:00:00. > :00:13.Hello and welcome to a very special episode of MOTD Kickabout. This week
:00:14. > :00:20.we come to you from Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands. Known
:00:21. > :00:53.for its cycling, canals and... Ajax Football Club!
:00:54. > :01:01.This is a club whose youth academy has produced some of the greatest
:01:02. > :01:06.players of all time. Footballing superstar is and teams that have
:01:07. > :01:09.dominated European football from the likes of Johan Cruyff and Marco van
:01:10. > :01:15.Basten to those who have lit up the Premier League Lake Dennis Bergkamp
:01:16. > :01:18.and Edwin van der Sar and they are still producing top-flight
:01:19. > :01:22.footballers today. How is it possible for only one club to
:01:23. > :01:26.produce so many world-class footballers? I have come to
:01:27. > :01:31.Amsterdam to answer that very question and to find out how the
:01:32. > :01:40.Ajax Youth Academy is simply one of the most successful and the world.
:01:41. > :01:47.Coming up on to the's shall dash -- coming up: I get access to the Ajax
:01:48. > :01:52.youth system. One of the greatest players of all time, Johan Cruyff,
:01:53. > :01:57.shows me how to do the Cruyff turn. Have I got the skills to make it at
:01:58. > :02:02.Ajax? A Premier League legend puts me to the test.
:02:03. > :02:06.Ajax of Amsterdam is one of the biggest names in European football.
:02:07. > :02:12.This is a club that has won the Champions League, UEFA Cup and the
:02:13. > :02:14.Dutch league 32 times, all with players mostly brought through its
:02:15. > :02:23.own youth academy. At the heart of its success is this place. Where the
:02:24. > :02:28.future generation of Ajax players are made. Before you can play in the
:02:29. > :02:34.Amsterdam Arena, they have a long journey to go. And it all begins
:02:35. > :02:40.here. Let us take a look around. How are you doing, a pleasure to meet
:02:41. > :02:45.you. I can show you around. Brilliant. Like lots of the coaches
:02:46. > :02:54.around, Wim Jonk is a former Ajax player but he is now in charge of
:02:55. > :02:59.the youth academy. Wim Jonk, what is the aim of this
:03:00. > :03:03.youth academy? We aim to be the best academy and the world. That is our
:03:04. > :03:09.biggest goal, to reach the top in Europe again. What would the youth
:03:10. > :03:15.academy look at and young children, what do they look for to get into
:03:16. > :03:22.the top? We focus of the hall on the technical side. We give them a ball
:03:23. > :03:26.and teach them tricks. We give them lots of things to learn, we give
:03:27. > :03:30.them homework so that they can work at home with a football and had it
:03:31. > :03:37.against a wall. What ages do we begin at? Seven or eight years old.
:03:38. > :03:43.From then on we build the academy. Ajax has 12 youth teams plus the
:03:44. > :03:48.second youth team. At every level the play and train in exactly the
:03:49. > :03:55.same way. They all focus on what they call tips, which stands for
:03:56. > :04:04.technique, insight, personality and speed. We always play with a 4-3-3
:04:05. > :04:09.formation. This way we can find the holes and the opponents defence.
