The Amsterdam Tournament is a pre-season football (soccer) tournament which local club FC Ajax hosts 3 other European clubs. This year’s guests at the Amsterdam ArenA stadium will be Sunderland, Atletico Madrid and Benfica.

The format of the tournament is rather unique, with 2 matches played on Friday evening (1900 and 2115, July 24th) and another 2 matches on the Sunday evening (1900 and 2115, July 26th). Having a ticket for one evening entitles you to watch both matches.

The points scoring is also unique with 1 bonus point for each goal scored to reward positive football. Ajax will be hoping to improve on last season’s 3rd place finish in the Eredivisie (Dutch first division) under new manager Martin Jol, although they were the league’s top scorers.

This will be Sunderland’s first visit to the Amsterdam tournament (after regular visitors Arsenal pulled out) and gives new Black Cats manager Steve Bruce a chance to test his squad against Euro opposition.

Atletico Madrid – appearing for the 3rd time since the tournament was reformed in 1999 – were La Liga’s 4th placed team, and 3rd top scorers behind only Barcelona and arch rivals Real Madrid.

Benfica also debut at Amsterdam – having come 3rd in the Portuguese Liga.

Tickets are currently on sale for Ajax members and will go on public sale on June 20th. You can purchase online at official seller Ticketbox. (Note, there are a few other reseller websites which will sell you tickets at a hefty mark-up).

Getting to Amsterdam – For Sunderland fans there are KLM flights to Amsterdam from Newcastle and Durham Tees Valley. There is a DFDS Seaways ferry from Newcastle to Amsterdam.

There are a number of direct flights to Amsterdam from both Madrid and Lisbon.

Things To Do – Amsterdam has plenty to keep you occupied. In terms of football related things there is an Ajax Museum at the ArenA as well as a stadium tour (however tours are not possible on match days). For more check out our article here: Ajax Museum / ArenA Tour which also has info on how to get to the stadium by public transport.

The Dutch Resistance Museum (address: Plantage Kerklaan 61, trams 9 or 14) in the east of the city currently has a small exhibition called “Football ‘40 – ‘45″ which looks at football during the second world war. The exhibition is in Dutch but there are laminated folders available with full translations in English.

UPDATE: Benfica won the tournament with 11 points, 2nd Ajax (6pts), 3rd Sunderland (5), 4th Atletico (4). Match results were:

Benfica 2-0 Sunderland
Ajax 3-3 Atletico Madrid
Atletico Madrid 0-2 Sunderland
Ajax 2-3 Benfica