Today is the big day for FC Omniworld from the Amsterdam commuter town of Almere: the KNVB is generally expected to issue their license today that will allow them to 'go professional' and enter the First Division.

Ajax, meanwhile, are expected to agree a partnership with the Almere club, according to Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad. It's only a short article that doesn't provide any details about the partnership, but one assumes it's got something to do with the exchange of Young Ajax players and youth players.

Gert-Jan de Kort, general director of FC Omniworld, says: "We've been talking to Ajax for a year. We are very close to an agreement about the details of the partnership. Whether or not it will actually happen depends on our license, which the KNVB will hopefully issue today."

K.

That's be pretty good to have a partnership with a club that is closer than Ghana, United States or South Africa for a change.... Didn't we have one with Haarlem back in the time ?

PS : Good signature Ko.... Too bad only 20% of the people here can understand it :sad: ;)

PPS : After some googling here and there, Seems like Gerard Cox is a whacky Dutch singer, and that he must die.... I don't know him so I guess I'll have to trust you on this one :xyxthumbs:

That's right - and we still have. That is: Haarlem used to be our 'satellite club'. Ajax invested a lot of money in the club and the Haarlem staff were basically on Ajax's payrole. We pretty much owned the place and there were seven or eight Young Ajax players there.

That is no longer the case and although Haarlem and Ajax claim that they still have a 'technical partnership' of some sort, in practice there hardly is any such thing at the moment. I think both clubs more or less feel that it's over. Haarlem will get a new stadium soon and they feel they can survive independently. They are actually quite ambitious now.

Therefore: yes, it seems like Omniworld will be the 'new Haarlem'. Which is a good idea. Haarlem may be close to Amsterdam (even closer than Almere, I think) but it's very much a different city: quite large, very old and with a very different culture and economy. It's absolutely not an Amsterdam commuter town or something. There was never a logical 'cultural' connection. They also had a beautiful club to protect: FC Haarlem have a very small fanbase, but it's a really old club (1889; older than Ajax) with a pretty distinct culture and history. Their fans were grumbling about Ajax's 'imperialism': they did not want to become 'Young Ajax', but protect Haarlem's identity.

That will all be very different with Omniworld. Almere is generally regarded as a sort of 'Amsterdam-East': the town (120,000+) almost exclusively consists of commuters that work in Amsterdam and - in many cases - grew up in Amsterdam also, but moved away because they got married and had kids. These people there will actually love a direct link with Amsterdam and Ajax. Which is a much better starting point for a partnership.

K.

This whole thing is now official... Check the news report on Ajax USA:
http://www.ajax-usa.com/news/2004-2005/ ... world.html

K.

It's official: FC Omniworld, the club Ajax have a technical partnership with, received their license from the KNVB today and will be a professional First Division football club as per 01 July 2005. The KNVB reviewed the club's business plan and inspected their facilities, and concluded that they meet the requirements. FC Omniworld had to promise the KNVB that they will have one artificial pitch by 12 August. (Source: NOS Teletekst)

We have updated the following news report on Ajax USA accordingly:
http://www.ajax-usa.com/news/2004-2005/ ... world.html

K.

A quick update on our 'partner' from Almere...

So far the début of FC Omniworld in professional football can hardly be described with any other word than 'disastrous'. Well, okay, there is another adjective you could use, namely 'embarrassing'.

FC Omniworld play on an artificial pitch, but the first embarrassment was already a fact on matchday 1. The home game against Veendam had to be cancelled due to the heavy rainfall. Called off? But they have an artificial pitch! Yes, but the stuff came loose due to the water and it was impossible to play. Veendam were not amused, to say the very least, and blamed Omniworld for not keeping them posted on the state of the pitch. They were already in Almere when the game was called off (shortly before kick-off).

The game was re-scheduled to this last Monday, 05 September. Veendam returned to Almere and this time the pitch was good enough to play. So it seemed, anyway. But then Veendam defender Gerard Wiekens (I think this guy also played in England) slipped and broke his fibula. No other player was even near him when it happened. According to Veendam the accident happened because of the artificial turf and they have announced legal steps against both FC Omniworld and the KNVB.

Meanwhile, it appears that Omniworld have invested all of their money in the ground, the pitch and their license to go professional. They did not have enough money to take care of a tiny little detail, namely getting themselves a quality football team. They are bottom (20th) in the First Division and still waiting for their first win (one draw and five defeats so far). They're already three points behind the #19... Veendam.

Anyway - FC Omniworld's professional adventure has been a bleepin' nightmare so far, which automatically means that their partnership with us has been a nightmare. I mean: what's happening there at the moment can hardly be described as 'football'.

K.

Well I guess I'm the site statto now so here goes - 10 goals in 172 appearances for Manchester City between 1997 and 2004.

Time for an update on this...

