Ajax
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50 free Ajax trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Ajax were founded in 1900, named after a Greek hero, and forced into their red-and-white stripe because Sparta Rotterdam got there first. Since then they have won more Dutch titles than anyone, invented Total Football with Rinus Michels and Johan Cruyff, lifted three straight European Cups, gone a whole Eredivisie season unbeaten under Louis van Gaal and produced a youth academy the rest of football copies. These 50 questions cover the whole story: Jack Reynolds, the 1911 kit change, Panathinaikos and Inter, Ștefan Kovács, Cruyff's number 14 and his sale to Feyenoord, the 1987 Cup Winners' Cup, Düsseldorf home games, Torino on away goals, Kluivert in Vienna, Juventus on penalties, Frank de Boer's four titles, the youngest final line-up, the Bernabéu and Turin in 2019, Lucas Moura, the Napoli 1-6, bottom of the table in 2023 and Francesco Farioli. There are stadium, crest, mascot and supporters questions too. Easy questions stick to the basics; the expert tier asks about Sjaak Swart's appearance record, Ajax's baseball team and the 11-line crest. Every answer is cited to a page we checked, with a short explanation so you learn something even when you miss.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Ajax's 1970s style, in which outfield players freely swapped positions, became known around the world as what?
Total Football
Total Football let any outfield player step into a teammate's role mid-move, and the side built on it won the European Cup three years running.
Q 02Ajax is named after a hero from which mythology?
Greek
Greek: the club's namesake is the giant warrior of Homer's Iliad, who fought the Trojan champion Hector in single combat and was rated second only to Achilles.
Q 03Which Ajax captain was branded the "Cannibal of Ajax" by a Dutch newspaper after biting an opponent in 2010?
Luis Suárez
Luis Suárez bit a rival's shoulder late in a goalless league match, accepted a seven-match ban and was sold to Liverpool before it had run its course.
Q 04Which Englishman managed Ajax in three spells between 1915 and 1947?
Jack Reynolds
Jack Reynolds won eight national titles across those spells, and in the last of them gave a debut to the young striker who would later coach the club to its first European Cup.
Q 05Why did Ajax change to a white shirt with a broad red stripe in 1911?
Sparta Rotterdam had the same kit
Sparta Rotterdam had the same kit of red and white stripes, and under league rules it was the newly promoted club that had to find something different.
Q 06Which Bob Marley song have Ajax fans made their anthem?
Three Little Birds
Three Little Birds: Ajax fans were being held in the stands after a 2008 friendly in Cardiff when the stadium announcer played it, and they have sung it at matches ever since.
Q 07What did Ajax bring back in 2025 for its 125th anniversary?
Classic crest
Classic crest: the detailed 1928 portrait of the hero Ajax returned to the shirts after 34 years because, the club said, most fans had wanted it back for years.
Q 08Which manager, appointed in 1965, led Ajax to a first European Cup?
Rinus Michels
Rinus Michels inherited a team that had flirted with relegation, won the league in his first full season and left six years later as a European champion.
Q 09Which club did Ajax beat 2-0 in the 1971 final to win their first European Cup?
Panathinaikos
Panathinaikos went behind to a Dick van Dijk goal after five minutes and held out until the 87th, when an Arie Haan shot deflected in off a defender.
Q 10Which Romanian coach took over Ajax in 1971 and won two European Cups?
Ștefan Kovács
Ștefan Kovács arrived from Steaua Bucharest, won the league, the Dutch cup and the European Cup in his first season, kept the European title in his second, then left to manage France.
Q 11Where was the 1972 European Cup final, in which Ajax beat Inter 2-0, played?
De Kuip, Rotterdam
De Kuip, Rotterdam: Ajax lifted the trophy in the home stadium of their fiercest domestic rivals, with Johan Cruyff scoring both goals after half-time.
Q 12Ajax's 1971-73 hat-trick made them the first club to win three straight European Cups since whom?
Real Madrid
Real Madrid had won the first five European Cups in the 1950s, and Ajax's third straight title earned the Dutch club the right to keep the trophy for good.
Q 13Ajax's 122 league goals in 1966-67 helped win the club's first what?
The double
The double: Ajax added the Dutch cup to the league title, and Johan Cruyff, who turned 20 that spring, was the division's top scorer with 33 goals.
