2001–02 AFC Ajax season

AFC Ajax
2001–02 season
Manager	Co Adriaanse (until 29 November); Ronald Koeman
Stadium	Amsterdam Arena
Eredivisie	1st
KNVB Cup	Winners
Champions League	Third qualifying round
UEFA Cup	Second round
Top goalscorer	Rafael van der Vaart (14)
Home colours	Away colours
	← 2000–01 2002–03 →

During the 2001–02 Dutch football season, AFC Ajax competed in the Eredivisie.

Season summary

Manager Co Adriaanse was sacked in late November after some poor results, including elimination from the Champions League and UEFA Cup. His replacement, Ronald Koeman, led Ajax to the league and cup double.

Players

First-team squad

Squad at end of season^[1]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
1	GK	NED	Fred Grim
2	DF	NED	Ferdi Vierklau
3	DF	NOR	André Bergdølmo
4	MF	CZE	Tomáš Galásek
5	DF	ROU	Cristian Chivu
6	DF	TUN	Hatem Trabelsi
7	MF	NED	Andy van der Meyde
8	MF	NED	Jan van Halst
9	FW	SWE	Zlatan Ibrahimović
10	FW	NED	Richard Knopper
11	FW	EGY	Mido
12	GK	AUS	Joey Didulica^{[notes 1]}
13	DF	BRA	Maxwell


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
14	DF	NED	Tim de Cler
16	DF	FIN	Petri Pasanen
17	FW	BRA	Wamberto
18	DF	USA	John O'Brien
19	FW	GRE	Nikos Machlas
20	FW	NED	Cedric van der Gun
21	DF	NED	John Heitinga
22	MF	GHA	Abubakari Yakubu
23	MF	NED	Rafael van der Vaart
25	FW	NGA	Pius Ikedia
26	MF	COL	Daniel Cruz
27	MF	RSA	Steven Pienaar
31	GK	NED	Maarten Stekelenburg

Left club during season

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
12	GK	ROU	Bogdan Lobonț (on loan to Dinamo București)
8	MF	NED	Richard Witschge (on loan to Deportivo Alavés)


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
9	FW	GEO	Shota Arveladze (to Rangers)

Jong Ajax

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
24	DF	NED	Mitchell Piqué


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
30	MF	NED	Stefano Seedorf

Results

UEFA Champions League

Third qualifying round

15 August: Ajax 1-3 Celtic (Arveladze; Petta, Agathe, Sutton)
29 August: Celtic 0-1 Ajax

UEFA Cup

First round

Ajax 3–0 Apollon Limassol
Apollon Limassol 0-2 Ajax

Second round

Copenhagen 0–0 Ajax
Ajax 0-1 Copenhagen

References

^ "FootballSquads - Ajax - 2001/02".

Notes

^ Didulica was born in Geelong, Victoria, Australia, and represented Australia at U-23 level, but also qualified to represent Croatia internationally through his parents and made his international debut for Croatia in 2004.