The Copa Amsterdam (known for sponsorship reasons as the Aegon Copa Amsterdam), formerly known as the Gestion Copa Amsterdam, is an annual youth football tournament, organized and hosted by AFC Ajax for under-19 youth teams which takes place at the Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam. The tournament has been contested by some of the strongest under-19 teams in football, with FC Barcelona, Chelsea and Cruzeiro amongst the participating clubs. The tournament is named after its main sponsor, the insurance company AEGON and was formerly named after the publishing company Gestion, and is broadcast online in over 59 countries via Eredivisie Live, Eurosport and Fox Sports.
History Established in 2005 as part of the annual Amsterdam Sport Weekend, a citywide sponsored initiative to promote 'sports and recreation' within the city of Amsterdam, the Copa Amsterdam is an international football youth tournament held in the historic Olympic Stadium since 2010. It was originally held at Sportpark Sloten, home of Blauw-Wit Amsterdam from its inception in 2005 up until 2009. Each summer the city of Amsterdam and AFC Ajax invites U-19 teams from various top clubs from around the World to play in the tournament. Seven teams are invited and participate in the competition every year with the ninth edition of the tournament having occurred in 2013. Over the years, clubs such as Barcelona, Juventus, Olympique de Marseille, Real Madrid have had their senior youth teams participate in the tournament.
While hosts Ajax have won the tournament twice (2007, 2011), Cruzeiro from Brazil have won it the most, holding a total of three titles to their name (2006, 2008, 2012). Other teams who have brought home the cup include Panathinaikos (2005), AZ (2009), Chelsea (2010) and Ajax Cape Town (2013). The prizes and awards were handed out by Johan Cruijff in 2009 and 2011, in 2010 it was done by Daley Blind and by Sjaak Swart two years later. Since the 2011 edition, the tournament has been broadcast live on Eredivisie Live on Dutch national television and over the internet with commentary by Leo Driessen, Mark van Rijswijk and Ron de Rijk.
The tournament is attended by prominent local football legends such as Frits Barend, Johan Cruijff and Danny Blind, and is frequented by many talent scouts. In accordance with the theme of the annual Amsterdam Sport Weekend however, an amateur team is put together consisting of local youth players, which is then coached by former Ajax players such as Ronald de Boer did with Men United in the 9th Edition of the tournament. In order to promote sport and recreation in the community, and to give young players an opportunity to present themselves at a high competitive level, coming from Amsterdam and the Region. Other teams that were assembled include the AT5 United, an all-star team composed of local Amsterdam talent, as well as FC NH (North Holland) which was an assembled selection of youth talent from the Dutch province of North Holland as a whole, and not limited to Amsterdam.
Board of Advisors The Board of Advisors for the tournament consists of seven members, namely John Jaakke, Theo van Duivenbode, Jaap de Groot, René Zegerius, Oege Boonstra, Ronald de Boer and Maarten Oldenhof.
Tournament results
2005 (1st Edition) (Source) Final placement Nr. Team 1. Panathinaikos (1st title) 2. Ajax 3. Sparta Prague 4. Barcelona 5. Cruzeiro 6. Rangers 7. Anderlecht 8. AT5 United (Selection of Amsterdam's top amateurs)
2006 (2nd Edition) (Source) Final placement Nr. Team 1. Cruzeiro (1st title) 2. Sporting CP 3. Ajax 4. Galatasaray 5. AT5 United (Selection of Amsterdam's top amateurs) 6. Espanyol 7. Olympiacos 8. Fenerbahçe
2007 (3rd Edition) (Source) Final placement Nr. Team 1. Ajax (1st title) 2. Werder Bremen 3. Ajax Cape Town 4. Cruzeiro 5. FC NH (Selection of North Holland's top amateurs) 6. Fenerbahçe 7. Florida Soccer Alliance 8. Rangers
2008 (4th Edition) (Source) Final placement Nr. Team 1. Cruzeiro (2nd title) 2. Ajax 3. Valencia 4. Atlético Mineiro 5. FC NH (Selection of North Holland's top amateurs) 6. Ajax Cape Town 7. AZ 8. Juventus
2009 (5th Edition) (Source) Final placement Nr. Team 1. AZ (1st title) 2. Ajax 3. Rosenborg 4. Guadalajara 5. Real Madrid 6. Chelsea 7. Watford 8. FC NH (Selection of North Holland's top amateurs)
