Suspensions are often associated with the consequences of yellow and red cards, but that is not always the case. Consider for example the suspension Jan Vertonghen got a couple of years back for something done of the pitch.

The yellow and red cards were introduced in Dutch soccer in season 1972-73, although Johan Neeskens already got a yellow card one season earlier while playing a European match for Ajax. In the first season a yellow card could lead to a suspension rightaway (just like with the official warnings that were replaced by the yellow cards), and it was not uncommon that a yellow card would lead to a multi game ban.

Later at first only after 3 yellow cards a suspension could follow, while this suspension remained be typically 3 or 4 matches. Later, in season 1984-85, a standard suspension of 1 match after 3 yellow cards was introduced, which is very similar to the system that is used nowadays.

Yellow cards did not always need to be handed out in the same competition to still count towards the limit of 3. In season 1980-81 there is the case where Dick Schoenake is suspended on basis of a yellow card he gets in the 4th round of the competition because one year earlier he also got a yellow card during a friendly tournament in Spain. This case was of extra interest because the first yellow card was received more than 1 year before the 3rd yellow card, but the Dutch soccer association uses the date they were officially informed about the yellow card instead of the date it was handed out.

The table below contains a list of Ajax players with most suspended matches during the complete career at Ajax, so it does not look at the length of individual suspensions. However the number one on this list, Hein Delsen, also has the longest individual suspension, since all matches he was suspended was part of one series, the suspension of a complete season.