Wonderkid Factory | Part 8 | So Close To An Elite Upset

Impact-Site-Verification: e3091da8-8f8e-4722-9379-1947c0c9546d

AZ Alkmaar won a second Eredivisie title in three years with a team comprised wholly of players produced by the club’s youth academy. The challenge now was to try and compete in Europe as they re-entered the Champions League in the 2029/30 campaign.

Despite signing a new deal 12 months ago, the summer was again marred by star academy product Raily Wau wanting to play with better players. And Lazaró agreed to grant that wish if they received a bid of £101m, which never materialised. They did receive a mass of derisory bids for the likes of Maxim Dekker, Rome-Jayden Owusu-Oduro, Saviola Simons and Aad Scholten, some of whom kicked up a fuss about bids being rejected. Elsewhere, former midfielder Kees Smit, who joined Utrecht for £500k in 2024, earned an £81m move from Ajax to Liverpool. Off the pitch, the 10,000-seat expansion of AFAS Stadion was completed so they moved back into their snazzy enhanced 29,250-capacity home.

The 2029/30 season began with AZ oddly being included in the Club World Cup in Algeria. They got an easy group and beat Inter Miami 4-1, Wellington Olympic 6-0 and Zamalek 9-0 led by Myron van Brederode bagging four. Brazilian side Atlético Mineiro were dismissed 5-2 but the run ended with a 2-0 loss to Bayern. However, they did have some early silverware to celebrate as winger Jayden Addai’s double led a 4-1 victory over Ajax to lift the Johan Cruijff Schaal for the first time in Lazaró’s reign.

Second Eredivisie Title Defence

AZ remained third favourites for Eredivisie with title odds of 4/1 behind Ajax (13/8) and Feyenoord (12/5). The season began by crushing Heracles 5-1 through van Brederode’s hat trick and Wau’s goal and two assists, which they backed up by dominating Heerenveen 3-0. A much tougher task saw AZ’s defensive strength earn a 0-0 at home to rivals Ajax before a more disappointing 0-0 at Utrecht.

They got back on track as Yoël van den Ban scored the only goal at home to Dordrecht before 4-1 thumpings of Vitesse and PEC Zwolle, in which versatile attacker Tómas Johannesen bagged a brace. They went on to win four successive games 4-1 before drawing 1-1 at home to PSV and losing 2-1 at Feyenoord. Those crucial rival struggles left AZ trailing Feyenoord by 2 points but 8 clear of Ajax heading into 2030.

Exciting striker Gery ten Teije had made massive progress for Jong AZ so Lazaró promoted him while selling Ernest Poku to Gent for £14.5m in January. The 18-year-old rewarded his faith with a debut goal in a 2-0 win over Heracles. Feyenoord were 14 games unbeaten, only drawing one of those, but finally lost at Heerenveen in early March and at Utrecht two weeks later. So AZ’s 4-1 thumping of Feyenoord’s rivals Sparta took them top of the league for the first time with five games remaining.

That teed up a huge potential decider as AZ hosted Feyenoord in mid-April. AZ started superbly as 6ft 4in winger Ruben van Bommel headed the opener inside two minutes and totally dominated the first half without adding another goal. The visitors had a midfielder sent off and AZ continued to boss the game but somehow didn’t score again despite 24 shots to 7, but a big win took them 6 points clear.

AZ earned an easy 3-0 win at Voldendam and hammered N.E.C 6-0 led by a Wau brace. The next day, Feyenoord lost at ADO Den Haag, handing AZ back-to-back titles for the first time! They finished with 90 points after 29 wins, 3 draws and 2 defeats, scoring a league-high 87 and conceding a league-low of just 17. van Brederode was 2nd-top scorer with 18 in 28 but Piqué was the best player in the league with a 7.61 average rating ahead of Wau’s 7.51. Wau won the league’s Talent van het jaar award and was named in the Team of the Season alongside six of his teammates, which oddly didn’t include van Brederode or the highest-rated player Piqué.

Back In The Champions League

AZ’s title win saw them embark upon their first Champions League campaign with a fully homegrown squad. They got a relatively favourable set of fixtures after an opening-day trip to Man City. But against all the odds, a more conservative approach saw AZ nick a 1-0 win through Ruben Dias’ own goal. Wau’s injury-time equaliser rescued a 2-2 at home to Porto before thumping Sturm Graz 5-0 and Lugano 3-0. They drew a wild game 3-3 at Leipzig then got a creditable 2-2 at home to Liverpool. After Christmas, they lost 4-2 at Juve but beat Nice 2-0 to finish 10th, only 1 point off the top 8.

A tough playoff round followed against AC Milan. Winger Manuel Piqué scored the only goal at San Siro and Leão got Milan level early in the second leg. However, Wau drilled home from close range and Milan offered nothing else. AZ got a favourable second-round draw against Club Brugge, who finished 6th in the league phase, and breezed through 6-1 on aggregate to reach the quarter finals for the first time.

Another tricky challenge followed as AZ took on Barcelona in the quarters. The home leg was first and AZ started superbly as Wau finished from close range. Barca levelled but Addai came on to whip in a superb cross for van Bommel to head a famous winner. Barca scored their first shot at Camp Nou and took the lead in first-half injury time. But Lazaró’s stern words got the desired result as Addai sent van Brederode in to tie things up. And that’s how it stayed all the way to the 118th minute, but Lazaró was massively proud of his young side’s efforts.

First Dutch Cup Final

Up until this season, AZ hadn’t gone further than the KNVB Bekker quarter finals as Lazaró threw changed teams into the cup. But this time, his youngsters beat Feyenoord 2-1 in the semis to take on Ajax in their first final, which took place three days after the Barca loss so Lazaró had to rotate. Ajax started well but a superb counter attack saw AZ strike the first blow with a rare goal by midfielder Dave Kwakman. But they fell apart after the break, conceding three times in an embarrassing collapse.

AZ Academy Players Update

van Brederode led AZ’s goalscoring chart with 22 in 42 followed by Wau (19), Piqué and Addai (12), Jasper Hartog (11) and Johannesen (10). Wau led the assists with 14 followed by promising 18-year-old right back Federico Guidiño (11) and van Brederode and Hartog (10).

Academy products again surpassed the record for appearances by surpassing the 500 mark in the league for the first time. They played a total of 512 league games and 289 cup games, contributing 82 goals and 71 assists in the league and 44 goals and 41 assists in the cups. There’s been a slight dropoff from the likes of Addai and van Bommel while newly-monikered wonderkid Piqué has very much kicked on in their place and Guidiño has been a massive positive at full back.

Jong AZ performed well again, finishing 7th in Keuken Kampioen Divisie. While AZ’s under 18s won the U18 Eredivisie led by striker Jamian Janga’s 14 goals and good performances from midfielder Rence Stronks.

This has been another season of promise for AZ Alkmaar, again tasting domestic glory and coming close to upsetting a European giant. However, the dreaded financial glitch affecting Eredivisie re-appeared at the end of the season, so that may well be a save killer… again. So thanks to Football Manager for again ruining a really fun save.

We will at least come back for one more season to see if the financial situation corrects itself and see if AZ can continue their progression in 2030/31. Join us next Monday to see if they can!