Ajax–Groningen match abandoned after fans throw fireworks onto the pitch

The game between Ajax and FC Groningen on Sunday evening was abandoned after just six minutes, following two incidents in which Ajax fans from the F-Side section threw fireworks onto the pitch. It had been reported that the fireworks were lit in remembrance of an Ajax fan who recently passed away.

Referee Bas Nijhuis suspended the game when many fireworks were thrown onto the pitch early on. This led to a significant delay before the players came back out onto the pitch, before the Ajax fans proceeded to throw more fireworks onto the pitch when the game was about to restart. This led to Nijhuis canceling the game for the evening.

Nijhuis spoke to ESPN after the first incident. “If you want to hurt your club, then you should keep doing things like this. It’s disgraceful.” Nijhuis added after the second incident that he could not guarantee the player’s safety and was only waiting for the mayor’s confirmation for the game to be canceled for the evening.

Many Ajax players showed irritation at the fans' behavior, with club captain Davy Klaassen throwing his hands up towards the fans and striker Wout Weghorst visibly shaking his head.

The stadium emptied after the second incident, with the traveling Groningen fans still in their seats. Ajax confirmed the news that the game had been abandoned a little while later.

Both clubs will now have to await the Dutch Football Association’s (KNVB) decision on how the rest of this game will be played. The game will likely be completed without any supporters in the ground; this also happened a couple of years ago when Ajax played against Feyenoord. On that occasion, the last part of the game was completed in an empty stadium.

The score was 0-0 when the game was abandoned.