København v Ajax facts
Tuesday, February 28, 2017
Article summary
København have lost only one of their four previous meetings with Ajax and will have hope of improving that sequence due to an impressive home defensive record this season.
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Article body
Yet to concede in seven European home fixtures this season, København will hope their impressive Parken form holds as they welcome Ajax in the UEFA Europa League round of 16.
Previous meetings
• The clubs are meeting for a fifth time in UEFA competition. FCK's record against Ajax is W2 D1 L1 (D1 L1 at home – W2 in Amsterdam).
• Hans Backe's FCK beat Co Adriaanse's Ajax 1-0 away in the 2001/02 UEFA Cup second round following a 0-0 draw in the home leg. Then, in the 2006/07 UEFA Champions League third qualifying round, Ståle Solbakken's FCK won 2-0 at the Amsterdam ArenA after losing 2-1 at home to Henk ten Cate's side.
• FCK's record in six meetings with Dutch sides is W2 D2 L2 (D2 L1 at home – W2 D1 in the Netherlands).
• Ajax's six games against Danish teams have ended W2 D2 L2 as well (W1 L2 at home – W1 D2 in Denmark).
Form guide
• FCK have not conceded in seven European home matches this season (W4 D3) but have drawn their last three continental games at Parken 0-0.
• Ajax have drawn their last three away fixtures in the UEFA Europa League. They remain unbeaten since the start of the group stage: W5 D3.
• Ajax have now gone 11 successive UEFA Europa League games without defeat – four short of Atlético Madrid's record.
• København have not featured in the spring phase of a European competition since losing to Chelsea in the 2010/11 UEFA Champions League round of 16.
• Ajax last made it to the round of 16 in 2014/15, when they lost to Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk. They lifted the UEFA Cup in 1992 to complete a full set of major UEFA trophies; they were European champions in 1971, 1972, 1973 and 1995 and claimed the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1987.
Links and trivia
• The journey from Amsterdam to Copenhagen is around 620km.
• København defender Nicolai Boilesen played for Ajax from April 2011 to August 2016.
• Ajax boast Danish talent in the form of Lasse Schöne and Kasper Dolberg.
• FCK's Kasper Kusk and Ajax's Hakim Ziyech were team-mates at Twente (2014/15).
• FCK's Ludwig Augustinsson was born in Stockholm, the host city of this season's UEFA Europa League final. Along with team-mates Robin Olsen, Erik Johansson and Mikael Antonsson, he is one of 12 Swedish players in the round of 16.
• Ajax (1992) are one of four former UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League winners in the round of 16 along with Borussia Mönchengladbach (1975 & 1979), Anderlecht (1983) and Schalke (1997).
• Ajax need three more goals to reach 600 in UEFA competition. With 597 in 366 games, they have averaged around 1.63 goals per game so far.
• København are among four domestic champions in the round of 16 along with APOEL, Beşiktaş and Olympiacos.
• København forward Andreas Cornelius turns 24 on 16 March, the day of the second leg.
The coaches
• Now in his second spell as København coach, Ståle Solbakken has led the club to six Danish titles. A midfielder, he was capped 58 times by Norway and ended his career at FCK after being diagnosed with a heart problem. He has coached in Norway, Germany and England, as well as in Denmark.
• A Dutch title winner as a midfielder with Feyenoord, Peter Bosz returned from Israel to take charge of Ajax in May 2016. Bosz has managed Heracles and Vitesse in the Netherlands, also briefly coaching Maccabi Tel-Aviv.