An Ajax shirt in the canteen of a Rotterdam amateur football club. It seems unthinkable. Especially when that club is also just a stone’s throw away from De Kuip. That’s what Yvonne van Beek of ESPN begins with when she writes of a small and interesting facet within Wednesday’s De Klassieker tale.
At IJVV De Zwervers, almost all involved at the club support Feyenoord. However, there is one (albeit rare) Amsterdam-fuelled soft spot in their hearts. From Van Beek’s recollection, chairman Michel Koks emphasises this with several photos. One of them is from the 2012-13 season, with the boys featured being around seven years old. Crouched at the bottom right sits the boy the entire club are extremely proud of (despite the fact that he plays for Ajax): Jorrel Hato.
Looking back, Koks underlines the quality of the current Ajax and Oranje defender and his roots in Rotterdam.
“Here he took his first steps in football. With his friends, who still play here. He was in F1 (now U8/ U9), while he didn’t belong there yet in terms of age. It’s what you always hear people say when they see talent: he saw things faster, stayed calm and stood out far above the rest at football level.”
Skill beyond one’s age like that does not go unnoticed in the Netherlands. In fact, Hato only played in the youngest youth team of the Zwervers, before he was picked up by Sparta Rotterdam. However, he didn’t play there for long either. With further solid performances and demonstrations of a ridiculous skillset, Ajax added their name to young Hato’s list of admirers and took him into the youth academy at the age of 12.
Admittedly, it was a bit of a tough pill to swallow for his Feyenoord-supporting family. Yet, sheer pride conquers rivarly. Hato even gave his father an Ajax shirt to wear, after the father promised he would forfeit his Rotterdam support when his son scored his first goal in Amsterdam.
When he was elected Talent of the Month in August 2023, the 18-year-old Hato made no secret of his Rotterdam origins and personally brought the accompanying cheque to his old amateur club. Chairman Koks continues:
“He is proud of where he comes from. The club name is often mentioned and he also comes by himself sometimes. It is all very respectful.
“I don’t speak to him much myself, but I do speak to his father. The way he presents himself in the media, that’s exactly who he is.”
The chance that Ajax offered him is one that Feyenoord admittedly never gave him. That’s why De Zwervers can live with the fact that their former player now plays for their big rival. “Although of course we prefer to see him in a Feyenoord shirt”, says Koks with a laugh and wry grin.
Feyenoord and Ajax will face each other again on Wednesday evening, Koks will of course be in the stands. “I have mixed feelings. I think it’s great that he’s playing and that he’s doing well at Ajax, but I do hope he loses.”
