Club Friendly | Friday, 10 July 2026 Sportpark de Eendracht, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Ajax had not won in their previous friendly. Lost 1-3 to Panathinaikos in the week before this one. Pre-season results do not mean much in the grand scheme of a season, but consecutive defeats at any stage of the year tend to put managers in uncomfortable positions in front of microphones.
Abdellah Ouazane sorted that out. His goal in the 84th minute was the only one of the game. Ajax beat AEK Larnaca 1-0. A narrow win, unconvincing in patches, but a win. Míchel Sánchez — the Spanish coach who took over from Francesco Farioli after Ajax’s difficult fifth-place Eredivisie finish — got the positive result he needed ahead of the Conference League qualifiers.
The backdrop to this friendly matters. Ajax are not the Ajax of three or four years ago. Four years without a trophy. Fifth in the Eredivisie last season, trailing PSV by 28 points. They had to fight through the Europa League playoffs just to get into the Conference League — a 2-0 win over Groningen and then a 1-1 draw against Utrecht that needed penalties to settle it. That is not where a club of Ajax’s history and budget expects to be operating. Sánchez was appointed to change the direction.
Monday night against Panathinaikos had been a bad evening. The 1-3 loss was the kind of pre-season result that, in isolation, means little — but in a broader context of underperformance, it adds to the noise. AEK Larnaca provided the chance to respond.
The Cypriot side came to Amsterdam in decent shape themselves. They finished second in the Cypriot championship last season — a strong campaign despite a twenty-point gap to the leaders — and had already played two pre-season friendlies with real attacking intent. They beat Helmond Sport 2-1. They lost 2-3 to PAOK, a competitive game against a serious European opponent. Their matches tend to be open and their previous four pre-season games had all gone over 2.5 goals.
Ajax’s press in the opening stages was more coherent than it had been against Panathinaikos. Sánchez had been working specifically on the defensive shape and the way his side pressed in the middle third — the areas that had looked disorganised in Athens. The ball was moving quicker. The transitions were sharper. AEK Larnaca, with Oscar Garcia now in charge of their technical setup, set up in a way that matched Ajax’s pressing with their own compact structure. Neither side could find the decisive action for most of the match.
Kasper Dolberg was unavailable through injury — the Danish striker’s absence removing one obvious attacking option. Ahmetcan Kaplan was also out. Ajax are not at full strength but the available squad was enough to demonstrate Sánchez’s tactical principles.
The first half stayed goalless. AEK Larnaca had moments — the stats from the ESPN live coverage showed goalkeeper saves on both sides as the match wore on, a sign that both teams were creating rather than simply possessing. Ajax had a saves tally of three against their name — not a passive afternoon despite the scoreline.
The breakthrough came in the 84th minute. Ouazane — the young Moroccan midfielder who has been one of the more promising developments in Ajax’s academy pipeline over the last eighteen months — collected the ball, drove forward, and finished past the AEK goalkeeper. One-nil. Six minutes plus stoppage time to hold it. Ajax held it comfortably.
The win gives Sánchez something to build on heading into the serious business of the Conference League qualifiers. Ajax have history in European competition. They have expectations that fifth in the Eredivisie and a Conference League berth does not satisfy. The summer has been about resetting, rebuilding, and finding the identity that might take them back to where the club believes it belongs.
AEK Larnaca were decent opponents for a July friendly. Their attacking tendency — evident in those two previous pre-season results — gave Ajax something real to deal with defensively. That they left Amsterdam without scoring is a credit to the Ajax backline as much as anything else.
Both sides have Conference League qualifying campaigns beginning soon. Different paths, different levels of expectation, the same general objective. Friendlies like Friday’s give managers information they cannot get from training sessions. Sánchez got a win. That is worth something even when the opposition is Cypriot.
For live pre-season friendly results and European football coverage, visit fawanews.org.uk. Full Conference League qualifying fixtures at the official UEFA Conference League website.
Ajax 1-0 AEK Larnaca Club Friendly | Friday, 10 July 2026 Sportpark de Eendracht, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Goal: Abdellah Ouazane 84′ (Ajax)
Ajax — Manager: Míchel Sánchez | Previous friendly: lost 1-3 to Panathinaikos (July 4) Absent: Kasper Dolberg (injury), Ahmetcan Kaplan (injury)
AEK Larnaca — Manager: Oscar Garcia | Previous friendlies: beat Helmond Sport 2-1, lost 2-3 to PAOK AEK Larnaca finished second in Cypriot First Division 2025/26
Stats: Ajax saves 3 | AEK Larnaca saves logged on ESPN | Full-time 1-0
