AZ Alkmaar v West Ham United
UEFA Europa Conference League semi-final second leg, AZ Stadion, Thursday 18 May 2023, 8pm BST (9pm CEST)
West Ham United’s European campaign continues in the Netherlands on Thursday with the second leg of our UEFA Europa Conference League (UECL) semi-final tie against AZ Alkmaar.
The Londoners head to Holland holding a 2-1 lead from the first leg at London Stadium, where second-half goals from Saïd Benrahma and Michail Antonio cancelled out Tijjani Reijnders' first-half opener.
The Hammers will be looking to book their place in a first major European final in 47 years and the third in the Club's history following appearances in the 1965 and 1976 European Cup Winners' Cup finals.
David Moyes' side have won 12 of their 13 ties in this season's UECL, defeating Cypriots AEK Larnaca (6-0 on aggregate) in the round of 16 and Belgian Cup holders KAA Gent (5-2) in the quarter-finals, following a perfect six wins from six in Group B as Danes Silkeborg IF, Romanians FCSB and Gent’s fellow Belgians RSC Anderlecht were all seen off.
AZ have won even more European matches than the Hammers this season, 13, and began their UECL campaign back on 21 July 2022! Since then, Pascal Jansen's side have defeated Tuzla City of Bosnia and Herzegovina (5-0), Dundee United (7-1), Gil Vicente of Portugal (6-1), won five out of six Group E ties against Dnipro-1 of Ukraine, Apollon Limassol of Cyprus and Vaduz of Liechtenstein, then defeated Lazio of Italy (4-2) and Anderlecht (4-1 on penalties after a 2-2 draw) to set up a semi-final meeting with the Irons.
Alkmaar have reached one European final previously, when they lost 5-4 on aggregate to Bobby Robson's Ipswich Town in the two-legged 1981 UEFA Cup final.
The winners will face either Fiorentina of Italy or FC Basel of Switzerland in the final in Prague, Czechia, on Wednesday 7 June, with Basel holding a 2-1 advantage going into the second leg at their St. Jakob-Park stadium on Thursday.
Tickets…
Tickets for this match sold out to Bondholders and Season Ticket Holders with 66 or more Loyalty Points.
In Alkmaar…
A 'Meeting Point' has been designated for West Ham United fans travelling to Alkmaar, situated at Paardenmarkt.
Food and drinks and entertainment will be available from 2-8pm local time, with free shuttle buses departing for AZ Stadium from 6.30pm until kick-off. This is the only way to travel from the Meeting Point to the stadium, access to which is limited to supporters with tickets travelling by shuttle bus.
Shuttle buses will also take supporters from the stadium to Alkmaar railway station after the game for travel back to Amsterdam. From the railway station, it is a ten-minute walk to the Meeting Point.
Supporters must be in possession of a valid match ticket and acceptable identification, which must be produced upon request.
Travel...
The easiest routes are by either flying or taking the Eurostar from London to Amsterdam, then a train from Centraal station to Alkmaar.
If you are travelling direct from Schipol Airport to Alkmaar, missing out Amsterdam Centraal, take a train to Zaandam or Amsterdam Sloterdijk and change for Alkmaar.
If you fancy driving, take the ferry or Eurotunnel to northern France. Drive east along the A16 and E40 over the border into Belgium, past Bruges to Gent, then the R4 north to Zelzate, the E25 and R2 to the west of Antwerp, then the A12 north across the Dutch border. The northbound A4 and A29 take you as far as Rotterdam, then it’s the A16, A20, A13, A4 and A5 past The Hague and Amsterdam, before the A9 takes you the final 20 miles to Alkmaar.
If you take the ferry from Harwich to Hook of Holland, leave the port and take the N223 and N22 to the A4, then follow the same directions as above.
From Alkmaar station, it is a ten-minute taxi to AZ Stadion on the southern outskirts of the city.
Click here to read our Over Land and Sea guide for travelling supporters.
How to Follow...
Thursday's tie will be broadcast live in the UK by BT Sport 1, with kick-off at 8pm BST (9pm CEST).
You can also follow the action via our live blog on whufc.com and our app and across our social media channels. We will also have highlights and exclusive reaction for you after the final whistle.
Team News...
West Ham United hope to welcome Vladimír Coufal (hamstring) and Michail Antonio (calf) back for Thursday's tie, but will be without Gianluca Scamacca (knee).
AZ Alkmaar welcome back Hungarian left-back Milos Kerkez from suspension, while Sweden forward Jesper Karlsson (leg) and attacking midfielder Dani de Wit (foot) returned from injury in the 5-1 Eredivisie win over FC Emmen on Sunday. Captain and former Stoke City centre-back Bruno Martins Indi (thigh) and goalkeeper Sem Westerveld (knee) remain on the sidelines.
UECL Information...
Goal Line Technology will be in operation for this fixture. VAR is now operational in the UEFA Europa Conference League knockout rounds.