:04:10. > :04:19.That is the main thing for us to focus upon. Our philosophy is to be
:04:20. > :04:21.aware that there is always space. Ajax are not just interested in
:04:22. > :04:27.looking after the football skills of children, they try to look after
:04:28. > :04:31.their school work as well. Ajax really is a club for life and
:04:32. > :04:38.many of the coaches and backroom staff are former players themselves
:04:39. > :04:41.and I am not talking Sunday Week. -- Sunday week. That is Manchester
:04:42. > :04:46.United's former goalkeeper, Edwin van der Sar, he is in charge of
:04:47. > :04:50.marketing. Marc Overmars as a coach and that is Frank de Boer, the
:04:51. > :04:57.former Dutch international who is the current manager. He was also
:04:58. > :05:00.responsible for this amazing past to set up Dennis Bergkamp for one of
:05:01. > :05:07.the greatest World Cup goals of all time. What legal! My name is Frank
:05:08. > :05:13.de Boer. I am the first team coach at Ajax Amsterdam. We are depending
:05:14. > :05:19.upon our youth academy. It is important that every year or every
:05:20. > :05:23.two years they are to or for nuclear is that come through that into the
:05:24. > :05:28.first team because we know that when someone is developing that well and
:05:29. > :05:34.the first team after two years at a big club in England or whatever big
:05:35. > :05:38.leagues in Europe, they will come to buy those players. We must be
:05:39. > :05:44.prepared to fill that gap once more with quality players. There are 215
:05:45. > :05:48.players in this academy, all hoping to make it into the first team. One
:05:49. > :05:58.such hopeful is this 18-year-old goalkeeper. My name is Xavier. I am
:05:59. > :06:08.the goalkeeper and the youth team since the age of ten. There are a
:06:09. > :06:12.lot of good goalkeeper trainers. We do not have this quality at other
:06:13. > :06:16.clubs I do not believe. Hopefully if everything goes right I would get
:06:17. > :06:22.into the first team year and possibly move to the Premier League,
:06:23. > :06:25.for me, it is the best league. For players like Xavier to make the step
:06:26. > :06:30.into the first team, Frank de Boer has fitted a close eye on what is
:06:31. > :06:36.going on at the academy. It is very important that the first-team coach
:06:37. > :06:43.is involved and interested in how things are going with the youth
:06:44. > :06:48.teams. In two years time they could be part of the first team, so I must
:06:49. > :06:52.know what the development is of the players.
:06:53. > :06:58.Frank de Boer, what an absolute legend! He is not the only great
:06:59. > :07:03.player to have led this incredible club and then left to go on to do
:07:04. > :07:14.fantastic things. Some of their best exports have played in the Premier
:07:15. > :07:21.League. Here is my top five. A dangerous run, and it goes into
:07:22. > :07:28.the net. Anelka and Overmars! He scores. If
:07:29. > :07:35.anyone deserved a goal it was Marc Overmars.
:07:36. > :07:47.It has come to Steven Pienaar! What a fantastic strike.
:07:48. > :07:56.That was an absolutely terrific save from Edwin van der Sar.
:07:57. > :08:00.Yes, he has done it. What a fantastic moment for Dennis
:08:01. > :08:05.Bergkamp. There are some huge names and that's
:08:06. > :08:08.top-flight. Many players that stranger will one day hope to play
:08:09. > :08:13.in the Premier League. A man who did that was Christian Eriksen. He spent
:08:14. > :08:17.five years before being signed by Tottenham Hotspur. I recently caught
:08:18. > :08:24.up with him to relive those Ajax fees.
:08:25. > :08:30.It's driven by Christian Eriksen, well-hit.
:08:31. > :08:34.Christian, you have played for Ajax and no gardening for Tottenham in
:08:35. > :08:40.the Premier League. What was it about the Ajax Youth Academy that
:08:41. > :08:48.made you choose that? It was a long way from Denmark. My first choice
:08:49. > :08:55.was always Ajax. As a technical player like myself, I thought Ajax
:08:56. > :09:00.would be the best option. All of the people, everything there, for a
:09:01. > :09:05.young player it is fantastic. What is a day in the life at the Ajax
:09:06. > :09:13.Youth Academy like? I would strain for four hours in the morning. At
:09:14. > :09:20.2pm we had further training. One or two times each week you would have
:09:21. > :09:27.two players and the trainer working on your passing. It is incredible.
:09:28. > :09:36.You try to pick up a lot of hints and tips. After one week I was not
:09:37. > :09:41.allowed to speak English because they wanted me to speak Dutch. So
:09:42. > :09:46.they teach you how to be a man and not just a footballer? That is
:09:47. > :09:49.correct. We have heard about the rich history
:09:50. > :09:54.of the club and seen some of the players and you get an impression
:09:55. > :09:58.that he will continue to make an impression on the Premier League.
:09:59. > :10:02.They learned their trade on the pitch. As soon as they are brought
:10:03. > :10:07.into the first team they must have the skills required. At that only
:10:08. > :10:11.comes with years of coaching. One of the guys whose job it is to train
:10:12. > :10:18.the stars of the future is the former Nottingham Forest winger
:10:19. > :10:23.Brian Roy. What better way to find out about the skills than to give it
:10:24. > :10:34.a go myself. My cat is on, let us do it!
