Sjaak Swart

Sjaak Swart
	Swart in 2011
Personal information
Full name	Jesaia Swart
Date of birth	3 July 1938 (age 88)
Place of birth	Muiderberg, Netherlands
Height	1.74 m (5 ft 9 in)
Position	Winger
Youth career
	OVVO
	Amsterdam
	Ajax
Senior career*
Years	Team
1956–1973	Ajax
International career
1960–1972	Netherlands
	* Club domestic league appearances and goals

Jesaia Swart (born 3 July 1938), commonly known as Sjaak Swart,^[1] is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a winger for Ajax. During his career at Ajax, he amassed a total of 603 official matches,^[1] a record for the club.

Biography

Swart is Jewish^[3]^[4] and was born in Muiderberg, a fishing village about 20 kilometers east of Amsterdam.^[5]^[6] His Jewish fisherman father sold herring at the market.^[6]^[4] As a child, he and his father concealed themselves as non-Jews during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands from 1940 to 1945, hiding from Germans and Dutch colluders, who rounded up any Jews; nearly 75 per cent of the Dutch Jewish population was killed in those years.^[6]

Nicknamed Mr. Ajax, he played for Ajax a total of 603 official matches, a record for the club, starting in 1956.^[4]^[5]^[7] He was part of their European Cup victories in 1971, 1972, and 1973.^[6]

Swart retired from football after the 1972–73 season and was honoured with a goodbye match between Ajax and Tottenham Hotspur F.C. in the Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam on 8 August 1973.^[8]

International career

For the Netherlands national team, Swart earned 31 caps, scoring ten goals.^[9]

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition^[1]
Club	Season	League^[10]			Cup^[a]		Europe		Other		Total
Club	Season	Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Ajax	1956–57	Eredivisie	5	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	6	0
	1957–58		19	4	0	0	2^[b]	0	0	0	21	3
	1958–59		7	3	5	4	0	0	0	0	12	7
	1959–60		29	18	0	0	0	0	5^[c]	4	34	18
	1960–61		33	9	7	3	2^[b]	1	0	0	42	11
	1961–62		33	5	2	1	10^[d]	4	0	0	45	10
	1962–63		28	5	2	0	3^[e]	2	0	0	33	6
	1963–64		30	12	5	0	1^[e]	0	0	0	36	12
	1964–65		29	11	1	0	0	0	0	0	30	11
	1965–66		30	10	5	3	0	0	0	0	35	13
	1966–67		34	23	5	3	6^[b]	3	0	0	45	29
	1967–68		33	12	7	2	2^[b]	0	0	0	42	14
	1968–69		32	13	3	2	14^[f]	5	0	0	49	18
	1969–70		31	13	6	1	10^[g]	6	0	0	47	20
	1970–71		31	16	6	1	8^[b]	1	0	0	45	18
	1971–72		33	11	5	3	9^[b]	3	0	0	47	17
	1972–73		26	9	1	0	3^[b]	1	4^[h]	0	34	10
Career total			463	174	61	23	70	26	9	4	603	227

↑ Appearances in KNVB Cup
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Appearances in European Cup
↑ Appearances in Dutch play-offs for European football
↑ Eight Appearances in Intertoto Cup and two in UEFA Cup Winners' Cup
1 2 Appearances in Intertoto Cup
↑ Ten appearances in European Cup and four in Intertoto Cup
↑ Appearances in Inter-Cities Fairs Cup
↑ Two appearances in European Super Cup, two appearances in Intercontinental Cup

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year^[11]
National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Netherlands	1960	3	1
	1961	4	1
	1962	6	4
	1963	5	0
	1964	0	0
	1965	1	0
	1966	5	3
	1967	3	1
	1968	3	0
	1969	0	0
	1970	0	0
	1971	0	0
	1972	1	0
Total		31	10

Scores and results list the Netherlands' goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Swart goal.