Up to 12 substitutes can be named by each manager. Five substitutes are permitted to be used on three occasions, plus half-time. There are no additional ‘concussion substitutes’ available in UEFA Club Competition. In the event that the tie goes to extra-time then a sixth substitute and an additional substitution opportunity is available.
Disciplinary-wise, all accumulated yellow cards expired upon completion of the quarter-finals.
Opposition...
To West Ham United supporters of a certain age, the name AZ Alkmaar will conjure visions of red and white shirts, Johnny Metgod and the 1981 UEFA Cup final.
Of course, the 1970s was the decade of Total Football, when the Oranje of Johan Cruyff wowed the world with their pass-and-move, position-free style of play that took them to two FIFA World Cup finals and Cruyff’s club Ajax to three consecutive European Cup finals.
Come the end of the decade, Ajax remained the dominant force in Dutch football, alongside traditional rivals Feyenoord of Rotterdam and PSV of Eindhoven. However, a fourth club was threatening that dominance – AZ ’67.
Formed in 1967 by the merger of two second-tier clubs, Alkmaar '54 and FC Zaanstreek, AZ ’67 was based in the city of Alkmaar in North Holland, around 25 miles north of Amsterdam.
Famed for its cheesemaking, Alkmaar now had a football club which quickly rose to the country’s top-flight, the Eredivisie, thanks to the financial backing of its owners, brothers, former Alkmaar ‘54 players and appliance store chain owners Cees and Klaas Molenaar.
Financed by the Molenaars, AZ ’67 grew stronger and stronger, won their first major trophy by beating Ajax in the 1978 Dutch Cup final, and regularly qualified for European competition in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
In 1980/81, AZ ’67 enjoyed the best season in their history, as a team led by defenders Metgod and Hugo Hovenkamp, midfielder Jan Peters, strikers Kees Kist and Kristen Nygaard and managed by German Georg Keßler won the Eredivisie title for the first time, lifted the Dutch Cup for a second time and reached the UEFA Cup final, where only a stirring second-leg comeback from Bobby Robson’s Ipswich Town denied them an historic treble.
Keßler departed following another Dutch Cup success in 1982, and, following the death of Cees and the departure of Klaas in the years that followed, a period of decline began, culminating in relegation in 1988. AZ remained in the second-tier, the Eerste divisie, for eight seasons, won promotion, were relegated again immediately, then returned to the Eredivisie in 1998. They have been there ever since.
By the mid-2000s, AZ were again challenging the top teams in the Netherlands and, after a series of near-misses, won the Eredivisie title for a second time in 2008/09, when a squad managed by Louis van Gaal finished eleven points clear of Steve McClaren’s FC Twente.
Four years later, the club won its fourth Dutch Cup, with American forward Jozy Altidore firing AZ to victory over PSV. While further major trophies have eluded the men from Alkmaar, AZ have continued to impress, finishing in the Eredivisie’s top six in each of the previous nine seasons.
Without the resources of the likes of Ajax, Feyenoord and PSV, AZ relies on its outstanding scouting and coaching to recruit and develop young talent, with the likes of future Premier League players Mousa Dembélé, Vincent Janssen, Jóhann Berg Guðmundsson, Wout Weghorst, Alireza Jahanbakhsh and Steven Berghuis among those to spend time at the club in the past 15 years.
Previous Meetings….
This two-legged tie is our first-ever meeting with AZ Alkmaar. However, we have been to the Netherlands on a number of occasions previously.
We first visited on a post-season tour in May 1925, when we faced Ajax, Vitesse and Swallows Rotterdam, before returning again four years later, then again for tours in 1930 and 1937.
May 1959 saw the Irons take on Fortuna in a friendly, but their next visit in March 1976 was far more important – a European Cup Winners’ Cup quarter-final, which ended 4-2 in favour of hosts Den Haag.
We travelled to face the same opponents in friendlies in 1981 and 1982, then Ajax in 1983, Den Haag again in 1986 and PSV in 1987. After winning 1-0 at Heerenveen in the UEFA Intertoto Cup in August 1999, our most-recent trip to Holland saw us draw 1-1 at Den Haag in August 2005.
Match Officials…
Referee: Ivan Kružliak (Slovakia)
Assistant Referees: Branislav Hancko (Slovakia) & Jan Pozor (Slovakia)
Fourth Official: Sven Jablonski (Germany)
VAR: Marco Fritz (Germany)
Assistant VAR: Christian Dingert (Germany)
Thursday's referee is 39-year-old Slovakian Ivan Kružliak.
Born in Bratislava, Kružliak is an experienced official who has taken charge of over 350 matches at all levels in his career.
This season, Kružliak has refereed UEFA Champions League matches involving Chelsea, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Inter Milan, the UEFA Europa League quarter-final between Bayer Leverkusen and Union SG, UEFA Euro 2024 qualifiers and UEFA Nations League ties, and top-flight fixtures in both his native Slovakia and Greece.
In March, he was joined by the same assistants, Branislav Hancko and Jan Pozor, to referee the King's Cup quarter-final between Al-Fayha and Al-Ittihad in Saudi Arabia.
