Inter
Ajax will play a home match against Inter, the former club of Ajax captain Davy Klaassen. Former Ajax player Cristian Chivu is this season the new head coach of the Nerazzurri. With Internazionale FC, Ajax share an extensive history. The upcoming meeting will already be the sixth at the highest European level. The highlight was of course the European Cup I final of 1972, when both clubs met in Rotterdam. Ajax experienced their best season ever and defeated the Italian champions 2-0. In Ajax’s most successful season ever, Johan Cruyff was decisive in the final with two goals. It was the second European Cup in a trilogy that the Amsterdammers completed a year later. The final, played on 31 May 1972, was also the very first official encounter between the two clubs.
In the new millennium, another four top clashes followed in the Champions League, the successor since 1992/1993 to the European Cup for national champions. In the group stage of the 2002/2003 season, the blue-and-black Italians were always too clever for Ajax. The first meeting was played on 25 September 2002 at the Giuseppe Meazza Stadium and gave the home side a 1-0 victory. Later in the group, on 12 November 2002, it finished 1-2 in the ArenA. In the 2005/2006 season too, Ajax struggled against the cunning Milanese side.
After a 2-2 draw in the ArenA, another narrow defeat followed at the Giuseppe Meazza: 1-0. The clubs have also met several times in friendlies, including at the Amsterdam Tournament. The Italian giants were losing finalists of the Champions League in 2023 and 2025.
Chelsea
Ajax will visit Chelsea. With Chelsea as opponents in the League Phase of the 2025/2026 Champions League, a swift reunion with a former Ajax player follows. Jorrel Hato left the club where he broke through this past summer for the Blues. Last Sunday all Ajax players bid farewell to the talented defender and Netherlands international. With an away match coming up, a reunion with the former Ajax man, who became the youngest ever player to reach Ajax’s famous Club of 100, is already on the horizon.
In history, Ajax and Chelsea have only faced each other twice in European and official competition. In the 2019/2020 season, the two clubs played each other twice in the Champions League group stage. The first meeting, on 23 October 2019 in the Johan Cruijff ArenA, unfortunately ended in defeat: 0-1. The return leg, two weeks later at Stamford Bridge (5 November 2019), produced a spectacular, high-scoring draw (4-4). The Italian referee left his mark on the top clash when, in a single passage of play, he sent off both Daley Blind and Joël Veltman with red cards.
The decision proved to be the turning point in the match. Ajax could not hold on to their lead (2-4) and, being a man down, saw the home side fight back to draw level with the Amsterdammers. It will not be easy in West London, as the English top club won the first edition of the FIFA Club World Cup this summer. Chelsea, also winners of the UEFA Conference League, can therefore call themselves world champions.
Villarreal CF
Ajax and Villarreal CF have never before met in official European competition. The Amsterdammers face an away match against the Spanish club. Ajax can, however, draw confidence from their last two Champions League away matches against Spanish sides. Those both resulted in resounding victories: 1-4 against Real Madrid in 2018/2019 and 0-3 against Valencia in 2019/2020.
The Spaniards finished fifth in the most recent La Liga season. Villarreal CF have started the new campaign strongly with two wins and an unbeaten record. The club won the UEFA Europa League in 2021 and reached the semi-finals of the Champions League in 2022. With this first official encounter, Ajax and Villarreal CF will already be making history.
Benfica
Ajax and Benfica are by no means strangers to one another. Just like with Inter, the friendly ties stretch far back in football history. The clubs first met in 1968/1969. Through a historic three-part tie against Benfica, Rinus Michels’ Ajax reached the final of the European Cup for national champions in 1969, becoming the first Dutch club ever to do so.
In total, Ajax and Benfica have contested nine official matches. The Amsterdammers, who will host the Portuguese side this season, lost only two of the previous nine European encounters with Benfica: four wins and three draws. The finest victory came in the glorious 2018/2019 season. The home match in the Champions League group stage ended 1-0 thanks to a late strike from Noussair Mazraoui. Away in Lisbon for the group clash, both clubs settled for a 1-1 draw.
The most recent two encounters with the powerhouse from Lisbon did not yield the desired outcome. In 2021/2022, the two sides faced off in the Champions League round of sixteen. After a draw at the Estadio da Luz (2-2), a painful defeat followed in the ArenA: 0-1. That result saw Ajax eliminated from the highest level.
Olympiakos
Ajax and Olympiakos have previously faced each other six times in official competition. A new clash at the Johan Cruijff ArenA now awaits. Olympiakos are the reigning champions of Greece. The Southern Europeans won the Conference League in the 2023/2024 season. Historically, Ajax and Olympiakos are perfectly balanced: Ajax won twice, the two sides drew twice, and the Greeks also triumphed twice. The last meeting came on the Champions League stage. More than a quarter of a century ago, in 1998/1999, Ajax and Olympiakos Piraeus met in the group stage. Coach Morten Olsen led his players to a 2-0 victory in the ArenA.
Fifteen years earlier, the two clubs met for the first time. In the 1983/1984 season, the Amsterdammers were disappointingly eliminated in the first round of the European Cup 1 by the Greeks. A goalless draw plus a 0-2 defeat proved fatal for Aad de Mos’s Ajax. Three years later, however, there was success. On their way to winning the now-defunct European Cup Winners’ Cup, Johan Cruyff’s Ajax convincingly overcame the Greeks in the autumn of 1986. A few months later, Ajax won their first European trophy since 1973 in Athens.
Olympique Marseille
Ajax also share a broad and rich history with Olympique Marseille. That shared past began during the European glory days of the Amsterdam club. On 20 October and 3 November 1971, Ajax and Olympique met on the highest stage. In the Stade Vélodrome the visitors won 1-2, before later recording a 4-1 scoreline in the Olympic Stadium. That season Ajax powered through to the quarter-final, before eventually defeating Inter in the European Cup I final.
Ajax will soon travel to the southern French club, who finished last season as runners-up in Ligue 1. The Amsterdammers last made that trip two seasons ago; in 2023/2024 it was an away fixture in the Europa League. The most recent encounter ended in a 4-3 defeat. The earlier group-stage match in the Johan Cruijff ArenA had finished 3-3.
The French side are a tough opponent. The clubs also faced each other in the 1987/1988 and 2008/2009 seasons, in the European Cup Winners’ Cup and Europa League respectively. Unfortunately, Ajax could not manage more than two draws and as many defeats against the southern French. Olympique Marseille currently have former Ajacieden Gerónimo Rulli and Jeffrey de Lange under contract.
Galatasaray
The Turks are coming to Amsterdam for the second year in a row in an official capacity. In the 2024/2025 season, Galatasaray visited Ajax in the League Phase of the Europa League. The Amsterdam team won 2-1, which is also the only previous official meeting with the club from Istanbul.
The clubs have faced each other more often in friendly matches.
FK Qarabağ
An away match against FK Qarabağ falls into the same category as Galatasaray; Ajax has only faced the team once before. Last year, Ajax also played the reigning Azerbaijani champions in the competitive phase of the Europa League. The furthest away match in the club's history ended last year in Baku with a 3-0 victory.
