The Ajax players were the first Dutch club ever to qualify for the main tournament of the Women’s Champions League this season. And on Wednesday in Paris, coach Suzanne Bakker’s team can even be the first Dutch club to qualify for the quarter-finals of the only European club tournament for women. To achieve this, Ajax must win against Paris Saint-Germain – which surprisingly succeeded in the home match in November: 2-0.
Beforehand, Ajax was considered by many to have no chance in the group that, in addition to PSG, also included AS Roma and Bayern Munich. But after four games, the young team leads the group with seven points. “We certainly didn’t think we had a chance, but we also didn’t expect that we would be at the top after four games,” says Ajax striker Romée Leuchter in the canteen at De Toekomst sports park. She has just returned from a training camp in Portugal.
The 23-year-old Leuchter is one of Ajax’s eye-catchers. With seven goals in three games, she played a major role in qualifying for the main tournament of the Champions League. In the last group match, at home against Bayern Munich (1-0), she impressed as a point of contact. With her back to the enemy goal, she shaped the attacking game, and with runs in depth she created danger herself. Just before halftime, such an action led to the only goal of the match, her first in the main tournament. During the lap of honor she had her photo taken with young fans moved to tears in the Johan Cruijff Arena.
Disappointment
Leuchter himself was once such a fan, but at that time women in the Netherlands did not yet play football in large stadiums. Her love for the ball started in Schinveld, a town in South Limburg. “Other kids always wanted to play tag, but I just wanted to play football,” she says. From the small village club it went to a larger club. Leuchter then moved to North Brabant, where she played for a talent team of the sports association NOC-NSF.
She did not yet dream of the Champions League, but a professional career was in the offing when PSV signed her at the age of eighteen. The switch to Ajax, two years later, was a very conscious one. “I thought that the football that Ajax plays, dominant and on the ball a lot, suits me better.” It turned out to be a good choice. Leuchter developed quickly and scored almost as many goals as she played games in two and a half seasons. This season the counter is ten out of eleven.
Leuchter’s career seems to be in a straight line upwards. However, she suffered a major disappointment last summer when national coach Andries Jonker decided not to include her in the selection for the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. She had been there at the European Championships a year earlier and scored two important goals as a substitute. “In the end you have to move on,” is her comment on Jonker’s decision.
After a few games in the Dutch Juniors, Leuchter is back in the Dutch national team. In the crucial Nations League match against Belgium at the beginning of December, she provided the assist in Damaris Egurrola’s decisive 4-0. At the end of February she hopes to be part of the Dutch selection again, which can qualify for the Paris Olympic Games in the semi-finals of the Nations League against world champion Spain.
Big contrast
Her competitors in the Dutch national team play in major European competitions, with a high-level match every week. In the Eredivisie, Ajax and FC Twente have been the only two teams competing for the championship for consecutive seasons, the gap with the other teams remains large. An important reason is money. Ajax captain Sherida Spitse recently expressed this in the TV program Studio Football criticism of the inadequate salaries of Eredivisie football players – many do not even receive the minimum wage. “What do clubs really want?” Spitse wondered.
Leuchter is happy that that discussion does not take place at Ajax, because the club works with a self-initiated collective labor agreement. Yet she has seen plenty of colleagues quit in her short career. “There are girls who still have to work on the side. Then you just can’t fully focus on football and getting better. There are plenty of girls who at some point get to an age and think: I’ll just give up, because I don’t earn enough.”
The contrast between the Champions League and the Eredivisie remains great, in terms of opposition and ambiance. Against Bayern Munich, more than 20,000 spectators cheered Ajax to victory in the Johan Cruijff Arena. On Saturday, only a few hundred fans came to Sportpark de Toekomst for the league match against Excelsior. Snow-covered building materials were set up behind the only covered stand for the construction of the ‘New Future’, where Ajax Women will play competition matches from 2026.
View of Paris
Leuchter, who did not participate against Excelsior due to a minor injury and sat wrapped in a blanket bag in the stands, saw how her teammates easily put Excelsior aside 6-1. Trainer Bakker said afterwards that he has “good hope” that her first striker will be back against PSG on Wednesday. Furthermore, despite many questions from the press afterwards, Bakker remained tight-lipped about her recently announced departure by Ajax after this season. She did not want to say more than that “the switch has been turned”.
Where Leuchter’s future lies is also unclear, her contact is ending. Ajax wants to retain her longer, but she has not yet made a decision about next season. “Maybe it is time for me to take a step too,” she says. But she also knows that a possible transfer abroad depends on many factors. First we look at Paris, where Ajax hopes to place itself among the best eight clubs in Europe on Wednesday in the Parc des Princes.