Q 21Why did Ajax play 1991-92 UEFA Cup home ties in Düsseldorf?
A fan's missile
A fan's missile: an iron rod thrown from the terraces struck Austria Wien's keeper in 1989, and UEFA banned Ajax from Europe for a year before sending their next home ties abroad.
Q 22Who scored Ajax's winner against Milan in the 1995 Champions League final, aged 18?
Patrick Kluivert
Patrick Kluivert came off the bench and scored five minutes from time, which made him the youngest player to have scored in a Champions League final.
Q 23Who managed Ajax to the 1995 Champions League title?
Louis van Gaal
Louis van Gaal's young side went through the whole 1994-95 league season unbeaten and beat Milan in the group stage before beating them again in the final.
Q 14What did Ajax's players take from Johan Cruyff in a secret ballot in 1973, weeks before he left the club?
The captaincy
The captaincy went to winger Piet Keizer instead, and a stung Cruyff was gone within weeks for a world-record transfer fee.
Q 15Which shirt number did Johan Cruyff make famous at Ajax?
14
14: he first wore it on his return from injury in 1970 and refused to give it up, at a time when the authorities expected starting players to be numbered 1 to 11.
Q 16What tribute did Ajax announce for Johan Cruyff's 60th birthday in 2007?
Retiring his shirt number
Retiring his shirt number: no Ajax player would wear it again, whereas the stadium took his name only eleven years later, after his death.
Q 17Which rival did Johan Cruyff join in 1983 after a dispute with Ajax?
Feyenoord
Feyenoord signed him at 36, and in his one season there he won both the league and the cup before retiring as a player.
Q 18Which European trophy did Johan Cruyff win as Ajax coach in 1987?
Cup Winners' Cup
Cup Winners' Cup: a 20th-minute Marco van Basten header beat Lokomotive Leipzig 1-0 in Athens, and the striker left for Milan that summer.
Q 19Ajax lost a 1988 European final to KV Mechelen, a club from which country?
Belgium
Belgium's KV Mechelen were coached by Aad de Mos, whom Ajax had dismissed three years earlier, and a single Piet den Boer header was enough.
Q 20Whom did Ajax beat on away goals in the 1992 UEFA Cup final?
Torino
Torino were held 2-2 at home by goals from Wim Jonk and Stefan Pettersson, and a goalless return made Ajax only the second club to have won all three major European trophies.
Q 24Which club beat Ajax on penalties in the 1996 Champions League final?
Juventus
Juventus led early through Fabrizio Ravanelli, were pegged back before half-time and won the shoot-out 4-2 in Rome to end Ajax's reign as European champions.
Q 25Which Ajax number 10 was the top scorer of the 1995-96 Champions League?
Jari Litmanen
Jari Litmanen scored nine goals in that campaign, the last of them in the final, having inherited the playmaker's shirt from Dennis Bergkamp.
Q 26Which Ajax goalkeeper of 1995 won the Champions League again with an English club in 2008?
Edwin van der Sar
Edwin van der Sar saved the last penalty of the 2008 final shoot-out, then went back to Ajax after retiring, first as marketing director and later as chief executive.
Q 27Which Italian club did Ajax sell Dennis Bergkamp to in 1993?
Internazionale
Internazionale took his teammate Wim Jonk in the same deal, but Bergkamp, the Dutch league's top scorer three seasons running, stayed only two years before leaving for Arsenal.
Q 28Which manager won Ajax a record 30th title in 2010-11 and then three more in a row?
Frank de Boer
Frank de Boer took over in December 2010 and won the title on the final day, when Ajax beat the reigning champions FC Twente in a straight decider.
Q 29Which coach led Ajax to the 2017 Europa League final with the youngest line-up ever seen in a major European final?
Peter Bosz
Peter Bosz sent out a team with an average age under 23, lost the final 2-0 and within a fortnight had left for Borussia Dortmund.
Q 30Ajax won 4-1 at which stadium to knock the holders out of the 2018-19 Champions League?
Santiago Bernabéu
Santiago Bernabéu: Ajax had lost the first leg at home, then ended the hosts' run of three straight European titles, and Dušan Tadić earned a rare 10 out of 10 from L'Équipe.