderland 14 5 1 1 15 6 1 16 6
Eddy Pieters Graafland 33 3 36 1 37
Albert Post 2 2 2
Frans Postma 4 1 5 1 6
Willy Schmidt 32 11 3 1 35 12 1 36 12
Sjaak Swart 5 1 6 1 7
Jaap van Veen 1 1 1
Ad Visser 23 23 1 24
Arie de Wit Jr. 1 1 1
Total 392 63 0 0 34 11 426 74 13 1 439 75

Videos and Photos

News

Dutch Competition

When the first edition of the Eredivisie had ended Ajax was in first place with 49 points, 4 points ahead of Fortuna 54 and a goaldifference of only +24. Fortuna 54 played many lucrative friendly matches abroad midweek during the end of the season, which was given as a reason why they dropped so many points during this period. PSV and Feyenoord ended both with 39 points on position 5 and 6. Ajax partly had the championship to thank to a nice series of 8 wins (from which 6 times with 1-0) in the period from February end to April end, of which the last one was a 2-3 away win over Fortuna 54, the nearest competitor.

Beker

After having won in the first round at home against Zeeburgia with 6-1 and the second round at home against Stormvogels with 3-2, Ajax lost in the inbetween round with 4-2 at Volendam.

Europa

Ajax did not play any european matches.

Lineup

The lineup that was used most often was: Eddy Pieters Graafland (goalkeeper), Ger van Mourik en Cor Geelhuizen (defense), stopperspil Wim Anderiesen Jr., Ad Visser and Klaas Bakker (midfield) Piet van der Kuil, Rinus Michels, Wim Bleijenberg, Ge van Dijk and Willy Schmidt (attack). Van Dijk was the captain. Luuk Bijker (1) got injured during the first game and was replaced by Cor Geelhuizen, after which Bijker did not appear again. At the end of the season he was entered on the transfer list and moved to BVC Amsterdam. Loek den Edel (18) and a young Sjaak Swart (6) (at the start of the season he turned 18) were regular substitutes for the attack. Piet Ouderland (15) was a multi functional player who could play as defender, midfielder and attacker. And scores twice in one game as a substitute. Bertus Hoogerman (1) and Jan van Drecht (1) both played one match, but for the rest Pieters Graafland was the goalkeeper. Furthermore Frans Postma (5), Henk Elzer (4), Albert Post (1), Jaap van Veen (1) en Arie de Wit Jr. (1) played official matches.

Coach

The Austrian Karl Humenberger was the trainer of Ajax during this first season in the Eredivisie. In comparison to current times the role was only that to train and there was little influence on tactice or lineups.

Classic

The first Klassieker in the Eredivisie ended in a 7-3 home win for Feyenoord, who led with 5-0 during halftime. Ajax won in the second half of the season with 1-0 from Feyenoord at home, so that the matchpoints will still shared between the two teams evenly.

Transfers Begin

Ajax added Wim Bleijenberg (VV Rigtersbleek) and Willy Schmidt (Eindhoven) to its squad. Sjaak Swart was promoted to the first team from the youth academy.

