Thread by @atotxaorg

Real Sociedad – AFC Ajax. Two legendary youth teams
On 28 Nov. 2024, in a #UEL match, two teams that, each in their own way, represent the greatest exponents of youth academy football in Europe, will face each other in Anoeta stadium, San Sebastián.
#RealSociedad
#AFCAjax
#RSOAJA

Ajax is known worldwide for something that other teams have subsequently tried to appropriate: Totaalvoetbal [Total Football]. A modern concept that aims to allow all players to take up any position on the field.

A style of play proposed by coach Rinus Michels and brought to its peak on the pitch by Cruijff, first at Ajax and then at the legendary Dutch national team of the 70s. A football culture that was exported all over the world and that many have subsequently tried to appropriate.

A fundamental philosophy of play in the DNA of Ajax and its inexhaustible talent factory. "De Toekomst" [The Future], like Voorland before, provided Ajax with some of the best players in the world, Cruijff, Krol, Keizer, Van Basten, Rijkaard, Bergkamp…

Zubieta
La Real's academy holds two unmatched records in current European football:
—In all matches throughout its history, has always played with a player from the province of Gipuzkoa.
—Since May 5, 1957, have always played with at least one youth player in the starting 11.

The match against Ajax next in Anoeta will be the 2,864th consecutive match for La Real with a player from their own youth academy in the starting line-up. Players such as Arconada, Zamora, Satrústegui, Xabi Alonso, Griezmann, Oyarzabal and Zubimendi all come from Zubieta.

Donostia and Ajax
The first Dutch team to visit us was the Maatschappelijke Voetbal Vereniging (MVV) in 1922. Ajax has only played once in our city and played with Young Ajax against Sanse —the “Young” team of Real Sociedad— in the legendary Atotxa stadium.

That Ajax, which we faced in 1974, was a mix of young and experienced players. Among the latter, Arie van Eijden and Rolf Grootenboer stood out, who played with Johan Cruijff in the Ajax youth in 1964.
sportgeschiedenis.nl/sporten/voetba…

Amsterdam and Real Sociedad
At the 1928 Olympic Games in Amsterdam, Real Sociedad contributed eight players to the Spanish team. This participation meant that the team could not play the last matches of the first ever competition in the history of Spain and ⮕

⮕ they arrived exhausted in the third play-off match of the cup final. In the cup final they face FC Barcelona, who do not participate in the Olympic Games with professional players and can arrive well rested for the decisive third match. ⮕

⮕  La Real is deprived of the opportunity to compete for nothing less than a double: Championship and Cup.

Anne Frank and Jiří Popper
Two terrible stories that took place during the Nazi holocaust on the European Jewish population, two children murdered in extermination camps.

Anne Frank was a girl who lived in the Jewish quarter between the old Olympic Stadium and the new stadium De Meer, which would be opened the year of her arrival in Amsterdam. She was murdered in 1945 in the Bergen-Belsen camp.

In July 2020, the @AuschwitzMuseum published the image of Jiří Popper, a Jewish boy from Prague, wearing the Real Sociedad emblem on his lapel. Jiří was deported from the Theresienstadt ghetto to Auschwitz on September 6, 1943, where he did not survive.

@AuschwitzMuseum It is likely that the pin reached Jiří during an exchange in one of Real Sociedad's many matches against Prague teams.

@AuschwitzMuseum Deutscher Fussball Club Prag plays in Atotxa in 1923 and Real Sociedad - the first La Liga team to tour central Europe - visits Prague in 1924.

@AuschwitzMuseum @DedekMadden On the occasion of the match, we present the commemorative scarf with the emblems and names of our clubs in 1909, the year of @CiclistaFC. As Ajax rightly noted when restoring its historical emblem: 'Without history, there is no future.'