Champion on the white slope
Jagiellonia Bialystok is still an unknown club for many Ajax fans, so we start with a short introduction of Ajax’s opponent. How do you actually pronounce the club name? Phonetically, we say Ja-Gje-Loonja Bjawi-Stok. Supporters of the Polish team often abbreviate this to Take care. That makes a difference!
Jagiellonia Bialystok was founded in 1920. The club won promotion to the highest league, the Ekstraklasa, in the 2006/2007 season. Last year, the Poles became national champions for the first time in their 104-year history. That was quite exciting, because Jagiellonia Bialystok finished with the same number of points as Slask Wroclaw. Based on mutual results, Take care become the winner.
The club colours of Jagiellonia Bialystok are yellow-red. These are the same colours as those in the coat of arms of Bialystok. The city is located in the north-east of Poland, 184 kilometres from Warsaw and on the border with Belarus. Bialystok has approximately 290,000 inhabitants. Incidentally, in Polish this means white slope.
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Polish club wants to prove itself
Jagiellonia Bialystok steamed into the second preliminary round of the Champions League. In that round, Lithuanian FK Panevezys was defeated over two matches. In the third preliminary round, the Poles had to deal with FK Bodø/Glimt. That did not work out, which meant that the team dropped down to the play-offs of the Europa League. In that round, Ajax is the opponent.
Adrian Siemieniec, coach of Jagiellonia Bialystok, thinks that the elimination in the qualifying phase of the Champions League was an important lesson. “We noticed that we had to set higher standards. We are not favorites against Ajax. I am not saying that to put Ajax under pressure, but I am simply looking at the size of the club. Pressure is a daily occurrence for them. Now we have also learned to feel that pressure.”
Midfielder Nene also has his say. “We respect Ajax and especially the history of the club, but we just want to win. I think it is possible. It doesn’t matter who we play against. We want to continue,” said the Portuguese midfielder.
“I don’t know if Ajax is an easier opponent than Bodø/Glimt,” he continues. “But we are performing better now. We don’t look at the opponent. Ajax comes, but we are champions of Poland. We have something to prove. Not to them, but to ourselves.”
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Gaaei knew little about Take care
One day you are the hero, the next day the loser. We know that things can move quickly in the world of football. Anton Gaaei experienced it last week too. Against Panathinaikos FC he scored the winning penalty, while a few days later he made two mistakes in Breda (2-1). There is not much time to mourn, because Jagiellonia Bialystok away is just around the corner.
“I don’t know much about them, but we’ve been watching a lot of videos and working hard on how we’re going to play against them,” Gaaei told the own club channel. “I think Jagiellonia Bialystok will give everything, especially in the first match. I think there will be a lot of fans and they will put a lot of pressure on us. We have to be ready for that from the first to the last minute.”
If Ajax manages to beat Jagiellonia Bialystok over two matches, the team will secure a place in the Europa League group stage. “Normally Ajax should play in the Champions League, but now the Europa League is the maximum we can achieve, so we are fighting for it. Everyone is going for the group stage. Ajax belongs at the top, so we are doing everything we can to achieve that.”
Jagiellonia Bialystok and Ajax will kick off on Thursday at 20:45 in the Bialystok City Stadium, where the team will be supported by around four hundred supporters. The match will be led by Slovenian Rade Obrenovic. He has never refereed an Ajax match before.
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