For fifteen years, VAK410 stood at the centre of a new generation of active support at Ajax. Founded in 2001, the collective transformed a distant corner of the Amsterdam ArenA into one of the most recognisable ultra sections in the Netherlands. Its constant singing, flags, drums, pyrotechnics and ambitious choreographies gave the stadium an intensity that many supporters believed had been lost after Ajax left De Meer.
VAK410 did not create fanatical Ajax support. The F-Side had represented the club’s organised following since 1976 and carried the memories, traditions and confrontational reputation of De Meer. What VAK410 introduced was a younger and more explicitly ultra-influenced culture, built around continuous support, visual presentation and a strong collective identity.
Life After De Meer
Ajax moved from De Meer to the Amsterdam ArenA in 1996. The new stadium offered greater capacity and modern facilities, but its design and ticketing structure changed the relationship between the club and its most active supporters. Many members of the old F-Side were dispersed across the ground, while the distance between the stands and the pitch made it difficult to recreate the pressure of De Meer.
The ArenA was regularly criticised for its cold and commercial character during its early years. Ajax remained one of Europe’s most famous clubs, but the atmosphere did not always reflect its stature. A younger generation of supporters wanted a place where standing, singing and following Ajax for the full match would be expected rather than optional. The F-Side remained the historical centre of the Ajax scene, but access to its section was limited and there was a waiting list. Younger supporters looking for a more active way of following the club therefore began discussing an alternative. The internet, still a relatively new organising tool within supporter culture, helped bring together people who shared the same frustration.
The Birth of VAK410
The beginning came on 26 January 2001, when Ajax faced Vitesse in the KNVB Cup. Following an appeal on an Ajax supporters’ forum, around twenty young fans gathered in section 114 on the north side of the ArenA. Some already knew one another, while others arrived alone in search of supporters with the same mentality. Ajax lost the match 2–1 after extra time, but the result became secondary to what had started in the stand. The small gathering had demonstrated that there was demand for a new active section. Its members wanted to support Ajax continuously, regardless of the result, while bringing drums, flags and choreographies into a stadium that was still struggling to develop its own identity.
The collective did not immediately occupy section 410. Its earliest months were spent testing different locations and trying to build a reliable group. The first match at the section from which it would take its permanent name came against Roda JC during the 2001–02 season, when approximately twenty-five supporters gathered beside the entrance barrier. The number 410 soon became far more than a stadium designation. It developed into the name, symbol and identity of the group. Even after the supporters moved to a different part of the stadium years later, abandoning the name was never seriously considered.
A Young Alternative
The early members of VAK410 were noticeably younger than many of the established figures in the Ajax scene. Some older supporters initially viewed the project with scepticism, and members later recalled that the group had been laughed at during its first period. Its small numbers, drums and ultra-influenced style were unfamiliar within a Dutch culture shaped heavily by the British terrace and hooligan models. VAK410 nevertheless continued to grow. It provided an entry point for young Ajax supporters who could not obtain a place with the F-Side but wanted more than simply watching matches from their seats. Participation demanded commitment, with supporters expected to stand, sing and contribute to the atmosphere for the entire match.
The group’s model combined influences from several supporter cultures. Italian ultras provided inspiration for the organisation of the section, the capo, large banners and coordinated displays. South American terraces influenced the rhythm of the chants, the use of drums and the ideal of continuous movement and noise. This combination gave VAK410 a character of its own. Its support was not based only on reacting to events on the pitch. The objective was to maintain intensity regardless of whether Ajax were winning, struggling or producing a disappointing performance.
Creating an Ultra Section
VAK410 gradually transformed its corner of the ArenA through flags, two-pole banners, drums and large painted displays. A capo directed the singing from the front, while the most active members gathered closely around the central barrier. Supporters further from the core were encouraged to participate rather than behave as ordinary spectators. The group became especially respected for its tifo work. Designs celebrated Ajax, Amsterdam, club history and important figures from the supporter scene. Others carried direct messages to the players, club directors or football authorities.
Producing these displays required far more work than spectators saw on matchday. Long sheets of fabric had to be measured, stitched, outlined and painted by volunteers. A single large banner could require several weekends of work, with small teams spending entire days preparing an image that might be visible for only a few minutes. By its fifteenth anniversary, VAK410 had developed into a section involving around 1,400 supporters. Its central singing group was estimated at approximately 200, while around thirty members regularly worked on banners and choreographies. The difference between those numbers was important: VAK410 was both an organised core and a much larger terrace community.
The Move to the South
By the middle of the 2000s, the group had outgrown its original location. Its proximity to the away section limited expansion, while demand for season tickets continued to increase. Remaining in sections 409 and 410 would have prevented the collective from developing further. In January 2008, Ajax, the municipality, police and supporter representatives approved a reorganisation of the stadium. From the beginning of the 2008–09 season, the VAK410 supporters moved to sections 424 and 425 on the upper southern tier. Season-ticket holders previously occupying those sections were transferred towards 409 and 410.
