Former Dutch national soccer goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar is leaving Ajax Amsterdam after almost eleven years in an official capacity. As the association announced on Tuesday, the 52-year-old will resign as managing director and transfer his duties to the board on June 1st.
Van der Sar returned to his longtime club in 2012 as marketing director. He has held the post of managing director since 2016, and his contract originally ran until 2025. “After almost eleven years on the board, I’m done,” said van der Sar: “We’ve experienced wonderful things together, but it was also an incredibly difficult time.”
He is grateful for his time with the Dutch record champions, but now has “the need to gain some distance, recover and do other things,” said the former Ajax professional: “It doesn’t feel good in the decisions about the future of this wonderful club in the near future, so I have decided to resign.”
According to the announcement, the supervisory board asked van der Sar to formally remain in office until August 1 to ensure a smooth transition. “We wanted Edwin to stay, but he made his decision. We have to respect that,” said board chairman Pier Eringa. Efforts are being made to find someone with an Ajax background as a successor.