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Wales Online
Wales Online
Sport
Tom Coleman

How Cardiff City inspired iconic Ajax terrace anthem heard during astonishing Spurs Champions League clash

Ajax may well be out of the Champions League, but they've certainly won plenty of admirers for what's been a heroic campaign.

As well as their impressive brand of fearless, exciting football, which previously claimed the scalps of Real Madrid and Juventus, they've also attracted attention for their fanatical and passionate support.

And Cardiff City fans watching Wednesday's dramatic semi-final - which saw Spurs go through to the final thanks to a Lucas Moura hat-trick - may well have recognised one terrace anthem, in particular.

Bob Marley's hit 'Three Little Birds' has been sung at Ajax games for more than 10 years, but was first adopted by the Dutch giants after a pre-season friendly with Cardiff at Ninian Park back in the summer of 2008.

The song was played while, on police advice, the away fans were kept inside the ground to prevent possible trouble.

Ajax fans sing the song at Ninian Park:

The man responsible at the time, DJ Ali Yassine, later explained the choice of song to Ajax fan website Vak410.nl, saying: "I used to play guitar in a reggae band and I've always found Ajax to be a beautiful club.

"One of the reasons for that is the love that Amsterdam has for reggae but also because of the total football. Once I found out we would play a friendly against Ajax, I decided to play reggae as much as possible."

Ajax vs Tottenham in pictures

Ajax vs Tottenham in pictures

The song has become ingrained in the fabric of the club, and has been sung at every Ajax home game since.

It's become so popular that Marley's son, Ky-Mani, even performed the song in front of a packed Johan Cruijff Arena during Ajax's clash with AEK Athens last September.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Cardiff fans have also been heard singing the song, as too have supporters of Sunderland in recent years.

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