You’ve arrived in Amsterdam, congratulations! This is the best city in the world, with the best football team in the world. Just ask 1995. Ajax, Jaxie, 020, Joden, or Godenzonen: if you live in Amsterdam, you support Ajax. As for your hazing as a freshly new Ajacied, here’s a list of things to do:

Johan Cruyff Arena
If you didn’t think of this yourself yet, shame on you. Even if you live here for just a week (though, one could wonder why you wouldn’t just call it a vacation), you need to visit the stadium for a game. When you visit a game, don’t forget to visit the stand where you can buy Ajax scarves! Another tip is the Febo Café. Yes, that exists. Here you can drink away your tears after a loss, or (usually the case in the Eredivisie, let’s be honest) celebrate a win. If you have horrible luck (which would be odd, for an Ajax fan) and there are no games, Ajax also has a stadium tour. Tickets are less than twenty euros and you get to see quite a lot of the stadium: the dressing room, the press room, the players’ tunnel and more.

As for the games, here are some tips to get tickets (since sometimes it’s harder to buy a ticket for Ajax than to buy a new kidney):

• Aim for KNVB Beker games. These games are often less popular to visit but can be just as fun. A secret tip: tickets for Ajax-Barendrecht are sold on Wednesday, November 24th at 10.00 am. Prices start at ten euros and this is an interesting game since Ajax plays against amateurs!
• Become a member of SVA. Being a member of the supporters association comes with quite some advantages including discounts on fan items, but also earlier access to ticket sales. For example, for the Champions League game against Sporting CP, members can buy their tickets right after fans with a season pass. The ticket sale for the home game against Sporting is on November 15th.
• Befriend someone with a ‘seizoenskaart’ (or a season pass, in case your Dutch studies are going slower than you’d like). They can often buy more than one ticket per game. Tips for finding these friends: any place where rich people meet. So Zuidas, ASC, or the medicine faculty.
• Look at the Ajax website from time to time. Once in a while, they announce the exact starting times of ticket sales for specific games. First come, first serve.
• Visit games of Ajax Vrouwen (the women’s team of Ajax) or Jong Ajax. Ajax Vrouwen has quite some star players who play for the national team, who are European champions. Ajacieden like Stefanie van der Gragt, Victoria Pelova and Sherida Spitse play for the Oranjeleeuwinnen. Jong Ajax plays just one division below the first team and gives a great insight into the Ajax stars of the future. The tickets usually don’t cost more than five euros.

De Toekomst
That brings us to our next Ajax hazing activity: De Toekomst. This is the training ground and also the location of the games of Ajax Vrouwen and Jong Ajax.

Cruyff court
In case you gave up your dream of playing in the Johan Cruyff Arena, here’s a nice alternative. Throughout the whole country, Cruyff Courts have been built by the Johan Cruyff Foundation. The courts can be found on Google Maps and are located in Noord, Oost, and West. They are a great place to play some football with your friends! Just a tip: don’t wear cleats, since it’s more of a turf field.

Watch Ajax at a bar
Now it’s time to throw you in the deep end: mingle with the locals. Now, the best games to watch at cafes are Champions League games. Fortunately for you, we are great at those (our Dortmund fan and writer Matthew finds that a little less fortunate), so there will be a lot more coming up. The best cafes to watch Ajax games at are: De Blaffende Vis, Club Atelier, Café Kuijper, Café De Walvis, Tapmarin, Kopstootbar and Café de Waard.

The home of Johan Cruyff
Akkerstraat 32: It’s quite an uninteresting street, but rumors tell us that a museum might be coming to this exact street. The address is also close to the old Ajax stadium De Meer. So: if you’re ever bored during the international break, take a walk around the neighborhood and grab a beer somewhere in Cruyff’s old neighborhood. Unsurprisingly, there is also a Cruyff Court here!

Zuidas
Speaking of creepy stalking. Your best chance of running into an Ajax player is of course around De Toekomst or the Zuidas. Here big players like Hakim Ziyech and Nicolás Tagliafico have (had) their (also big) apartments.

Barry Pirovano
Looking to decorate your bedroom? Check out this artist for sure. Not only is Pirovano an incredibly humble and kind person, but he also makes amazing football art. The Dutch artist portrays iconic football moments in a simplistic yet detailed way.

Kamp Seedorf
You may have spotted it already, the collective Kamp Seedorf creates street art, and most of them are Ajax-related. They currently have an expedition that is worth seeing, but you do need to be very quick (preferably quicker than Daley Blind). The expedition ends on November 19th. Are you a slow player? Don’t worry, you can find art all over the city, just keep your eyes open! Their graffiti has become part of the culture of Amsterdam. It even caused a big uproar in the city, when a painting of Matthijs de Ligt was removed from the Muiderpoort station.

That’s it, you’re now officially an Ajax fan. Only one thing left to do: hate Feyenoord.