Although the physical location changed, the VAK410 name remained. By then, it represented the group rather than simply the number written above a stadium entrance. The move also positioned VAK410 directly above and close to the F-Side, bringing Ajax’s two most active supporter cultures together at the southern end of the stadium. VAK410 and the F-Side retained different histories and styles. The F-Side carried the traditions of De Meer and the generation formed during the 1970s and 1980s, while VAK410 represented a younger, choreography-oriented movement. Their relationship was not always without disagreements, but cooperation increased as the southern end became the undisputed centre of the atmosphere. The new location provided greater visual possibilities. Displays could be lowered from the upper tier, flags became more prominent and chants could spread between the two sections. The combination helped turn the southern end into a far more powerful home terrace.
Ajax, Amsterdam and Away Days
The group’s identity was based on more than the eleven players on the pitch. Amsterdam itself appeared repeatedly in banners, songs and visual displays. The city’s three crosses, canals, architecture and local music became central elements of VAK410’s visual language. Ajax’s European campaigns also gave the collective opportunities to present itself outside the Netherlands. Members travelled across the continent in years when the club did not always meet the expectations created by its famous past. The group’s principle was that Ajax should never enter a stadium without active support from Amsterdam.
Domestic away matches required the same commitment. Travel restrictions, compulsory transport arrangements, identification rules and limits on ticket access made following Ajax increasingly complicated. VAK410 regarded these controls as part of a wider struggle over the freedom and independence of football supporters. The group was particularly visible during important European nights and matches against Feyenoord, PSV and Utrecht. However, its mentality was not intended to depend only on high-profile fixtures. An ordinary league match was also considered a test of whether the section could maintain its standards.
Critical Support and Modern Football
VAK410 offered unconditional support to the team during matches, but that did not mean unconditional acceptance of every club decision. The group regularly used banners, silence and other forms of protest to address ticket prices, stadium bans, restrictions and the growing commercialisation of football. Supporting Ajax and criticising those running it were not seen as contradictory positions. In September 2010, pyrotechnics were used during the Champions League match against AC Milan as part of a protest against expensive European ticket prices. The match was temporarily interrupted and Ajax faced the possibility of a UEFA fine. VAK410 apologised to supporters on the lower tier who had been affected, while maintaining its criticism of the pricing policy.
One of its most widely reported messages appeared during the 2012 Champions League visit to Manchester City. A banner showed a crossed-out sheikh carrying a bag of money beneath the words “Against Modern Football”. The message criticised the transformation of clubs through extreme outside investment and became known far beyond Amsterdam, although UEFA subsequently sanctioned Ajax. In February 2013, VAK410 remained silent throughout a home match against Roda JC in protest against a series of stadium bans. There were no drums, flags or organised chants. The absence of the usual support was intended to demonstrate what the ArenA would sound like without its active section. Such actions showed that VAK410 was not simply an entertainment service for the club. Its members wanted control over their own culture and believed that atmosphere could not be separated from supporter rights. This independent position repeatedly created tension with directors, security officials and football authorities.
Pyrotechnics and Controversy
Pyrotechnics formed an important part of the group’s terrace culture. Flares, smoke and fireworks were used during entrances, celebrations and major fixtures, despite increasingly severe regulations. For VAK410, controlled pyrotechnics could strengthen a display, but several incidents demonstrated the consequences when material entered the pitch or endangered others. The most serious controversy came during the KNVB Cup final against PEC Zwolle at De Kuip on 20 April 2014. Pyrotechnics were thrown from the Ajax end onto the pitch on two occasions during the opening stages, forcing the match to be suspended. One device landed dangerously close to Ajax goalkeeper Kenneth Vermeer, while the interruption lasted around thirty minutes.
Responsibility should not automatically be assigned to every person in the section or every member of VAK410. Nevertheless, the material came from the part of the Ajax end occupied by the active scene, and the group issued public statements about the incident. After internal discussions, VAK410 apologised to Ajax, the players and the wider Ajax hard core, acknowledging that its own goalkeeper should never have been placed in danger. The episode caused significant reputational and financial damage. Ajax condemned the behaviour, supporters received stadium bans and the club faced punishment. It also intensified the debate over whether an organised group could defend pyrotechnic culture while preventing individual actions from harming the team and other supporters.
The Final Season
The 2015–16 season brought VAK410’s internal and external pressures to a peak. On 26 January 2016, the group celebrated its fifteenth anniversary during the home match against Heracles Almelo. An entrada outside the stadium, drums, singing, pyrotechnics and visual displays marked fifteen years since the first small gathering against Vitesse. Only weeks later, controversy followed De Klassieker against Feyenoord. An effigy representing former Ajax goalkeeper Kenneth Vermeer was suspended from the upper tier. The individual responsible was identified, arrested and given a stadium ban, but the incident brought sanctions that affected the wider section.
