The draw for the third round of qualifying for the Champions League, which was withdrawn yesterday, resulted in a thorny start for Ajax, where it was knocked out in the face of the Greek champions Pauk.
Ajax, four-time European champions, made a great comeback in the Champions League last season and reached the semifinals before losing hard to Tottenham Hotspur, who lost to Liverpool in the final.
Ajax begin their European campaign in the third round of the qualifiers at the Pauk Stadium, which was crowned in the Greek league last season, without a defeat, on August 6 and 7, while the return leg is held in Amsterdam on 13.
Ajax will miss former star Frankie de Jong and Matisse de Leicht, who have moved to Barcelona and Juventus respectively.
The third round of qualifiers also includes the winner of the second round clash between Scottish champions Celtic, who won the title in 1967, and Calio of the Estonian sleep, with the winner of the clash against the Romanian Cluj and Maccabi Tel Aviv.
The winner will also meet the Red Star of Serbia in 1991 and Finland's Helsinki with the winner of the match against New Zealand's Welsh and Copenhagen.
Porto, two European champions, will meet Russia's Krasnodar while Eindhoven, the European champions, meet in 1988 with the winner of the Swiss Basel and Austrian Wienz.
The winning teams in the third round qualify for the qualifying round for the group stage, with the first leg on August 20 and 21, and the return matches on the 27th and 28th of the same month.
The group stage begins on September 17 and ends with the final on 30 May 2020 in Istanbul.