AZ Alkmaar wrapped up three successive Eredivise titles to become the fifth most successive club in Dutch football history, behind the big three of Ajax, PSV and Feyenoord and the HVV, an amateur side that won 10 titles by 1915.
The summer of 2031 saw managing director Robert Eenhoorn announce plans for a new stadium, as AFAS Stadion could no longer meet fans’ demand for tickets. The club’s financial position was bolstered further as winger Jasper Hartog was sold to Aston Villa for a new club record £33m, backup centre back Riccardo Kindt went to Saudi for £10m and Ruben van Bommel followed him there for £14m in January. That took AZ’s bank balance past £350m with a £120m transfer budget that Lazaró couldn’t spend – so it seems that, thankfully, the FM24 financial bug may have been addressed.
This is probably a critical point in the save as players who began at AZ are in their prime, with Rome-Jayden Owusu-Oduro and Lewis Schouten now 27 and Myron van Brederode the oldest player at the club aged 28. At the other end of the scale, the development of 19-year-olds Patrick Pol and Gery ten Teije, who came 1st and 2nd in NxGn 2031, has forced Lazaró to make them first-choice starters. That means van Brederode will move out to the left with ten Teije coming in up top alongside Raily Wau.
Living Up To The Favourites Tag
AZ were finally made favourites to win Eredivisie with 12/5 title odds followed by Feyenoord (5/2), Ajax (11/4) and PSV (8/1). They began the season well as centre back Maxim Dekker and van Brederode goals inspired a 2-0 win at Vitesse before starlets ten Teije and Pol led a 2-1 win at home to Feyenoord. That set up a good start before falling to a 3-1 defeat at PSV.
They got back on track as Yoël van den Ban staked his claim with a hat trick in a 6-0 win at Volendam. That sparked a superb run, including Jayden Addai’s late strike nicking a 2-1 win at Ajax, but a draw at Feyenoord meant that, despite only failing to win twice, they only had a five-point lead going into the winter break. They drew a few games early in 2032 but kicked on a level, including van Brederode’s hat trick inspiring a 3-1 win at Utrecht, to move 10 points clear by the end of March. A 3-0 win over Ajax with goals by van Brederode, ten Teije and Wau then a 1-1 with PSV secured their fourth successive title.
They finished 15 points clear of Ajax, winning the league with 89 points after 28 wins, 5 draws and just 1 defeat, scoring 85 and only conceding 17. Piqué set a new league record 17 assists and van Brederode was the second-top scorer with 21 in 33.
The Lottery Of Penalties In The Champions League
AZ began their Champions League campaign with a humbling 5-1 hammering at Real Madrid. But they bounced back with an entertaining 3-2 win over Benfica, in which Wau ended a 16-hour goal drought. He scored two more as they thumped København 5-1 before wins at Panathinaikos and Club Brugge before ten Teije and Wau earned a 2-2 at home to Chelsea and Wau’s strike nicked a point at Man UFC. But a final day loss at home to Atlético saw AZ finish in 16th, despite being just two points off 8th.
They got a fairly tricky playoff tie with Sociedad. ten Teije’s double earned a 2-2 in Spain before late van Brederode and Wau strikes edged a 2-1 win. It got tougher as they took on Liverpool in the last 16. AZ did themselves proud at home, going ahead through ten Teije’s close-range finish before the ref immediately gave the visitors a dodgy penalty. They started absolutely terribly at Anfield, but Lazaró threw a few water bottles at half time and got the result as, out of nowhere, Manuel Piqué and two injury-time Wau goals forced extra time. They held on through the extra period and forced penalties, in which two Owusu-Oduro saves gave Dekker the chance to win it… only for him to miss and midfielder Wessel van Dord to follow suit to gift victory to Liverpool. So the Champions League pain continued.
AZ Academy Players Update
There was no doubting that Lazaró had developed a genuine golden generation at AFAS Stadion. His fully-homegrown team is the dominant force in Dutch football but is yet to progress beyond the Champions League quarter finals, losing in the last 16 in three of the last four attempts. So it feels like time is running out in terms of having a squad capable of challenging Europe’s elite, with some key players edging towards their 30s.
AZ saw even more academy products step for the Netherlands as Piqué and ten Teije made their international debuts in September followed by Pol in March – taking them to seven players in the Dutch first-team squad. One of them finally made the Goal50 best players in the world as Wau was named number 48 on the list in November. While Pol followed in Wau’s footsteps by adding the European Golden Boy award to his NxGn win.
The move back out to the wing really suited van Brederode as he had a stunning season with 49 goal contributions. He was again AZ’s top scorer with 25 in 46 followed by the exciting ten Teije and Wau (22), Piqué (11) and Addai (9) but also led the assists with 24 followed by Piqué (20), Addai (7) and Pol (6).
AZ’s fully homegrown squad played a combined 508 league games, scoring 83 goals with 66 assists, and played 187 cup games with 27 goals and 23 assists. Here’s how the academy products fared:
Jong AZ improved to 8th in Keuken Kampioen Divisie led by Alain Diampo and Jamian Janga sharing 37 goals. The under 18s again finished 2nd inspired by striker Max Mohr’s 23 goals and 13 assists. Here’s the pick of the players in the youth sides:
Lazaró was beginning to get tired of the continued struggles against Europe’s big boys. It seemed the elite would always be too powerful given their ability to buy new players, while he had to stick with players that weren’t quite good enough in some areas of his team – especially when it came to backup players.
But could AZ continue their Dutch dominance and be more competitive in the Champions League next season? Join us next Monday to find out!
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