May 8, 2016: 'At Ajax, the players' own bus had already been covered with stickers'

May 8, 2016 is for many PSV supporters a day they will never forget. Exactly ten years ago, PSV won the 23rd league title on the final day of the Eredivisie, partly thanks to a draw for De Graafschap at home against Ajax.

PSV entered the last matchday as the underdog since Phillip Cocu’s side had a lower goal difference than the Amsterdam team. Both teams were on 81 points and for Ajax, normally a win in Doetinchem would have been enough to secure the league title.

However, the unthinkable scenario happened. Ajax failed to get past 1-1 in Doetinchem and PSV won away at PEC Zwolle (1-3), which meant that PSV miraculously became champions after all.

For Raymond Willemsen as well, a club watcher for De Graafschap for De Gelderlander, this date is still etched in his memory. ''The strange thing was that there was absolutely nothing left to win for De Graafschap. The result didn’t matter, because De Graafschap would anyway enter the play-offs for promotion and relegation. Ajax seemed dazed and on the stands the belief grew that sport history might be possible. At Ajax, the team’s own coach had already been covered with stickers as if the championship had been secured, but that was already ruled out for De Graafschap. Later, all the letters had to be scratched off again'', Willemsen looks back in a conversation with Eindhovens Dagblad.

For Superboeren, Bryan Smeets was man of the match, scoring the equaliser in minute 55 to fire it into the ropes. This was the midfielder’s first goal for the club from Doetinchem.

Afterward, Smeets told ESPN camera (back then still FOX Sports) that he has always been a supporter of Ajax and, to De Gelderlander, the midfielder confirmed this again. ''It was also remarkable that I interviewed Bryan Smeets after the match and that he said he is a big fan of Ajax. He played with number fourteen because Johan Cruyff had that number, he said,'' the club watcher continues.

A day after the match, Mister Ajax Sjaak Swart was not able to speak about the way in which the crowd in Doetinchem and the rest of the Netherlands celebrated the missed title for Ajax. ''What was that man angry about'', Willemsen remembers well.