List of international goals scored by Sjaak Swart^[11]
No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	3 July 1960	Suriname Stadium, Paramaribo, Suriname	Suriname	1–0	4–3	Friendly
2	22 March 1961	De Kuip, Rotterdam, Netherlands	Belgium	4–2	6–2	Friendly
3	9 May 1962	De Kuip, Rotterdam, Netherlands	Northern Ireland	1–0	4–0	Friendly
4	5 September 1962	Olympic Stadium, Amsterdam, Netherlands	Netherlands Antilles	5–0	8–0	Friendly
5	5 September 1962	Olympic Stadium, Amsterdam, Netherlands	Netherlands Antilles	6–0	8–0	Friendly
6	11 November 1962	Olympic Stadium, Amsterdam, Netherlands	Switzerland	2–1	3–1	UEFA Euro 1964 qualification
7	23 March 1966	De Kuip, Rotterdam, Netherlands	West Germany	1–2	2–4	Friendly
8	6 November 1966	Olympic Stadium, Amsterdam, Netherlands	Czechoslovakia	1–1	1–2	Friendly
9	30 November 1966	De Kuip, Rotterdam, Netherlands	Denmark	1–0	2–0	UEFA Euro 1968 qualification
10	1 November 1967	De Kuip, Rotterdam, Netherlands	Yugoslavia	1–0	1–2	Friendly

Honours

Ajax^[6]^[12]

Eredivisie (8): 1956–57, 1959–60, 1965–66, 1966–67, 1967–68, 1969–70, 1971–72, 1972–73
KNVB Cup: 1960–61, 1966–67, 1969–70, 1970–71, 1971–72; runner-up 1967–68
European Cup: 1970–71, 1971–72, 1972–73; runner-up: 1968–69
Intertoto Cup: 1962
European Supercup: 1972
Intercontinental Cup: 1972

Individual^[12]

Ridder in de Orde van Oranje-Nassau (Knight in the Order of Orange-Nassau): 27 April 1972^[13]
Bondsridder of KNVB: 8 August 1973^[14]
Honorary citizen of Amsterdam: 3 July 1988^[15]
Honorary member of AFC Ajax: 21 January 2010^[16]

References

1 2 3 4 "Sjaak Swart bij Ajax" [Sjaak Swart at Ajax]. afc-ajax.info (in Dutch). Retrieved 5 December 2025.
↑ "Swart Jesaia (Sjaak) - footballfakts.ru". footballfakts.ru. Retrieved 21 August 2025.
↑ Buchheister, Hendrik (4 October 2013). "Football: Why Tottenham and Ajax Fans Have a Jewish Identity". Der Spiegel. Retrieved 7 January 2016.
1 2 3 Simon Kuper (2012). "Ajax, the Dutch, the War: The Strange Tale of Soccer During Europe's Darkest ...".
1 2 Quixano, Jordi (2 November 2014). "Escribimos parte de la historia del fútbol" [We wrote part of the history of football]. El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 7 January 2016.
1 2 3 4 5 Daniel Gutman (28 August 2015). "Sjaak Swart: the forgotten genius of an Ajax legend". thesefootballtimes.co.
↑ Raymond Bouwman (2009). "Mister Ajax: de eeuwige jeugd van Sjaak Swart" (in Dutch).
↑ Bab Barens (21 February 2025). "De afscheidswedstrijd van 'Mister Ajax' Sjaak Swart werd wél een succes" [The goodbye match for 'Mister Ajax' Sjaak Swart did become a success]. historiek.net (in Dutch).
↑ Stokkermans, Karel (5 February 2010). "Sjaak Swart – International Appearances". RSSSF.
↑ "Sjaak Swart - Speler Eredivisie". voetbalstats.nl (in Dutch).
1 2 "Sjaak Swart - Interlands Nederlands Elftal" (in Dutch).
1 2 "Waarom de vandaag jarige Sjaak Swart (80) de onbetwiste Mister Ajax is". parool.nl (in Dutch). 3 July 2018.
↑ "Koninklijke onderscheidingen; Laatste lintjesregen oude stijl?". Leeuwarder Courant: hoofdblad van Friesland (in Dutch). delpher.nl. 28 April 1972.
↑ "Bondsridder". Tubantia (in Dutch). delpher.nl. 10 August 1973.
↑ "Sjaak Swart: van rechtsbuiten tot ereburger van Amsterdam". Telegraaf (in Dutch). 4 July 1988 – via delpher.nl.
↑ "Ajax benoemt Swart en Keizer tot erelid". parool.nl (in Dutch). 22 January 2010.

