Ajax opened the VriendenLoterij Eredivisie season away to PEC Zwolle on Sunday at 14:30, and the headline was Marc ter Stegen under the crossbar for the first time in Ajax colors. The goalkeeper, on loan from FC Barcelona for one season, got his first start as Ajax began a campaign that immediately put a new face in a familiar setting.
That is why the match drew attention beyond the usual first-day rhythm. Caio Henrique also made his VriendenLoterij Eredivisie debut, while Míchel Sánchez coached his first league match for Ajax after an unbeaten run in official games before the visit to Zwolle. Ajax had been through this opening stage before, too: last season it started with a 2-0 win over Telstar, with Wout Weghorst scoring both goals.
The setting mattered because the fixture itself carried history. Ajax and PEC Zwolle had already met 49 times in the VriendenLoterij Eredivisie, and previous meetings in Zwolle have produced moments that still frame the matchup, including Frenkie de Jong’s away goal there in 2018 after a night in which he finished with almost 93 percent passing accuracy and 43 passes on the opponent’s half. About one and a half years ago, Ajax also left PEC Zwolle with a penalty from Kenneth Taylor.
Even with the debut goalkeeper and a new league season, the friction was hard to miss: Ajax arrived unbeaten under Míchel Sánchez, but the occasion was still an away opener in Zwolle against an opponent that knows the script well. Sánchez had asked for one thing above all — that the energy keeps flowing and that every player stays determined to win the ball back — and that demand fit a team starting over without the comfort of a home crowd.
What the live coverage did not settle was the final score, which leaves the story on the first clean fact that matters today: Ajax have started their league season with a debut in goal, a fresh face in the squad and a familiar test in Zwolle, and the result will decide whether that opening feels routine or like an early marker.
