On July 8, 2017, Abdelhak Nouri suffered a cardiac arrest during a practice match in Austria. As a result, the midfielder suffered severe and permanent brain damage. Ajax later confirmed that Nouri's medical care in the acute phase on the field was inadequate and, as the employer, has acknowledged liability for the consequences.
The Nouri family and Ajax have now reached an agreement on the compensation to be paid by the club. The proceedings initiated by the Nouri family at the Arbitration Committee of the KNVB have ended as a result of this amicable settlement.
In the arbitration proceedings, the amount of damages, due to, among other things, loss of working capacity and damages, was the subject of discussion. The agreement reached with respect to these items of damage concerns a net compensation of €7,850,000.
Ajax has additionally reimbursed and will continue to reimburse Abdelhak Nouri's nursing and care expenses, among other things, since the summer of 2017.
Edwin van der Sar general manager AFC Ajax: “It is good that an agreement has been reached, allowing us to bring this to a close. We all realize that this does not end the suffering for Abdelhak and his loved ones. It remains an enormously sad situation, which is how we feel here at Ajax as well.
We greatly appreciate the way the family cares for Abdelhak day and night with a tremendous amount of love and attention. When I visit him, I am always welcomed by the family with open arms. The same goes for other Ajax colleagues and we appreciate that enormously.
The bond between Ajax and the Nouri family will always remain. Not only because of the Abdelhak Nouri Trophy, which the family presents annually to the greatest talent of our training. Also because we decided to give the number 34 back number to the Nouri family. Ajax 1 will never again play with jersey number 34, unless the Nouri family and Ajax together want to make an exception for it. Abdelhak's dressing room furniture will also be placed in the Ajax Fanshop, next to the main entrance of the ArenA. We have carefully kept that in the stadium in recent years and are now going to give it a nice place, accessible to everyone.”
Mohammed Nouri, father of Abdelhak: “This coming summer it will be five years since Abdelhak was struck by fate. The past few years have been dominated by his care. Besides all the difficult moments, this has also given us a lot of precious things. Especially the realization that for many people Abdelhak is a personification of solidarity and fraternization. That is an enormously comforting thought.
The involvement and commitment of Ajax has also been enormously important in all these years. Ajax has been an inseparable part of our lives from Abdelhak's earliest years. We cherish the bond with both people within the club and the loyal supporters. Abdelhak will forever be associated with number 34, it was his promise to all supporters to ensure the 34th national title. It makes us proud that this number with historical value remains his. This number was also on his locker in the Ajax 1 dressing room. He was immensely proud of that spot, it was a sign for him that he was getting closer and closer to his goal of being important for Ajax. It is a great gift to all fans that this chair will have a permanent place in the fanshop and will therefore be accessible to everyone.
It is good that the discussion about liability and its consequences are a thing of the past and we can collectively look forward. That will be particularly focused on the wonderful plans we have with the Abdelhak Nouri Foundation. There too, together with Ajax, we want to do justice to Abdelhak's significance. We will go public about the foundation and the plans in the near future.”
For more information about this case, please contact Bojan Dekker.