Ajax withdrew the facilities available to VAK410 for the remainder of the season, including its platform and sound system. The club stated that approximately twenty supporters had been identified in connection with various disturbances. The KNVB also imposed a fine and ordered sections 424 and 425 to remain empty during the next home match against Feyenoord. These events were not the sole reason for the group’s dissolution, but they formed part of the increasingly restrictive environment described in its final statement. VAK410 argued that regulations had been tightened over the previous two years, while vacant places created by stadium bans and cancelled season tickets were no longer filled. Buffer zones and empty seats gradually weakened the density that was essential to the section’s atmosphere.
The Proposed Move to Zuid 1
In April 2016, Ajax informed VAK410 that it intended to relocate the group from the upper tier to Zuid 1, the first ring behind the southern goal. The plan was connected to the creation of a large standing terrace and the club’s desire to bring its active supporters together. Safety was another major argument, particularly because pyrotechnics, beer and other objects could fall from the upper tier onto spectators below. On paper, the plan offered clear advantages. The F-Side and the younger ultra generation would stand together behind the goal, with the capo platform, sound equipment, drums and flags moving to the new terrace. Ajax would finally possess one large, concentrated home end.
For VAK410, however, the proposal raised a more fundamental question. The group had more than 1,100 season-ticket holders and had spent fifteen years developing a section with its own expectations, internal relationships and recognisable character. Its members questioned whether that identity could survive inside a standing terrace holding approximately 4,500 people. The issue was not merely the physical act of changing seats. VAK410 had already moved once without losing its name or organisation. This time, the proposed integration threatened to dissolve the boundaries that made it possible to maintain a compact singing core and a shared standard of participation.
The Dissolution of VAK410
On 2 June 2016, VAK410 announced that it would cease to exist as an organised supporters’ group. The decision followed extensive internal discussions rather than a formal ban imposed by Ajax. Its members concluded that the collective could no longer remain itself after being absorbed into the much larger Zuid 1 terrace. The final statement looked back on fifteen years of friendship, passion, protests, home displays and away journeys. It described a development from a small group of unconventional supporters on the northern side of the stadium into a large and widely recognised collective on the south. Its farewell ended with the words that had defined the group: “VAK410, een vak apart.”
Dissolution did not mean that everyone involved stopped attending matches. Many former members moved to Zuid 1 and continued creating atmosphere alongside the F-Side and other Ajax groups. Skills, personal relationships, songs and tifo experience accumulated during fifteen years did not disappear with the banner. The decision instead marked the end of VAK410 as an independent identity. Its name would no longer be displayed as an active group, and the structure built around sections 424 and 425 was closed. The people remained, but the collective chose not to continue in a form it no longer recognised as its own.
From VAK410 to Ultras Amsterdam
The reorganisation of Zuid 1 created a new chapter in Ajax supporter culture. Former members of VAK410 joined other active supporters behind the goal, where the F-Side’s historical position was combined with the methods developed by the younger ultra generation. Ultras Amsterdam subsequently became a leading name behind Ajax’s choreographies and visual actions.
Ultras Amsterdam should not be described simply as VAK410 under a different name. The new southern terrace brought together people from several parts of the Ajax scene and operated on a much larger scale. However, the connection is clear in its personnel, tifo knowledge and the importance placed on continuous active support. By 2026, the current scene openly marked twenty-five years of Ajax ultras culture, tracing that history back to the first VAK410 gathering in January 2001. Modern displays can cover several tiers and require far greater quantities of fabric, paint and choreography material than were possible in the old upper corner. Yet the central idea remains recognisable: supporters should actively shape the stadium rather than passively consume the match.
Why VAK410 Mattered
VAK410 occupied a unique position between two periods of Dutch supporter culture. It emerged after the most intense years of the traditional hooligan era but before modern stadium control had fully restricted spontaneous organisation. Its members adopted the ultra model and adapted it to Amsterdam without abandoning the existing traditions of the Ajax scene. The group helped give the ArenA an identity at a time when many supporters considered it sterile and disconnected from De Meer. It introduced a new generation to coordinated singing, capo-led support, large choreographies and the demanding work behind matchday displays. Its influence could later be seen in active sections across the Netherlands.
Its history also contains difficult and controversial episodes. Collective punishments, stadium bans, dangerous pyrotechnic incidents and offensive provocations cannot be removed from an honest account. At the same time, reducing fifteen years entirely to those incidents would ignore the thousands of hours spent painting, travelling, organising and supporting Ajax through less successful periods. VAK410 lasted from 2001 until 2016, but its importance cannot be measured only by those dates. It changed expectations of what an Ajax home end could look and sound like. From a gathering of around twenty young supporters in section 114, it grew into a movement that helped return colour, noise and identity to the stands of Amsterdam.