2010 (6th Edition) (Source) Final placement Nr. Team 1. Chelsea (1st title) 2. Sevilla 3. AZ 4. Ajax 5. Fluminense 6. Guadalajara 7. FC NH (Selection of North Holland's top amateurs) 8. Botafogo
2011 (7th Edition) (Source) Final placement Nr. Team 1. Ajax (2nd title) 2. Botafogo 3. Tottenham Hotspur 4. AS Trenčín 5. Anderlecht 6. Borussia Dortmund 7. Cruzeiro 8. Olympique de Marseille
2012 (8th Edition) (Source) Final placement Nr. Team 1. Cruzeiro (3rd title) 2. Botafogo 3. Ajax 4. Ajax Cape Town 5. China national under-19 team 6. Beşiktaş JK 7. AZ 8. Panathinaikos
2013 (9th Edition) (Source) Final placement Nr. Team 1. Ajax Cape Town (1st title) 2. Borussia Mönchengladbach 3. Cruzeiro 4. Fluminense 5. Tottenham Hotspur 6. Ajax 7. Berekum Chelsea 8. Men United (Talent team coached by Ronald de Boer)
2014 (10th Edition) (Source) Final placement Nr. Team 1. Fluminense (1st title) 2. Cruzeiro 3. Dalian Aerbin 4. Ajax Cape Town 5. Men United (Talent team coached by Ronald de Boer) 6. Ajax 7. Panathinaikos 8. Hamburger SV
2015 (11th Edition) (Source) Final placement Nr. Team 1. Anderlecht (1st title) 2. Ajax 3. Vitesse 4. Club Guaraní 5. Beşiktaş JK 6. Arsenal 7. AS Trenčín 8. Rosenborg
2016 (12th Edition) (Source) Final placement Nr. Team 1. Ajax Cape Town (2nd title) 2. Tottenham Hotspur 3. Ajax 4. ASA United FC (Talent team coached by Piet de Visser) 5. Barcelona 6. Right to Dream 7. PSV 8. Galatasaray
2017–2018 For the first time in 12 years the tournament was not held in 2017 due to scheduling issues, with the organizational body making an official statement, that the tournament would presume the following year.NextGen Series keert terug in 2018
2019 (13th Edition) The following year the tournament was withheld once more. On 25 April 2019, Ajax announced that the tournament would finally presume, and will be held on 29 and 30 June at the Olympic Stadium. The invited teams include Ajax Cape Town, Sagan Tosu and Sparta Rotterdam.NextGen Series terug in het Olympisch Stadion
(Source) Final placement Nr. Team 1. Ajax (3rd title) 2. Sparta Rotterdam 3. Sagan Tosu 4. Ajax Cape Town
Participation
By country RankCountryBerthsTeams128Ajax (13), AZ (4), FC NH (4), AT5 United (2), Men United (2), PSV (1), Sparta Rotterdam (1), Vitesse (1)214Cruzeiro (7), Botafogo (3), Fluminense (3), Atlético Mineiro (1)37Tottenham Hotspur (3), Chelsea (2), Watford (1), Arsenal (1)7Ajax Cape Town (7)46Barcelona (2), Espanyol (1), Real Madrid (1), Sevilla (1), Valencia (1)6Beşiktaş JK (2), Fenerbahçe (2), Galatasaray (2)54Borussia Dortmund (1), Borussia Mönchengladbach (1), Hamburger SV (1), Werder Bremen (1)4Panathinaikos (3), Olympiacos (1) 63Anderlecht (3) 72China U-19 (1), Dalian Aerbin (1)2Berekum Chelsea (1), Right to Dream (1)2Guadalajara (2)2Rosenborg (2)2Rangers (2)2AS Trenčín (2) 81Sparta Prague (1)1ASA United (1)1Olympique de Marseille (1)1Juventus (1)1Sagan Tosu (1)1Club Guaraní (1)1Sporting CP (1)1Florida Soccer Alliance (1)
Titles and awards
Number of titles (Source) Nr.ClubTitlesWinning years1 Ajax32007, 2011, 2019 Cruzeiro32006, 2008, 20123 Ajax Cape Town22013, 20164 Panathinaikos12005 AZ12009 Chelsea12010 Fluminense12014 Anderlecht12015
Official Hall of Fame (Source) The players below are part of the Copa Amsterdam Hall of Fame.
2005 Milano Koenders (DF) Niklas Moisander (DF) Rydell Poepon (FW) Donovan Slijngard (DF) Jeffrén Suárez (FW) Kenneth Vermeer (GK) Jan Vertonghen (DF)
2006 Nordin Amrabat (FW) Mehmet Güven (MF) Özgürcan Özcan (FW) Rui Patrício (GK) Bruno Pereirinha (MF) Jeffrey Sarpong (MF) Robert Schilder (MF)
2007 Vurnon Anita (MF) Daley Blind (DF) Mitchell Donald (MF) Jan-Arie van der Heijden (MF) Siem de Jong (MF)
2007 (continued) Javier Martina (FW) Gregory van der Wiel (DF)
2008 Toby Alderweireld (DF) Christian Eriksen (MF) John Goossens (MF) Florian Jozefzoon (FW) Moestafa El Kabir (FW) Marvin Zeegelaar (MF)
2009 Lorenzo Ebecilio (FW)
2011 Marco Bizot (GK) Tom Boere (MF) Ouasim Bouy (MF) Lorenzo Burnet (DF) Hyago (FW) Davy Klaassen (MF) Jody Lukoki (FW) Lesley de Sa (FW)
2011 (continued) Élber Silva (MF) Vitinho (MF)
See also Amsterdam Tournament Future Cup
References
External links Copa Amsterdam Official website Biggest social media event at Olympic Stadium (Amsterdam)