Ajax Business Model

Ajax Amsterdam are one of the top clubs in the Netherlands and this season are competing in the Eredivisie (Dutch top tier) and the UEFA Champions League. In the past decade the Dutch side has been successful on the pitch as well as financially profiting despite being in the COVID era. The Eredivisie side are extremely well run however, their business model relies on two key components.  

Ajax prepare for a crucial Champions League tie against Benfica

Image Source: UEFA

One of the key ways for Ajax to profit and grow their club brand is qualifying for the Champions League group stages as clubs that reach the group stage are guaranteed a minimum of 15 million Euros which for an Eredvisie side is a massive boost. As each win in the competiton is worth an additional 2.7 million and ties are 0.9 million Euros and with COVID-19 affecting team profits, it is more important than ever for Ajax to perform in the Champions League. In the last five years Ajax have heavily profited from the Champions League due to performing well and going as far as making the semifinals in the 2018/19 season.  

It's pretty clear that Ajax have been by far the best Dutch team in Europe as they had made around 45 million Euros in all UEFA completions in the 2020-21 season. Despite Ajax having a period of no silverware from the 2014-15 to the 2017-18 seasons, de Godenzonen have dominated the Eredivisie financially and have established themselves as a Champions League side competing against the best sides in Europe. Ajax whose revenue in the 2019-20 and 2020-21 season was 125 million Euros, was about 52 million higher than Feyenoord who have the second highest revenue in both seasons. Ajax earned more cash than the second best Dutch team PSV just by participating in the Champions League by 4 million Euros. The revenue includes money earned by participating in Europe as well as TV revenue, UEFA coefficient and prize money. With Ajax being the only Dutch team in the Champions League last season, the Amsterdam side were bound to have the highest revenue. 

Data Source: Swiss Ramble Twitter Page 

Although Ajax clearly have the best financial resources in the Eredivisie, they are still far behind their elite European rivals. Another component that Ajax profit heavily from is player sales. A major reason Ajax profits from player sales is that the players that sign for Ajax are sold for much more then when they join, as many times the players had been successful in developing and improving their game. Ajax have made over 240 million Euros in the last two years despite two of the transfer markets being in the COVID era and earned a whopping 461 million Euros in the last decade. Ajax are known in the football world for developing and selling players and even earn more money from player sales than some of the world's richest clubs such as Manchester United and Manchester City to name a few. 

Data Source: Swiss Ramble Twitter Page  

Much of Ajax's success in youth players and profit on player sales is their academy which has produced some of the best players in the game. In the 2019/20 season alone Ajax made a profit of 143.06 million pounds in the transfer window. Most of the profits came from the sales of Frenkie De Jong to Barcelona and Matthijs De Ligt to Juventus as their transfer fees were worth 77.40 and 76.95 million respectively. De Ligt was an Ajax academy player since 2009, and De Jong signed for de Godenzonen when he was just 18 and started out playing for the U21's. Despite 24-year-old midfielder Donny van de Beek struggling to make his way into the starting eleven at Manchester United, he played a key role in winning the Eredivisie for Ajax and getting them to the semifinals of the 2018-19 Champions League season. Like De Ligt, Van de Beek was also an academy player who began and developed his career for Ajax as the club earned over 30 million pounds after Manchester United signed him in 2020. The now OGC Nice forward Justin Kluivert was sold from Ajax to Serie A side AS Roma in 2018 for around 15.53 million pounds and is also a product of the successful Ajax academy. 

Data Source: Transfermarkt 

For a club like Ajax that wants to compete with the world's, best it can be a challenge to balance out selling players for large transfer fees while maintaining a top quality side whose squad changes many players every season. It's very impressive for Ajax to keep getting impressive results in the Champions League despite the squad and team chemistry changing every season.