AFC Ajax Picks - 2018-19 UEFA Champions League Lines

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AFC Ajax UEFA Champions League Odds

Ajax have been the kings of Dutch football for a long time. They have won 33 league titles, nine more than the team with the second-most titles (PSV Eindhoven), and they have grabbed 18 Dutch Cups. Ajax have never played in a league lower than the top-flight in the Netherlands since the Eredivisie was founded in 1956, and the club has been a European mainstay too.

Few teams have had the international success of Ajax. Ajax are one of three teams to win three consecutive Champions League titles, becoming the second team to accomplish the feat in the early 1970s. That was when Ajax were at their height with the legendary Johan Cruyff leading the way. Cruyff and Ajax dazzled with their wide-open style of football, and that helped open the game up from the defensive style that was prevalent at the time.

After Cruyff was transferred to Barcelona for a then-world record fee, Ajax’s fortunes dipped. Ajax failed to make it past the Quarterfinals of the Champions League for the rest of the decade, and they did not fare well in the Europa League either.

Ajax made a deep run in the Champions League in 1980, reaching the semifinals, but their next international cup didn’t come until 1987. That year they topped Lokomotiv Leipzig to win the UEFA Cup Winners Cup.

The mid-1990s saw Ajax win their third different European trophy. Ajax defeated Turin in the Europa League Final to become one of a handful of teams to win the Champions League, Europa League, and the UEFA Cup Winners Cup.

Ajax made one last run a few years later, making it to the Champions League finals in 1994-95 and 1995-96. In the 1995 Champions League Final, they knocked off AC Milan, but they fell to Juventus in penalties in 1996. Since then, Ajax have had only marginal success in European play.

Odds on AFC Ajax to win the 2018-19 UEFA Champions League: +25000

AFC Ajax in European Football

Ajax have made it to the Group Stage of the Champions League for the first time in five years this season. They knocked off Austrian side Sturm Graz by a combined score of 5-1 in the second qualifying round to make it to the third qualifying round, and they defeated Standard Liege by a combined margin of 5-2 to qualify for the playoff round. There, they knocked off Dynamo Kyiv 3-1 over two legs in order to become one of six teams to qualify through the playoff for the Champions League.

The club spent a good chunk of change in order to make it back to the Champions League. Ajax brought in center back Daley Blind and midfielder Dusan Tadic from Premier League clubs and added winger Hassane Bande from Belgium. They have been drawn into a group with Bayern Munich, AEK Athens, and Benfica and have a puncher’s chance of making the knockout rounds. AEK Athens and Benfica needed to qualify through the playoff as well, and Ajax is on a similar level as those clubs.

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