Ajax Coach Education: How Ajax Trains Its Coaches
The Ajax Coaching Academy, International Clinics, and the Ideas Behind Them
Last reviewed on 28 August 2026.
Ajax's education programme is not only for players. Alongside the youth academy, the club runs a coach-education arm — usually referred to as the Ajax Coaching Academy — that teaches the Ajax way of playing and developing footballers to coaches from the Netherlands and abroad, through seminars at the De Toekomst training complex and clinics delivered at partner clubs around the world.
This page explains what that coach education covers, who it is aimed at, how it connects to the club's youth philosophy, and where to go to enquire about taking part. AjaxUniverse is an independent fan site: we describe the programme, but registration, dates and fees are handled only by AFC Ajax through its official channels.
What Ajax Coach Education Involves
Coaching Seminars at De Toekomst
Multi-day seminars in Amsterdam for national and international trainers and coaches. Participants attend classroom sessions on the Ajax philosophy, observe academy training with age groups from U10 to U21, and then work on the pitch with fellow participants to apply the theory in practice.
Coach Clinics Abroad
Ajax academy coaches also travel to deliver clinics for the club's international partner clubs and academies, from South Africa to Asia and North America, training local coaching staff in the same methods used in Amsterdam.
Internal Coach Development
Inside the club, youth coaches are recruited heavily from former Ajax players and developed through mentoring, video analysis and regular evaluation against player-progression rather than match results — the principle described on our youth development page.
Judo, Cognition and Sports Science
Ajax's coaching curriculum draws on more than football: the academy has long used judo for balance, falling technique and duelling among younger age groups, and pairs on-pitch coaching with cognitive training and data from the club's performance facilities.
The Curriculum: What Coaches Learn
The Ajax Philosophy as a Teaching Framework
The seminars are organised around the pillars that the club uses to describe its own identity: the quality of the individual player in the tradition of Johan Cruyff, a recognisable attacking style of play, and the development of each player's unique skills. Coaches learn how those ideas translate into weekly training design for different age groups rather than as abstract slogans.
Playing Forward: Think, Run and Play Forward
A central offensive principle in Ajax coaching is the instruction to think, run and play forward — to look for the forward option first in possession, to make runs that create it, and to move the ball toward goal quickly. Seminar participants practise designing exercises (rondos, position games, small-sided games) that force players to make forward decisions under pressure.
TIPS and Age-Appropriate Coaching
Coaches are introduced to the TIPS model — Technique, Insight, Personality and Speed — that Ajax uses to assess and develop players, and to how the emphasis shifts from technical repetition in the foundation phase (U8–U12) to positional and tactical work in the development phase (U13–U16) and competitive preparation for U17–U21. The full model is set out in our TIPS methodology section and the academy system guide.
Coaching Behaviour
A recurring theme is the coach's own behaviour: guided discovery rather than constant instruction with younger players, a high ratio of praise to correction, and clear, direct feedback as players approach the professional level. Trainers are encouraged to let training look like the game and to prize creative solutions over safe ones.
Ajax Coach Education: Common Questions
Who can attend an Ajax coaching seminar?
The seminars are aimed at working youth and amateur coaches, academy staff and coach educators from any country. Sessions are typically delivered in English (with Dutch-language editions for domestic coaches). Requirements, dates and prices are published by AFC Ajax; AjaxUniverse does not take bookings.
Does Ajax offer coaching qualifications?
Ajax's seminars are club education, not a substitute for national federation licences such as the KNVB or UEFA coaching badges. They are best seen as professional development that complements formal qualifications.
Where do the courses take place?
At Sportcomplex De Toekomst in Amsterdam Zuidoost, next to the Johan Cruyff Arena, and at partner clubs abroad when Ajax coaches travel for clinics.
Is there an Ajax programme for young players from abroad?
Ajax's own academy recruits mainly from the Amsterdam region and does not run a residential programme for young overseas players. International youngsters usually encounter the Ajax method through the club's partner academies and camps — see Ajax's international partnerships.