Sportcomplex De Toekomst (Dutch for ''Sporting complex The Future'') is a sporting complex in

Ouder-Amstel Ouder-Amstel () is a municipality in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. Population centres The municipality of Ouder-Amstel consists of the following cities, towns, villages and/or districts: Duivendrecht, Ouderkerk aan de Amstel ...

, Netherlands, owned by

AFC Ajax N.V. AFC Ajax NV is mostly known as a Football team, football club. Since 17 May 1998 the club is registered as a Naamloze vennootschap (N.V.) listed on the stock exchange Euronext Amsterdam. As a company the club strives to make a profit through tick ...

The complex comprises nine football fields and is located close to the

Johan Cruyff Arena The Johan Cruyff Arena ( nl, Johan Cruijff Arena ; officially stylised as Johan Cruijff ArenA) is the main stadium of the Dutch capital city of Amsterdam and the home stadium of football club AFC Ajax since its opening. Built from 1993 to 1996 ...

. Its main field has seating capacity for 2,000 people. The facility serves as the home grounds of Ajax Women, which competes in the Eredivisie Vrouwen, the reserves team

Jong Ajax Jong Ajax () (''English: Young Ajax''), also referred to as Ajax II or Ajax 2 is a Dutch association football team, the reserve team of Ajax. It is based in Amsterdam and competes in the Dutch Eerste Divisie. History Jong Ajax (''formerly more ...

, which competes in the

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (, en, First Division) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie and with the third-level Tweede Divisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as the ...

, as well as Ajax Amateurs, which competes in the

Derde Divisie The Derde Divisie (; en, Third Division), formerly known as Topklasse (; en, Top Class), is the fourth tier of football in the Netherlands, which had its inaugural season as a third tier in 2010–11 and as a fourth tier in 2016–17. The league ...

. De Toekomst also serves as the training grounds for the first team of

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * ''Ajax'' (play), by the ancient Greek ...

as well as for the

Ajax Youth Academy The Ajax Youth Academy (Dutch: ''Ajax Jeugdopleiding'') is a football youth academy based in Amsterdam, Netherlands, from where the organization manages a total of 13 youth teams (ages 7–18). The academy is the primary youth clinic of Dutch foo ...

; A-juniors (A1, A2), B-juniors (B1, B2), C-juniors (C1, C2), D-pupils (D1, D2, D3), E-pupils (E1, E2, E3) and the F-pupils (F1, F2, F3). It also serves as the home of the

Future Cup The Future Cup (officially known as the ABN AMRO Future Cup, and previously known as the AEGON Future Cup) is an annual friendly international youth tournament which is organized by the Dutch football club AFC Ajax. The tournament is created fo ...

, an International tournament for under-17 youth teams, which was named after the sport park.

History

In 1991 it was decided that the former

De Meer Stadion De Meer Stadion () is the former stadium of Dutch record football champions Ajax. It was opened in 1934 as a result of the club's former stadium being too small. Upon completion, it could hold 22,000 spectators, but accommodating up to 29,500 at ...

of Ajax, situated in

Watergraafsmeer The Watergraafsmeer is a polder in the Netherlands. It was reclaimed in 1629. In the 17th and 18th centuries, there were many buitenplaatsen in the Watergraafsmeer, though nowadays only one, Frankendael, remains. Since 1921, the Watergraafsmee ...

would be replaced by the new

Amsterdam ArenA The Johan Cruyff Arena ( nl, Johan Cruijff Arena ; officially stylised as Johan Cruijff ArenA) is the main stadium of the Dutch capital city of Amsterdam and the home stadium of football club AFC Ajax since its opening. Built from 1993 to 1996 ...

, which in turn called for new training grounds for both the amateur and youth teams of the club. Sportpark Voorland, situated behind the old stadium was considered too small, and was to be demolished to make room for housing. Originally Ajax had intended to establish their facilities at Sportpark Strandvliet on the Zwartelaantje, while the tenants present SV Amstelland refused to relocate at the time. This eventually led to Ajax shifting their focus to Sportpark De Toekomst in Ouder-Amstel. The previous tenants were willing to vacate the premises and the new stadium was built and opened in 1996.

Design

The Sport park was designed by René van Zuuk. It comprises five grass

football pitch A football pitch (also known as soccer field) is the playing surface for the game of association football. Its dimensions and markings are defined by Law 1 of the Laws of the Game, "The Field of Play". The pitch is typically made of natural tu ...

es, two

artificial turf Artificial turf is a surface of synthetic fibers made to look like natural grass. It is most often used in arenas for sports that were originally or are normally played on grass. However, it is now being used on residential lawns and commer ...

pitches, a covered

grandstand A grandstand is a normally permanent structure for seating spectators. This includes both auto racing and horse racing. The grandstand is in essence like a single section of a stadium, but differs from a stadium in that it does not wrap a ...

with 1250 seats, and bleachers along with a club house seating 250. Since the reserves team

(Ajax 2), have competed in the

since the 2013–14 season, which saw the expansion of an additional 800 seats on the main stand, and an additional 100 seats for the supporters of the visiting team. The main stand has a bent canopy hanging off two leaning pillars. Van Zuik received the National Steel Price, in the category of "characteristic steel components". Since 6 June 2009, the main stands at De Toekomst are named after the deceased

Bobby Haarms Bobby Haarms (8 March 1934 – 6 June 2009) was a Dutch professional football player and coach. Career Playing career Haarms joined the youth team of Ajax in 1947 and made his professional debut in 1952. Between 1952 and 1960, Haarms made 58 app ...

, a former coach and honorary member of the club. The letters ''ajax'', visible on the training sites main grandstand, were previously mounted on

old grounds at

.Ajax – Over het jeugdcomplex

Bibliography

* Nederlands Architectuurinstituut, ''Architectuur in Nederland - Jaarboek 1996-1997'', NAi Uitgevers, Rotterdam, 1997, *

David Endt David Endt (born 12 February 1954) is a Dutch sports journalist, author and columnist. From 1997 to June 2013 he was the team manager of Ajax before Technical Director Edwin van der Sar expressed that his services would no longer be required wi ...

, ''Het officiële Ajax jaarboek 1996-1997'', Luitingh-Sijthoff, Amsterdam, 1997, *

Evert Vermeer Evert is a Dutch and Swedish short form of the Germanic masculine name "Everhard" (alternative Eberhard).Evert
at the

and Marcel van Hoof, ''Ajax 100 jaar - jubileumboek 1900-2000'', Luitingh-Sijthoff, Amsterdam, 2000,

References

External links

Sportpark De Toekomst on www.ajax.nl
{{AFC Ajax Sports venues in North Holland Football venues in the Netherlands AFC Ajax facilities Jong Ajax AFC Ajax (women) Sport in Ouder-Amstel

History

Design

See also

Bibliography

References

External links