RetroSport

Cristian Chivu was 18 when he arrived at Ajax in the summer of 1999. He had lost his father a year earlier, and he knew almost no one in Amsterdam. He lived alone in a Holiday Inn hotel room and was driven to training by a driver. After about six months he moved to a house in Ouderkerk aan de Amstel, which gave him peace. On the pitch it started badly too. He was sent off three times in his first months. “I was still a child and wanted to show myself too much, so I made mistakes,” he said later. Ajax, under Jan Wouters, were struggling. It was the club’s centenary season and the big birthday match came on 19 March 2000, against FC Twente. Chivu was in the starting line-up. Ajax wore historic kits and over 40,000 fans came to celebrate. Twente scored in the 28th minute and Ajax lost 0-1. Twente had a man sent off before half-time, and Ajax still couldn’t find a way through. Ajax finished 5th that season. When Leo Beenhakker became technical director in 2000 things began to change. In the summer of 2001 he brought in Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Maxwell, Mido and Hatem Trabelsi to the club. They joined a young squad already built under Co Adriaanse, including Andy van der Meyde and a young Rafael van der Vaart. Adriaanse was sacked in November 2001 and Ronald Koeman took over. He immediately made Chivu captain, at just 21 years old. On 5 May 2002, away at NEC, Ajax won their first Eredivisie title Since 1998. Chivu was photographed afterwards with a torn shirt, mud all over him, wearing the captain's armband with the Amsterdam city's coat of arms. A week later, Ajax beat Utrecht 3-2 in the cup final, with Wamberto equalising from offside position in the 90th minute and Zlatan scoring the golden goal in extra time. Chivu won the Golden Shoe that year, and was named Ajax Player of the Year for 2000-01 and again for 2002-03. David Endt, Ajax' legendary team manager, took the unwashed, mud-caked shirt home and hung it in his office at the Amsterdam ArenA for years. It is now on loan to the Amsterdam Museum. As Endt put it: ”You never win with a clean shirt." Happy birthday Cristian Chivu.