Issue Sal

On June 5 1957 the section board of the professional soccer section of the Dutch soccer association suspends the Ajax board members Volkers (president), Elzenga (secretary) and Drukker (treasurer) for two years because of the “issue Sal”. The Ajax board announces they will protest against this punishment as they are not aware of having done anything wrong. The “Issue Sal” is about Yugoslavian soccer player Vladimir “Bobo” Sal who first signed a pre contract with Ajax and later wanted to transfer to BVC Amsterdam instead of Ajax. Sal made up a story that he was kidnapped by the Ajax board and was forced to sign a contract. This story has various element of an exciting novel. Later it turned out that Sal made up the whole kidnapping and escapes to Germany, where he disappears without a trace, when Ajax accuses him of perjury. This first in July leads to a temporary lifting of the punishments (until the appeal Ajax started is finished) and few days later the punishment is cancelled completely and a new investigation is started. The fact that the truth became known Ajax has to thank in a large part to former Ajax 1 player Kick Geudeker, who was a journalist at that time. Stoop, who was besides a member of the section board of the section professional soccer of the Dutch soccer association also board member of BVC Amsterdam, and is suspended (on his own request) until the investigation is finished, because the board of BVC Amsterdam is also subject of the new investigation. At the end of July Stoop is arrested for inciting Sal to perjure himself, but it released soon after. After several soccer association meetings a suspension for Stoop is announced that will not allow him to perform any function for the Dutch soccer association until 1960. He is indited in 7 different points, of which one is that he played a role in BVC Amsterdam offering Sal a salary that is higher than allowed at that time by the Dutch soccer association. It is difficult to determine whether Sal is a victim who was coerced by BVC Amsterdam and made some mistakes after the promise of richess, or whether he made things up himself. Sal is also suspended by the FIFA (until January 1, 1960). At the start of 1959 Ajax collaborates to allow an early end of his suspension so that Sal can play for Linzer A.S.K. but it is not clear whether that was successful. Later that year Sal is arrested at the German Dutch border and is sentenced for 6 months due to perjury Looking back it is clear that the Dutch soccer association has not been careful at all as several times they have to take things back. Most strange is now how the Dutch soccer association could have suspended the Ajax board while there was no evidence at all. It was very painful, at first for Ajax, but later for the Dutch soccer association, that they gave this situation with Ajax as an example how things should not be done and that they will act against it strict and swift.

Piet Kruiver

In Het Vrije Volk from March 26 1957 it is announced that Piet Kruiver will play for Ajax the next season, but in the end he choses for a transfer to PSV (as is announced on July 17). Piet Kruiver had signed a precontract with Ajax, but pre-contracts are not recognized by the Dutch soccer association. Ajax starts an arbitration case, but this only confirms that pre-contracts are not officially recognized, and doesn't see any problem in KFC (after first already accepting part of the transfer sum from Ajax) changing its mind and selling to PSV. This is a good example of a situation in which the Dutch soccer association chose to just accept what happened, instead of, even though PSV was not violating the rules, indicating that this was clearly undesired behavior and would work on modifying the rules. When this case is put next to the Bobo Sal case, during which the Dutch soccer association without thinking twice goes beyond their power and punishes Ajax without any evidence, it is clear that there is no real (objective) line in the behavior of the Dutch soccer association. Also it became clear during these early years of professional soccer that PSV was not a club who had any problems with finding the limits of what is allowed when transfering players, something we saw again during the eighties.

Johan Cruijff

In April 1957 Johan Cruijff joined Ajax.

Substitutes and Squad Committee

During an interland match against Belgium Piet van der Kuil refuses to leave the pitch. Substitutes are only allowed if players are injured and Van der Kuil feels well enough to play on, while the squad committee wanted to bring in Dillen. This incident triggers two changes. First some members of the squad committee are removed, and later the whole committee is disbanded and the role of coach is extended to also determine the lineups and tactic. Second this starts the discussion about the substitute regulations. Until then unlimited substitutes are allowed in case there are injuries, which is in practice difficult to check. For the Eredivisie in the next season (1957-58) the regulations change so that only and player and the goalkeeper can be replaced, still only if they are injured. For a very short time there is a restriction that substitutes are only allowed before the 44th minutes, but this is soon removed from the regulations. Only at the start of season 1967-68 the restriction of being injured is removed and the tactical substitutions are officially introduced. At that time the regulations differ between the different soccer associations and for example in the English leagues before season 1965-66 no substitutes are allowed at all. At the start start of season 1969-70 the regulations for the Dutch competition are made the same as the FIFA, namely that besides the goalkeeper two players can be substituted. This has later be changed one more time, before season 1995-96, to the situation we known now, namely that any 3 players can be be substituted (so the restriction that one of them should be the goalkeeper has been removed).