Amateur Era

The club was founded in Amsterdam on March 18, 1900 by Floris Stempel, Carel Reeser and Johan Dade.

It was the second incarnation, after a short-lived previous attempt (as the Football Club Ajax) in 1894.

The club were named after the mythological hero Ajax, a Greek who fought in the Trojan War against Troy. In The Iliad, Ajax was said to be the greatest of all the Greeks next to his cousin Achilles, and even fought an inconclusive duel with Troy's champion Hector. According to most accounts, Ajax died by committing suicide. Thus, unlike Achilles, he died unconquered.

Ajax succeeded in promotion to the highest level of Dutch football in 1911, under the guidance of Jack Kirwan, their first official coach. The promotion meant that Ajax were forced to alter the club's strip, as Sparta of Rotterdam had the same kit, red-white vertical stripes with black shorts. Ajax adopted a broad vertical red stripe on a white background with white shorts, the club's kit to this day.

Although their efforts were not unnoticed (Gé Fortgens became a frequent member of the Dutch national team for a while) they were relegated in 1914. While they immediately bounced back, they had to wait until 1917 to regain higher level status again: they did become league champions in both 1915 and 1916, however the 1915 league was declared unofficial (due to World War I), whereas in 1916 they did not make it through the promotion round.

Under the guidance of Jack Reynolds (Kirwan's successor as of 1915) the club was promoted to the highest level in 1917 and won the Dutch national cup final, defeating VSV 5–0. Ajax went on to win their first national championship in 1918. The championship was secured in Tilburg where they faced Willem II without Jan de Natris, arguably the club's first 'star player', who missed the train to Tilburg and opted to stay in Amsterdam instead – earning him a fine of 10 cents. In the following season he earned a six month ban, but Ajax did well in his absence: not only did they retain the championship title, their 1919 campaign was also an unbeaten run for them – an accomplishment that was only repeated 76 years later by Ajax themselves.

Now a regular contender for the Western Regional championship in the Netherlands, Ajax marched through the twenties with regional titles in 1921, 1927 and 1928, next to a few minor cups. The 1930s would prove to be more successful however; with household names as Wim Anderiesen Sr., Dolf van Kol, Piet Strijbosch, Wim Volkers, Jan van Diepenbeek, Bob ten Have, Erwin van Wijngaarden and prolific striker Piet van Reenen, Ajax' period from the late twenties until World War II was so successful that many people dubbed it 'the golden age' (a reference to the 17th century, the heyday of the Dutch Republic).

With eight regional titles (1930–32, 1934–37, and 1939) and 5 national championships (1931, 1932, 1934, 1937, 1939) Ajax was the most successful team of that era in the country. The thirties were also notable for the final culmination of the rivalry with Feyenoord, another squad that earned many awards in that time, as well as the creation of the stadium 'het Ajax-Stadion' dubbed 'De Meer' (named after the borough of its residence). Until the emergence of the Amsterdam ArenA in 1996, this was Ajax' home ground together with the Olympic Stadium for the bigger games.

As of the 1940s, perhaps in line with Jack Reynolds' retirement (he had stayed – save for a few spells of absence – on for the entire time as Ajax' manager since his entry in 1915), Ajax went through a period of rebuilding. Gerrit Fischer and Erwin van Wijngaarden were retained, with Joop Stoffelen, Guus Dräger, Gé van Dijk, Jan Potharst and later Rinus Michels and Cor van der Hart brought in. After a Cup Final victory in 1943, Ajax went on to finish second in the championship league in 1946 (behind HFC Haarlem) followed by a league championship win in 1947.

They became regional champions in 1950 again, though they never came near winning the championship. The season was notable for a match against SC Heerenveen, with Heerenveen coming back from 5–1 down to win 6–5. In 1941, Ajax performed the opposite: after being 6–0 behind to VUC in The Hague they managed to pull out a draw in the end (6–6).

Until 1954, the year that professional football was introduced in the Netherlands, Ajax had some minor successes, with the regional title in 1952 and a second place in the regional championship in 1954 (equal in points with fellow Amsterdam club Door Wilskracht Sterk).