Ajax strip van of captaincy

Ajax have stripped Rafael van der Vaart of the club captaincy.

Ronald Koeman took the decision to take the captain's armband away from the Dutch international after he refused to play on the left wing for Wednesday's UEFA Champions League clash with Bayern Munich.

Van der Vaart was relegated to the bench for the game for his reaction to the request and the captaincy has been handed to Czech midfielder Thomas Galasek.

In a statement Ajax revealed Koeman was unhappy with the attitude of van der Vaart.

"Ronald Koeman found his attitude very disappointing in the light of the team's interests," read the statement.

Van der Vaart tried to defend his decision to refuse to play on the left side of midfield and expects to be restored to the side for this weekend's game with Vitesse Arnhem.

"I wanted to play in my own position. I am a midfielder and don't feel comfortable when I have to fill in on the left wing," said van der Vaart.

"The coach made his choice but on Sunday we play Vitesse in the First Division and I expect to be back in the team."