Football: Ajax Amsterdam president fails to declare his actions

The president of Ajax Amsterdam failed to report his own actions at the club to the relevant authorities, local media reported on Friday, in the latest in a series of scandals to hit the Dutch football giant. Michael van Praag failed to properly declare his portfolio of around 100 Ajax shares to the AFM, the financial markets regulator, four months after his appointment, according to Dutch public media NOS.

All registration is expected to take place within two weeks. “This is an administrative omission of a fact which was perfectly known to the market,” Ajax explained to NOS. “As soon as we realized it, everything was taken care of immediately.”

Contacted by AFP, the club did not react immediately. This latest scandal is a new blow for the four-time European champions who are having a terrible season both on and off the field.

On Tuesday, the club suspended director and chairman of the board Alex Kroes over suspicion of insider trading. According to Ajax, the manager purchased more than 17,000 Ajax shares a week before his appointment, announced on August 2, 2023.

Mr Van Praag had also strongly criticized Mr Kroes, declaring that he had been “incredibly naive” and that Ajax “was not a playground”.

Comments which outraged the club's supporters association, frustrated by the situation. For its fans, Ajax is akin to a playground “full of mines and where the swings are loose, the slide stops halfway and the sandbox is empty,” they wrote on the association blog.

On the field, the club experienced the worst start to the season in its history, for a moment being in last place in the standings, provoking the anger of the supporters which turned into acts of violence this winter.

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