Ajax fans not welcome at De Kuip in cup semifinal either
NOS Football–
No away crowd will be welcome at the KNVB Cup semi-final between Feyenoord and Ajax in April. The municipality of Rotterdam announced this on Sunday.
At the league matches between Feyenoord and Ajax, supporters of the away club have not been welcome since 2009 due to serious disturbances in the past. Supporters of the club from Amsterdam were also not welcome at De Kuip in 2019 when Feyenoord and Ajax met in the semi-finals of the KNVB Cup. There is no reason for Rotterdam to deviate from that now.
Feyenoord and Ajax were paired together in the draw last night. The other semifinal is between amateur club Spakenburg and PSV.
Ajax fans balking
The Ajax Supporters Association is balking at the ban on away fans. “This is pure competition and cup distortion,” chairman Fabian Nagtzaam let it be known. “In the context of fair play and supporting your club in the semifinals of the cup, it would have been nice if we had been allowed to be there.”
“Gemeente Rotterdam and Stadion Feijenoord, please make sure that away supporters are welcome,” Nagtzaam continued. “This has been going on for thirteen or fourteen years now. In all that time you should be able to get things in order. But that is apparently still not the case.”
According to Nagtzaam, Amsterdam has long been ready to allow away spectators again, but Rotterdam would block it. According to the president of the supporters’ club, the high fences that stood at De Kuip during Feyenoord-Ajax in January also indicate that the problem does not necessarily lie with Amsterdam fans. “At that match there were not even Ajax supporters and yet the fences were necessary to prevent disturbances. It didn’t look like it.”
Ajax could not yet comment substantively.
