The Dutch side stunned Real Madrid – winners of the last three Champions League titles – with a 4-1 win at the Bernabeu on Tuesday, booking their quarter-final place with a 5-3 aggregate win.
De Boer, who works as a youth coach with the Amsterdam club, spent four years at Ibrox as a player from 2000-04, and said he is “100 per cent sure” that clubs like Rangers and Celtic can replicate Ajax’s success.
"You have to have an identity with your players," he told BBC Scotland.
"If you have 11 foreign players, people don't care if the results are there. If you have your homegrown player, people would rather see that than a player who you bought for millions.
"Your resources are limited, but if you focus on the youth from six and seven years old, the whole organisation can be built up. That's what I see in Holland from the amateur teams to the pro teams.
"You have to have a philosophy of where you want to be in a certain stage. I think that's very important, so if you put a timeframe, I think in 10 years you could have some results."
Celtic were knocked out at the play-off stage of the Champions League this season but dropped into the Europa League, where they progressed to the last 32 before being eliminated by Valencia.
Rangers qualified for the group stage of the Europa League for the first time in eight years this season, but finished third behind Villarreal and Rapid Vienna.
