Amsterdam Tournament
The Amsterdam Tournament is an annual association football tournament played in the pre-season, hosted by AFC Ajax. It is organised by the International Event Partnership (IEP).
The Amsterdam Tournament in its present form is the successor to the Amsterdam 700 Tournament, which began life in 1975 to celebrate 700 years of the city of Amsterdam's history. It was thereafter held annually until 1992, when the last edition of the "old" tournament was played. The next edition was not played until 1999, when the tournament got off the ground with the backing of the IEP.
The tournament involves four teams, one of which is always the hosts, AFC Ajax. Other teams to have competed in the tournament since its reincarnation in 1999 include Arsenal, River Plate, Boca Juniors, FC Barcelona, Galatasaray, Manchester United, Liverpool, Internazionale, Lazio, Panathinaikos, FC Porto, Santos and Valencia. Sevilla will make their debut in the 2008 tournament.
The tournament has four matches, all played at Ajax's home ground, the Amsterdam ArenA. The games take place over three days in July or August, the second of which is used to rest between the first and third days. The only exceptions to this are the 1999 and 2006 tournaments, which took place over only two days, with no rest day in between.
The Amsterdam Tournament uses an unusual points-scoring system. As with most football, a victory results in three points; a draw in one; and a defeat in none. However, teams are rewarded one extra point for every goal they score. For example, a 3-3 draw brings the same number of points as a 1-0 victory brings to the winner. In the previous example both teams would get 4 points. This system is designed to encourage more attacking football.
As it is a pre-season friendly tournament, games are typically not played as competitively as matches during the main season. In spite of this, it is still taken as a useful gauge of each team's ability going into the new season.
Teams from 1999
Amsterdam Tournament winners
Amsterdam 700 Tournament
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