Amsterdam football club Ajax has apologised to English side Arsenal after it emerged the goals made ready for a key Champions League match between the top women’s teams were too low.

‘We are at a big club like Ajax, but we had to measure the goals before we started and they were 10 centimetres too small,’ Arsenal coach Jonas Eidevall said after the game. ‘To be fair, I have never experienced anything like it.’

Ajax apologised for the mix-up, saying the right goals had not been replaced on the main field following routine maintenance at the Toekomst complex. IFAB rules state the bar must be eight feet high (2.44 metres) and the width between the two posts eight yards (7.32 metres).

‘We did manage to put this right before the kick off,’ Ajax told the Telegraph newspaper. ‘We sincerely regret this and will change our procedures to make sure it cannot happen again.’

In the event, Dutch international Vivianne Miedema put the London club through to the group stage of the Champions League competition with the only goal of the game. The two sides drew 2-2 on the first leg in London.

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