Ajax’s 2023 ended in the most embarrassing manner possible.

The Dutch giants were knocked out of the KNVB Cup at the second round stage by USV Hercules, a non-professional fourth-tier team from Utrecht.

USV Hercules had a 2-0 lead, but Ajax clawed things back level before the most dramatic of stoppage-time winners for the amateur side.

Dutch magazine Voetbal International called the result ‘the biggest shock in the competition’s history’, and it’s easy to see why.

The result signalled the first time Ajax have lost to non-professional opposition in their 126-year history, and made a bad season even worse than fathomably possible.