Twenty-five years on: Glory for Ajax and the Bosman ruling which changed football

Paris (AFP) – When Patrick Kluivert scored the winner for Ajax in the 1995 Champions League final, it might have been the start of another period of domination in Europe for the fabled Dutch side.

Instead it was a victory which in many ways marked the end of an era for the club who had won the European Cup three years running in the 1970s, and for the game as a whole.

Since that night a quarter of a century ago in Vienna, when the Amsterdam side defeated AC Milan 1-0, only once has a club from outwith the continent’s four leading leagues — Italy, Germany, Spain and England — lifted the trophy. That was Porto, winners in 2004 under Jose Mourinho.

The Champions League final that was due to be played in Istanbul this weekend before being postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic would once again have been won by one of the established giants — the only clubs not from the big four leagues when the competition was suspended were French sides Paris Saint-Germain and Lyon.

Football was already changing before Ajax raised the trophy aloft at the Ernst Happel Stadium, following the introduction in 1992 of the Champions League as well as the Premier League in England.

But the most fundamental change came a few months later in the shape of the Bosman ruling. In December 1995, after a five-year battle, the European Court of Justice ruled in favour of Belgian footballer Jean-Marc Bosman in his fight to be allowed to leave his club, RFC Liege, on a free transfer as his contract had expired.

Previously clubs could retain the registrations of players even once their contracts finished, and demand transfer fees for them.

As Bosman told the BBC in 2015, “it was illogical”. But it did help smaller clubs ward off larger predators.

– Exodus –

That was to be no more, and the free movement of players has helped revolutionise the game.

At Ajax, that triumphant team coached by Louis van Gaal was not immediately torn apart in 1995, even if 19-year-old Clarence Seedorf left for Sampdoria and Frank Rijkaard retired. Seven of those who started in Vienna also started the 1996 final, which Ajax lost on penalties to Juventus.

Then the exodus began, with Michael Reiziger and Edgar Davids heading to AC Milan for free. Kluivert, who came off the bench to prod home the winner in Vienna, ended up at Milan in 1997. Winston Bogarde made the same move.

from World Soccer Talk https://ift.tt/3caibfl