This biographical article related to association football in the Netherlands, about a forward, born in the 1930s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by adding missing information.

[11] Appearances in KNVB Cup

[EC-12] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Appearances in European Cup

[13] Appearances in Dutch play-offs for European football

[ITT-EC2-14] Eight Appearances in Intertoto Cup and two in UEFA Cup Winners' Cup

[ITT-15] 1 2 Appearances in Intertoto Cup

[EC-ICFC-16] Ten appearances in European Cup and four in Intertoto Cup

[ICFC-17] Appearances in Inter-Cities Fairs Cup

[18] Two appearances in European Super Cup, two appearances in Intercontinental Cup

[afc-ajax.info-1] 1 2 3 4 "Sjaak Swart bij Ajax" [Sjaak Swart at Ajax]. afc-ajax.info (in Dutch). Retrieved 5 December 2025.

[2] "Swart Jesaia (Sjaak) - footballfakts.ru". footballfakts.ru. Retrieved 21 August 2025.

[spiegel-3] Buchheister, Hendrik (4 October 2013). "Football: Why Tottenham and Ajax Fans Have a Jewish Identity". Der Spiegel. Retrieved 7 January 2016.

[autogenerated1-4] 1 2 3 Simon Kuper (2012). "Ajax, the Dutch, the War: The Strange Tale of Soccer During Europe's Darkest ...".

[elpais-5] 1 2 Quixano, Jordi (2 November 2014). "Escribimos parte de la historia del fútbol" [We wrote part of the history of football]. El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 7 January 2016.

[autogenerated2-6] 1 2 3 4 5 Daniel Gutman (28 August 2015). "Sjaak Swart: the forgotten genius of an Ajax legend". thesefootballtimes.co.

[7] Raymond Bouwman (2009). "Mister Ajax: de eeuwige jeugd van Sjaak Swart" (in Dutch).

[8] Bab Barens (21 February 2025). "De afscheidswedstrijd van 'Mister Ajax' Sjaak Swart werd wél een succes" [The goodbye match for 'Mister Ajax' Sjaak Swart did become a success]. historiek.net (in Dutch).

[9] Stokkermans, Karel (5 February 2010). "Sjaak Swart – International Appearances". RSSSF.

[10] "Sjaak Swart - Speler Eredivisie". voetbalstats.nl (in Dutch).

[Voetbalstats-19] 1 2 "Sjaak Swart - Interlands Nederlands Elftal" (in Dutch).

[Parool-20] 1 2 "Waarom de vandaag jarige Sjaak Swart (80) de onbetwiste Mister Ajax is". parool.nl (in Dutch). 3 July 2018.

[21] "Koninklijke onderscheidingen; Laatste lintjesregen oude stijl?". Leeuwarder Courant: hoofdblad van Friesland (in Dutch). delpher.nl. 28 April 1972.

[22] "Bondsridder". Tubantia (in Dutch). delpher.nl. 10 August 1973.

[23] "Sjaak Swart: van rechtsbuiten tot ereburger van Amsterdam". Telegraaf (in Dutch). 4 July 1988 – via delpher.nl.

[24] "Ajax benoemt Swart en Keizer tot erelid". parool.nl (in Dutch). 22 January 2010.

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