While Ajax has been known over the years for the club’s skilful outfield players and the fabled ‘Total Football’ style of the game, the man who attempts to keep the ball out of the back of the net often gets overlooked.
However, the Amsterdam giants have had some top goalkeepers, but which stopper has had the most clean sheets in their career in the Dutch capital?
Stanley Menzo (150 clean sheets in 322 appearances in all competitions)
Menzo came through the youth system at TWW Centrum and AVV Zeeburgia before joining Ajax in 1983. The former Dutch international went in to make 322 appearances for the Amsterdam giants, keeping 150 clean sheets in the process.
By the time he left the club in 1994. Menzo had helped the club to three Eredivisie titles, four KNVB Cups, the UEFA Cup and the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup.
Menzo briefly returned to the club in season 1999/2000 but failed to make an appearance for Amsterdammers. That stint came after he had helped Lierse to the Belgian Pro League title in 1997.
Edwin van der Sar (139 clean sheets in 312 appearances in all competitions)
Like Menzo, Ajax was Van der Sar’s first professional club after playing his youth football at Foreholte and VV Noordwijk.
In 1990, he joined Ajax and became a club stalwart, staying with the capital club until 1999, when he joined Italian giants Juventus.
Van der Sar kept 139 clean sheets in 312 appearances in his nine years with the club. The giant ‘keeper enjoyed a trophy-laden career with the Dutch giants.
With a level head helped the club to four Dutch top-flight titles, three KNVB Cup triumphs and, most significantly, the Champions League in 1995.
After Van der Sar left the club, he won four Premier League titles with Manchester United and the Champions League in 2008, among other numerous trophies won.
The former Netherlands international also won several awards during his time with the club, including winning the Best European Goalkeeper in 1995 and Ajax’s Player of the Year in season 1997/98.
Piet Schrijvers (122 clean sheets in 356 appearances for Ajax in all competitions)
Schrijvers joined Ajax from FC Twente in 1974 and stayed in the Dutch capital until 1983. Like many of the players on this list, he enjoyed great success while with the club.
He played a crucial role in Ajax winning five Eredivisie titles and two KNVB Cups during his nine-year career with the Amsterdammers. After leaving Ajax, he finished his playing career with a two-year stint at Zwolle before retiring in 1985.
Schrijvers was also part of the Netherlands squad that finished as runners-up in both the 1974 and 1978 World Cup finals.
Maarten Stekelenburg (121 clean sheets in 311 appearances in all competitions for Ajax)
The former Netherlands international stopper had two spells with Ajax at the beginning and end of his career.
Stekelenburg made his Ajax first team in season 2002/2003 and stayed with the Dutch giants until season 2010/11 when he joined Roma.
He helped Ajax win the Eredivisie on four occasions in seasons 2003/04, 2010/11, 2020/21 and 2021/22. The last two titles came in his second spell with the club from seasons 2020/21 and 2021/22.
On an individual basis, Stekelenburg won the Ajax Player of the Year in seasons 2007/08 and 2010/11. He also picked up a runners-up medal in the 2010 World Cup with the Netherlands.
Heinz Stuy (103 clean sheets in 193 appearances for Ajax in all competitions)
He started his career at Telstar in 1963 and stayed until 1967, when he joined Ajax. Stuy would be part of the club’s great team of the early 1970s.
During that period, Stuy picked up two Eredivisie winner’s medals, three KNVB Cups and three European Cups, amongst other silverware.
Stuy holds the record for the goalkeeper who has kept out the opposition for the most minutes in European Cup finals, a record that stands at 270 minutes.
Jasper Cillessen (63 clean sheets in 143 appearances in all competitions)
The former Barcelona goalkeeper started his professional career at NEC before joining Ajax in August 2011 for a reported fee of around €3 million.
Cillessen spent six years in the club’s first team after initially starting his journey at the club in Ajax Jong. He made 143 appearances, keeping a respectable 63 clean sheets.
The Netherlands international played a role in the club from the Dutch capital, winning the Eredivisie on three occasions in seasons 2011/12, 2012/13 and 2013/14, and also the Johan Cruyff Shield.
The goalkeeper picked up the Ajax Player of the Year in seasons 2014/15 and 2015/16.
Kenneth Vermeer (50 clean sheets in 139 appearances in all competitions)
Vermeer came through the club’s youth system, first being part of the youth team in season 2005/06. However, he didn’t make his full debut until season 2008/09.
The Dutch international stayed with the club until he left for arch-rivals Feyenoord in 2014. He helped the club from the capital to win Eredivisie titles in seasons 2010/11, 2011/12, 2012/13 and 2013/14, as well as the KNVB Cup in season 2009/10.
Vermeer wasn’t just successful with Ajax during his playing career, though, as he also won the Dutch top-flight title with Feyenoord in season 2016/17 and the Belgian Pro League the following season with Club Brugge.
At the time of writing, Vermeer is 38 and is contracted to PEC Zwolle, having joined the club in 2023.