Ajax beat FC Twente to claim 30th crown

Ajax claimed their 30th Dutch league title by beating former leaders FC Twente 3-1 on the final day of the Eredivisie season yesterday.

Ajax went into the game a point behind Twente, the defending champions, but finished the campaign two points ahead of them, thereby ending a seven-year wait for Dutch foot-ball’s top prize.

Twente only required a draw at the Amsterdam Arena to retain the title, which they had won for the first time last season under the tutelage of Englishman Steve McClaren.

However, McClaren’s succes-sor, Belgian Michel Preud-’homme, saw his charges fall two goals down through a 23rd-minute strike by Siem de Jong and an own goal from defensive midfielder Denny Landzaat a minute after half-time.

Influential Twente midfielder Theo Janssen reduced the arrears shortly afterwards with a superb shot into the roof of the net, but De Jong killed off the visitors’ title hopes with a third goal for Ajax 12 minutes from time.

Both teams qualified for the Champions League, with third-placed PSV having to make do with the consolation of a place in next season’s Europa League.

Ajax had seen PSV (2005-2008), AZ Alkmaar (2009) and Twente (2010) all pip them to the title since their last success under former coach Ronald Koeman.

Victory over Twente also secured a measure of revenge after the team from the eastern city of Enschede defeated the Am-sterdam side 3-2 after extra time in the Dutch Cup final earlier this month.

Ajax’s title success caps a season in which the club experienced numerous off-field problems, with persistent reports of friction between the board and sporting director Johan Cruyff, emblem of the great Ajax side of the 1970s.

Coach Martin Jol resigned in December and at the start of this year the board stepped down en masse to allow Cruyff to assemble a new management hierarchy.

Frank de Boer, another former player, subsequently left his position as assistant to national team coach Bert van Marwijk in order to succeed Jol and rescue Ajax from another trophyless campaign.

De Boer, who won five national championships during his time on Ajax’s playing staff, recently signed a contract committing him to the club until 2014.