Nico Rijnders
In the meantime, Rijnders had gone from Go Ahead to Ajax for 400,000 guilders in 1969. In his first season, the central midfielder and ball picker became national champion and cup winner with Ajax. The following year, the Amsterdam team again won the cup. They also won the European Cup. Panathinaikos was defeated at Wembley. In this match, Rijnders suffered from tightness in his chest. He was replaced at half time by Horst Blankenburg. Rijnders played 63 league matches for Ajax in two seasons, in which he scored four times. Remarkably enough, the hard-working and well-functioning Rijnders left for FC Brugge in the summer of 1971 in Belgium, which offered him a better contract than Ajax wanted to give him. Later it was suggested that the Ajax board led by Jaap van Praag was aware of his heart problems and therefore made little effort to keep him for the Amsterdam club.