‘Ajax stands to take prizes’

“Ajax stands for taking prizes,” Sherida Spitse summed up the successful afternoon for the Amsterdammers in Zwolle. The captain was presented with the championship trophy by Victoria Pelova, who left for Arsenal in the winter break.

“This cannot be described, I am SO happy,” Leuchter responded shortly after the game. “We did it today. I’m proud of the team.”

Until a week ago, when Ajax took over the lead after a 1-0 win over direct rival FC Twente, it did not look like the Amsterdammers could take the trophy.

“When we drew against Feyenoord in early March, I was like, maybe it’s almost over. But then Fortuna Sittard won against Twente a day later and we got a new chance. We went fully for that.”

All those efforts eventually yielded the championship, also to the joy of goalkeeper Lize Kop. “This is SO good, really indescribable. ‘He’ is just home again. We put so much energy into this, worked so hard for this. This is great.”

Coach Suzanne Bakker obviously concurred: “This is fantastic, I don’t really realize it yet. And in this way too. At halftime I thought: we’re never going to give this away again. I felt that from everything.”

Spitse felt the same way. “Then it was done, although I have to say honestly that the win over Twente last week was already the moment. I am very proud of the team. Celebrating? Until the wee hours of the morning!”

Watch the summary of PEC Zwolle-Ajax:

At FC Twente, the disappointment was logically enormous. Fenna Kalma, again top scorer of the season, announced her farewell and will continue her career abroad.

Goalkeeper Daphne van Domselaar is also going to try her luck elsewhere. The future of captain Renate Jansen is still uncertain.