AJAX HAVE HIT out at the ‘utterly outrageous’ fireworks display that caused last night’s Eredivisie game against Groningen to be abandoned.

The match will now take place tomorrow afternoon behind closed doors with a 2.30pm kick-off time.

After a number of fireworks were set off five minutes into the game behind one of the goals, referee Bas Nijhuis took decision to remove all the players from the field at the Johan Cruyff Arena.

Nijhuis attempted to start the game 45 minutes later, but after more pyrotechnics were set off, the game was abandoned.

This is the third time that a game involving Ajax has been abandoned since May 2023 because of incidents involving fireworks.

A club statement was unequivocal in its’ condemnation.

“Ajax considers what happened in the stadium this evening to be utterly outrageous. We offer our apologies to everyone who has been affected in any way. The safety of spectators and players has been put at risk. That is unacceptable. We emphatically distance ourselves from this misconduct. Fireworks do not belong in the stadium.

“The spectators who were in the affected part of the stadium were searched. Dogs were also deployed to detect fireworks, both in the stadium before it opened and during the arrival of spectators. Additional preventive measures were also taken. Nevertheless, we have not been able to prevent this situation.

“We will, of course, review the camera footage to identify the perpetrators and will also investigate other ways to determine who is responsible. If this leads to the identification of offenders, we will take appropriate measures.”