Entrainement football ·

The AZ Alkmaar football school

On April 24, the Dutch Football Federation (KNVB), like the French Federation, officially ended the 2019-2020 championship. No league title was awarded, and the Ajax Amsterdam team, first in the standings, therefore qualified for the next edition of the Champions League. Enough to provoke the anger of the AZ Alkmaar club, tied for first in number of points and author of a remarkable season.

The Alkmaar club, located in North Holland, achieved the feat of competing with the Amsterdam giant, and even winning the two league confrontations (1-0 in the first leg, 2-0 in the return). Ajax therefore takes the qualifying place in C1 thanks to a better goal difference. Disappointed, AZ supporters can still have great ambitions given the potential displayed by this squad. The residents of the AFAS Stadion have delighted the fans this year with an offensive and spectacular game, but also the best defense in the Eredivise with only 17 goals conceded in 25 matches.

To display such success, the managers decided, from 2009 and the bankruptcy of DSB Bank in 2009 (owned by Dirk Scheringa, the former owner of AZ), to focus on their development of young players. The team captain is Teun Koopmeiners, only 21 years old. The attacking trio is made up of Oussama Idrissi (12 goals and 8 assists at 23), Calvin Stengs (9 goals and 11 assists at 20) and Myron Boadu, ^3rd top scorer in the championship with 16 goals. at the age of 18. Stengs and Boadu have also experienced the joys of a call-up to the Dutch national team this season. The club therefore has a relatively young squad, with great potential, and which is obviously the subject of much covetousness throughout Europe. We must also not forget the experienced players, such as Ron Vlaar (35 years old) or Jordy Clasie (29 years old), who bring balance to this squad.

Although the Europa League is a meager consolation prize given AZ Alkmaar's season, the team can therefore trust its training policy, partly modeled on the Barcelona model, to develop new talents and put an end to Amsterdam hegemony.