Ajax loses to amateur team in Dutch Cup to continue tumultuous season for 4-time European champion

UTRECHT, Netherlands — Dutch soccer giant Ajax lost to an amateur team in the KNVB Cup for the first time in its illustrious history on Thursday.

Ajax was beaten 3-2 by USV Hercules, which plays in the fourth tier of Dutch soccer.

“This should not have happened,” Ajax assistant coach Michael Valkanis said after the second-round game in Utrecht.

It continues a tumultuous season for Ajax, which is in fifth place in the Eredivisie after its worst start to a campaign since the advent of professional soccer in the Netherlands in 1954. The four-time European champions went 10 matches without a win at one stage, their longest-ever run without a victory.

“We are having a very difficult season,” Valkanis said. “But we have to continue and get everything on track.”