European Opponents 2013-2014

[Blind3]

I'm conflicted on the subject of our continued european participation. On the one hand , I agree that the losing the ridiculous Thursday fixtures ASAP in pursuit of a league and cup double is a prudent strategy. On the other , WE ARE AJAX . The idea that we just get a nice gate and are put out at the first hurdle just doesn't sit well with me . On balance , I'd rather us get KRC Genk , Basel , Ludogorets , Salzburg , or even Lyon and give it a right good go for at least one round. At least the road trip wouldn't be bad. 8 pts in the CL ,where we were more than just competitive till the last match day , is worthy of our proud club. Success in the EL for at least one round would be also.

[Ayman]

If Ajax go far in the Europa league, this will make an incentive for players such as Siem de Jong and Niklas Moisander to renew their contracts, since no big club is going to want to sign them next summer. Also Ajax will be very attractive for promising young players from Africa and South America not to mention in Europe.

[Orange14]

If Ajax go far in the Europa league, this will make an incentive for players such as Siem de Jong and Niklas Moisander to renew their contracts, since no big club is going to want to sign them next summer.

I'm not sure that progressing in the EL will have any impact at all on what you are saying. Moisander is a known quantity and a decent central defender. Chances are very good that he leaves regardless of what happens. de Jong is a player without a position as we all know and I think this past summer was his best chance to transfer to a decent club. I can't think of any club that really needs a mediocre midfielder/striker unless they are a mid- to bottom table club.

[paladinby]

Progressing far in EL will help our club coefficient which we need badly to get 2-nd spot seed. We were not too far this year and avoiding bigger clubs can help when progressing into CL-playoffs.

[SPL]

I am just worried a long run in the Europa League will affect our league place especially as we have a very young squad and most weeks with 2or 3 injured we only ever have 18 fit 1st teamers. I did say we will have played 24 games before the EL starts again and in the last 3 weeks we now have a group of 4 teams pulling away a bit but I would not want a long run in the EL see us finish 3rd in the league.

[Ayman]

Im predicting Ajax vs Salzburg and winner is against Fiorentina vs (whoever)

[Orange14]

Im predicting Ajax vs Salzburg and winner is against Fiorentina vs (whoever)

You win the prize; we drew Salzburg!

[Ayman]

OMG!!!! I should have made a bet when predicting Ajax vs Salzburg!!!!

[Cruijff]

Well done Ayman!

Next round Ajax will play the winner of FC Basel versus Maccabi Tel Aviv.

[souras84]

Troubling draw. Salzburg won all of the group matches and of course Basel is a very dangerous team. I'd be happy if we went on to the Final-16. Then we can discuss everything from the start

[King Litti]

Yes they won all of their group stage games, but if you compare their group to ours it's like night and day. We had Barcelona, Milan and Celtic. They had Esbjerg fB, IF Elfsborg and R. Standard de Liège. Still not saying it's going to be a cakewalk.

[Blind3]

If we defeat Salzburg and at least give a right good accounting of ourselves vs , probably , Basel , it will have been a good campaign IMHO .

[SPL]

A good chance to progress but Basel would be a tough side. At least Salzburg is an easy trip for the fans .

[Van basten]

Salzburg destroyed Bayern 3-0 in a friendly.

[Orange14]

Salzburg destroyed Bayern 3-0 in a friendly.

I guess they must now be the best club in Europe!

[Jojo]

I must say i am really unhappy with the draw. Salzburg is by far the best club in Austria at the moment and they play nice, attractive football with a lot of pace. I watched then a few times this season and they do look good, especially trio Mane-Soriano-Kampl. If they stay together after the transfer period they will be a real threat to us, Turkish giants Gala and Fener already had they bids rejected for Kampl.

Goals from Salzburg - Bayern game:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlqAPS_aAjM

[pizza 5]

If I have worked it out properly, I think we should be in pot 2 for the group stage draw for the 2014/15 Champions league. The bad news is that we will still probably draw Real Madrid.

[Amol]

If I have worked it out properly, I think we should be in pot 2 for the group stage draw for the 2014/15 Champions league. The bad news is that we will still probably draw Real Madrid.

Seriously?? How did we manage that? Did higher ranking teams from other countries land outside CL spots in their respective countries?

[beelzebub]

Currently we are number 15 on the list (8 per pot, so we are in pot 2). But there are some teams in qualifying round 3 and 4 with higher coefficients than Ajax' 61.862

- FC Porto 105.426
- the number 4 of England(Arsenal 112.949 or Chelsea 140.949),
- We must pray that Schalke 95.328 will end as number 3 in Germany and does not drop to number 4 spot.

And hope that teams like Shaktar, Zenit, Rubin Kazan and CSKA somehow do not qualify. Otherwise we still end up in pot 3

Do the math yourself here http://kassiesa.home.xs4all.nl/bert/uef ... l2014.html
and here http://kassiesa.home.xs4all.nl/bert/uef ... k2014.html