All of a sudden an interesting article popped up on Ajax.nl about the partnership between Ajax and Haarlem. The Dutch version is here:
http://www.ajax.nl/show/id=1322/contentid=46157

There is no English translation on the English site - and I don't think there will be - but it's an interesting story, because it explains what the partnership between Ajax and Haarlem is actually about (and it seems to be working, too). I didn't even know that this thing was still alive, so it was an interesting read.

I'm a bit busy right now, but I will translate the article a.s.a.p. I think I'll actually turn it into a From The Desk Of... installment on all of Ajax's partnerships with other clubs.

Haarlem are doing quite well in the First Division this year, by the way. They're currently 7th and won a so-called 'period championship', which means they're qualified for the play-offs against the #16 and #17 of the Eredivisie. Also, they will get a new stadium, so these are good times for Haarlem.

K.

According to ELF magazine (the title doesn't mean 'elf' but 'eleven') Ajax have agreed a technical partnership with FC Volendam. The contracts will be signed on Friday 13 July (hmmm... Friday 13th... partnership will be doomed... ).

It's mainly about the exchange of youth players and the use of each other's scouting systems.

Sounds like a good idea: we have similar partnerships with FC Haarlem and FC Omniworld, but FC Volendam's a different story. They have an esteemed youth academy for local players and the relationship between Ajax and Volendam has always been very special. They like us over there, and we like them. They won't regard us as 'imperialists'. At Haarlem, for example, the fans hated everything about their club's partnership with Ajax.

News report to appear on Ajax USA a.s.a.p.!

K.

Hmm interesting. Any news on Cape Town? Never seem to get any new players from them.

Well, actually there are two players on trial training along for three weeks. An 23-year old striker with the nickname 'Terror' (Fanteni) and a 18-year old right wing/central attacker (Doutie).

An article about the youth system of Ajax CT published this month : Ajax : Building the youth of the nation

Ajax signed Daylon Claassen from Ajax Cape Town: http://english.ajax.nl/web/show/id=1548 ... ntid=65070

So after Pienaar and Lewis, this is the 3rd player from Ajax Cape Town who has signed a contract in Amsterdam.

Aaron Moekoena now at Blackburn came to us from CT as well.

Did Bennie McCarthy come to us direct from CT ?

McCarthy played for both of the clubs that merged to create Ajax CT (Seven Stars and Cape Town Spurs) but he came to Ajax before they merged. Mokoena came from Jomo Cosmos according to Ajax.nl.

Not really a "club partnership" (again), but according to Revu.nl, Ajax will sign a partnership with the Australian FA by the end of this week.

Who's the next ?

Great news for the Australian fans on here, keep us posted lads :hupajax.gif:

The Australian psyche seems to gel well with the Dutch football thinking, so this might work.

There is some seriously talented youth in Oz. Who knows this could be interesting. The next Harry Kewell at Ajax???

God, please NO! Kewell is totally USELESS!!!

...

Actually, I don't believe that. I'm just trying to wind up Dan.

Wind me up? Surely not

Actually the 2 games a year Kewell plays these days between injuries are great

That might interest some of you:

Ha! What about the other token Aussie???

Don't worry, I think Kewell is useless too... one good season in the premiership and MASSIVELY overrated.

Our partnership with FC Haarlem was pretty much dead, but we've brought it back to life. Martin Jol's brother, Cock Jol, is working there now on behalf of Ajax and we're going to 'park' youth players there. Today, Tom Overtoom and Tayfun Candan (both born in 1990) were loaned out to FC Haarlem.

We can consider FC Haarlem our 'satellite club' again, people. And I have a better feeling about it than the first time (don't know why).

It's been a while since I went to one of their home games. Think I'll check one out some time soon.

K.

We are looking to go into partnership with a Belgium club . Gent are favourites but the otehr team mentioned is Zulte Waregem. Given that Gent are a much bigger club I would imagine that is the better choice .

As you may or may not know, FC Haarlem are about to go tits up. A few years ago they were talking about a new stadium, but that fell through and it now looks like they will go out of business before the end of the year.

Ajax have a technical partnership with FC Haarlem (not a financial partnership) and in today's De Telegraaf general director Rik van den Boog confirmed once again that Ajax will not donate money.

If Haarlem are still alive after the winter break a few Ajax players might make the move to Haarlem, for they are not only in financial trouble, but they're also bottom in the Jupiler League (a.k.a. First Division). This was never a problem, because you couldn't get relegated from the First Division, but that's about to change. In the summer of 2010, for the first time, the bottom team from the Jupiler League will go down.

Haarlem can use the help of some Ajax players and according to De Telegraaf Young Ajax's Lazic, Padt, Sarpong, Zeegelaar and (Daley) Blind may be sent there. Ajax do not wish to confirm that, though.

K.