Ajax face foreign legion with highly passionate coach in Conference League

Ajax return to Conference League action this week against Denmark’s FC Midtylland in the third round of matches. A 2-0 win over Atalanta has boosted the Amsterdam side’s confidence, and they are competing near the top of the Vriendenloterij Eredivisie. So what awaits them against the less familiar leaders of Denmark’s Superligaen? Voetbalzone takes a closer look at Thursday’s hosts.

Midtjylland have taken just one point from their opening two European matches, drawing 1-1 with Albania’s Egnatia before Belgium’s Sint-Truiden left the MCH Arena with a 2-1 win. Their first Conference League victory has yet to arrive. In the Superligaen, Mike Tullberg’s side lead the way with 31 points from twelve matches and nine domestic wins. Title favourites FC Copenhagen are five points behind.

A great deal of quality lost

That league form is all the more striking given Midtjylland’s summer departures. Striker Franculino and winger Aral Simsir joined Trabzonspor for €35 million, taking more than 30 goals and a string of assists with them. The club also sold centre-back Han-beom Lee to Club Brugge for €9 million and the frequently scoring midfielder Valdemar Byskov to AZ for €6 million. Right winger Dario Osorio joined Crystal Palace on loan, with the English club able to sign the Chilean permanently next year for €32 million.

To replace those key players, Midtjylland signed former Ajax defender Rasmus Kristensen from Eintracht Frankfurt for €6 million and spent more than €7 million on Venezuela international winger David Martínez from Los Angeles FC. Midfielder Kjell Wätjen arrived from Borussia Dortmund, while Nordin Bakker left sc Heerenveen for the Danish leaders. Friday Etim returned to strengthen the forward line after a successful spell at Fredericia, and Mileta Rajkovic joined on loan from Legia Warsaw.

Passionate manager
Tullberg has played a part in Midtjylland’s strong form. The 40-year-old coach from Farum had a modest playing career that ended at Germany’s Rot-Weiss Oberhausen in 2011. A former forward, he soon moved into coaching and joined Borussia Dortmund in 2019. He coached the reserve team and the Under-19s, then briefly took interim charge of the first team in the Bundesliga and Champions League in early 2025. Tullberg stepped back again at BVB, at the end of the 2024/25 season before Midtjylland’s board appointed him a few months later.

With Tullberg in charge, Midtjylland stayed in contention for the Danish league title for much of last season. Aarhus GF won the championship, but Tullberg’s team took the national cup. Han-beom Lee scored in the 82nd minute of the final on 14 May to seal a 1-0 win over favourites FC Copenhagen. Midtjylland also finished third in the Europa League league phase before Nottingham Forest beat them over two legs in the round of 16. The club still took satisfaction from its European campaign.

On the touchline, Tullberg’s passion has sometimes gone too far. He received nine yellow cards for heated behaviour during the 2025/26 season. He coaches and encourages his players throughout matches, demanding aggressive, energetic football and a forward press. Midtjylland are dangerous on the counter-attack, but Tullberg also wants them to control games and seize the initiative immediately. When they lose possession, that approach can leave space behind the defence. He expects complete dedication and commitment from his players every day.

Links between the two clubs
Midtjylland may not be one of European football’s biggest names, but they signed Rafael van der Vaart in the twilight of his career in 2016. The much-discussed move fell short of expectations. Then-manager Jess Thorup regularly complained about the experienced Dutchman’s fitness, and Van der Vaart made only 20 appearances in total. He rarely made the matchday squad in his second season, playing just six minutes across two substitute appearances in 2017/18. Midtjylland won the title while the midfielder watched from the stands.

Despite those sporting disappointments, sporting director Claus Steinlein told Ekstra Bladet that Van der Vaart’s brief spell at the MCH Arena had brought other benefits. "We are still happy with him. Firstly, for commercial reasons. Shirt sales have risen and there has also been more media interest. In addition, Van der Vaart is a real mentor to our young players. They can all see that, as a player, he brings something extra onto the pitch," the Danish official said in August 2017.

Other links connect Ajax and Midtjylland. Viktor Fischer spent time in the Danish club’s youth academy before Ajax brought him to the Netherlands in 2011. Kristensen, now Midtjylland’s captain, also left the club for Ajax. He never established himself there and joined Red Bull Salzburg in 2019, but the right-back has no regrets. "I gave everything for Ajax and still follow the club. The decision to go from FC Midtjylland to Ajax was the best of my life," the defender recently told Ajax Life.

For several weeks, Midtjylland have had a Dutch goalkeeper between the posts. An injury to first-choice keeper Elías Ólafsson gave Nordin Bakker his chance, and he took it. The former Almere City FC and sc Heerenveen goalkeeper has played eight matches, including the 2-1 win against FC Copenhagen. Bakker looks set to start when Ajax visit on Thursday. "I’m really looking forward to it. I was back in the Netherlands last week, and my family and friends are talking about nothing else but that match," the North Holland native told Bold in early October.

Young club
Ajax’s opponents have a relatively short history. Midtjylland came into being on 1 July 1999 through a merger between Ikast FS and Herning Fremad, with the club’s ambitious leadership aiming to build a football stronghold in central Jutland. They initially played home matches in Ikast before moving to Herning in 2004. After several second-place finishes in the Superligaen, Midtjylland won their first championship in 2015, an enormous milestone for a club only sixteen years old. They now regularly compete in Europe and attract players from outside Denmark. Their current squad includes players from Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Colombia, Germany, the Netherlands, Japan and England.

Previous meetings
Thursday will be only the third meeting between Ajax and Midtjylland. The first two came in the 2020/21 season. On 3 November 2020, Antony scored in the opening minute and Dusan Tadic also struck as Ajax won 2-1 in Denmark. A few weeks later, Ajax won 3-1. Ryan Gravenberch, Noussair Mazraoui and David Neres scored in the second half before Awer Mabil pulled one back for the visitors in the 80th minute. Midtjylland finished with ten players after Erik Sviatchenko received a red card in stoppage time. They have another chance on Thursday to beat Ajax for the first time in their history.