Sjaak Swart

Sjaak Swart

Swart in 2011
Personal information
Full name	Jesaia Swart
Date of birth	(1938-07-03) 3 July 1938 (age 87)[1]
Place of birth	Muiderberg, Netherlands
Height	1.74 m (5 ft 9 in)[2]
Position	Winger
Youth career
	OVVO
	Amsterdam
	Ajax
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1956–1973	Ajax	463	(174)
International career
1960–1972	Netherlands	31	(10)
* 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, 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
		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

1. Appearances in KNVB Cup
2. Appearances in European Cup
3. Appearances in Dutch play-offs for European football
4. Eight Appearances in Intertoto Cup and two in UEFA Cup Winners' Cup
5. Appearances in Intertoto Cup
6. Ten appearances in European Cup and four in Intertoto Cup
7. Appearances in Inter-Cities Fairs Cup
8. 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				6–0
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

• 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
• Intertoto Cup: 1962
• European Supercup: 1972
• Intercontinental Cup: 1972

See also

• List of Jewish footballers
• List of select Jewish association football players

References

1. "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.
3. Buchheister, Hendrik (4 October 2013). "Football: Why Tottenham and Ajax Fans Have a Jewish Identity". Der Spiegel. Retrieved 7 January 2016.
4. Ajax, the Dutch, the War: The Strange Tale of Soccer During Europe's Darkest ... - Simon Kuper
5. 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.
6. "Sjaak Swart: the forgotten genius of an Ajax legend"
7. Mister Ajax: de eeuwige jeugd van Sjaak Swart - Raymond Bouwman
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).
11. "Sjaak Swart - Interlands Nederlands Elftal" (in Dutch).