:10:35. > :10:41.What winners tend to do always as they always want the ball into their
:10:42. > :10:46.feet. -- wingers. It is much easier to get in front of the goal without
:10:47. > :10:52.the ball than with the ball. OK, I am a midfield player. We're the
:10:53. > :10:56.cameraman is, that is your opponent. Most players will stay where you are
:10:57. > :11:04.at the moment and passed the ball here. But the thing is, the opponent
:11:05. > :11:13.are high up in their own half and you have to run into this space. So
:11:14. > :11:17.you are going to run, run, run, run! You get into the space and you
:11:18. > :11:21.score! When the winner gets hold of the
:11:22. > :11:28.ball, he goes straight at the opponent. The higher you get, the
:11:29. > :11:32.older you get, when you get into this position, and you are running
:11:33. > :11:39.straight against your opponent, you will never win your one V1. Frank de
:11:40. > :11:42.Boer, you will never beat him when you go straight at him. So what you
:11:43. > :11:48.must do is when you get the ball put it into that position. I can then
:11:49. > :11:57.look up to see if I can make an early cross. If I cannot, then I do
:11:58. > :12:02.my thing again. I thought you were going to teach me a trek but what
:12:03. > :12:07.you are teaching the is how I can be part of the team rather than just
:12:08. > :12:12.being an individual. That is correct, excellent. Very good
:12:13. > :12:14.answer. The Ajax skills masterclass does not
:12:15. > :12:18.end there. Now, I genuinely cannot believe I'm
:12:19. > :12:21.about to say this, but to put this into some sort of context, if you
:12:22. > :12:24.ask any football expert who the greatest footballers of all time
:12:25. > :12:28.are, they'll mention Pele, Diego Maradona and they'll mention the man
:12:29. > :12:31.standing to my right, his name is Johan Cruyff. Thank you very much.
:12:32. > :12:39.This is an absolute pleasure to meet you. Cold, eh? It's very, very cold!
:12:40. > :12:43.Johan, we're at the Ajax Youth Academy, what does Ajax mean to you?
:12:44. > :12:51.Well, my whole youth I have been here, until the age of 26. Then when
:12:52. > :12:57.I was 33 I came back. I played for a few more years and I enjoyed myself.
:12:58. > :13:00.And it was on the training pitches of Ajax where Johan mastered
:13:01. > :13:10.possibly the most famous trick of all time, the Cruyff Turn. He left
:13:11. > :13:14.him for dead! Now, I am in my Ajax kit, I have got
:13:15. > :13:18.a football here and I am standing next to one of the greatest players
:13:19. > :13:22.of all time, I'm going to have to ask you, could you tell me the best
:13:23. > :13:26.way to learn the Cruyff Turn? First of all, in my opinion, you play
:13:27. > :13:30.football with your head and you use your feet. So it is always, the
:13:31. > :13:34.situation is what you see and then react with what you can do. So it is
:13:35. > :13:38.always fooling the opponent, which means you want him to do what you
:13:39. > :13:42.want and then you can do what you want. It's always the same thing,
:13:43. > :13:52.use your eyes and fool the opponent. Right, here we go. That's a little
:13:53. > :13:57.too far, but... But you must be alone on the field,
:13:58. > :14:00.because... Thank you so much, it's been an absolute pleasure. It's
:14:01. > :14:11.freezing and you have come out to speak to us, thank you. You're
:14:12. > :14:15.welcome. Children start that the Ajax academy
:14:16. > :14:21.as young as seven years old and for a lucky few their dreams can come
:14:22. > :14:26.true right here and the Amsterdam Arena with a capacity of well over
:14:27. > :14:33.50,000 people. It really is an incredible stadium. This, for me,
:14:34. > :14:36.has been an incredible journey. I have met some absolute legends and
:14:37. > :14:39.it has been a privilege to be here. This is a club that is determined to
:14:40. > :14:43.develop their players from an early age.
:14:44. > :14:46.For generations they have produced some of the best players in the
:14:47. > :14:50.world. It is so clear to me that many of the future world stars will
:14:51. > :14:55.begin their career that year, and do you know what, they may even end up
:14:56. > :15:01.playing in a Premier League club as well.
:15:02. > :15:10.Steven Pienaar, going alone, what a fantastic strike! Terrific save from
:15:11. > :15:15.Van der Sar! Ed Orr davits, one of the great midfielders of his
:15:16. > :15:16.generation. Bergkamp,