PSV supporters are welcome at Ajax’s next home match against PSV in November.
Amsterdam mayor Femke Halsema informed this in a letter to Marcel Brands, general manager of the club from Eindhoven on Monday. Halsema writes that since 2017 PSV supporters have used antisemitic slogans during every away match against rival Ajax. “The measure is now full,” she concludes.
During the previous edition, which PSV won 3-5, some PSV supporters used a wide range of, according to Halsema, “completely unacceptable and in some cases even punishable” slogans and songs. Examples include “Hamas, Hamas, all Jews to the gas” and “Together they burn Jews, because Jews burn best.” Such chants are not tolerated by the Amsterdam triangle, says Halsema.
Who also had to pay the last match between Ajax and PSV were Steven Bergwijn and Mohamed Ihattaren. Both footballers played for years in the youth of PSV, where they also made their professional debut, and are now under contract with Ajax. Away supporters of PSV called Bergwijn, to whom PSV still earned more than 30 million euros in 2020, a “dirty dirty cancer Jew” during that match. Both Bergwijn and Ihattaren received death wishes.
Halsema’s decision to ban PSV supporters did not come out of the blue. In the summer of 2021, the municipality of Amsterdam informed PSV and the KNVB that it would no longer accept antisemitic chants. The next home match between Ajax and PSV was hit, after which a final warning followed. After the upcoming match between the two clubs, the municipality of Amsterdam will check whether or not it will stick to the measure.
