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Johan Cruyff

April 21, 2023

"Cruyff" redirects here. For Johan Cruyff's son, see Jordi Cruyff.

Hendrik Johannes Cruijff (Dutch: [ˈjoːɦɑŋ ˈkrœyf] (listen), internationally known as Johan Cruyff; 25 April 1947 – 24 March 2016) was a Dutch professional football player and manager. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, he won the Ballon d'Or three times, in 1971, 1973 and 1974.[4] Cruyff was a proponent of the football philosophy known as Total Football explored by Rinus Michels, which Cruyff also employed as a manager. Because of the far reaching impact of his playing style and his ideas as manager, he is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in modern football. Apart from being one of the best players of all time, Cruyff is also widely considered to be one of the greatest managers in the history of the sport.[5][6][7][8][9]

Johan Cruyff
Cruyff with the Netherlands in 1974
Personal information
Full name Hendrik Johannes Cruijff
Date of birth (1947-04-25)25 April 1947[1]
Place of birth Amsterdam, Netherlands
Date of death 24 March 2016(2016-03-24) (aged 68)
Place of death Barcelona, Spain
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)[2][3]
Position(s) Forward, attacking midfielder
Youth career
1957–1964 Ajax
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1964–1973 Ajax 245 (193)
1973–1978 Barcelona 143 (48)
1979 Los Angeles Aztecs 22 (14)
1980 Washington Diplomats 24 (10)
1981 Levante 10 (2)
1981 Washington Diplomats 5 (2)
1981–1983 Ajax 36 (14)
1983–1984 Feyenoord 33 (11)
Total 518 (294)
International career
1966–1977 Netherlands 48 (33)
Managerial career
1985–1988 Ajax
1988–1996 Barcelona
2009–2013 Catalonia
Honours
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Dutch football rose from a semi-professional and obscure level to become a powerhouse in the sport.[10][11] Cruyff led the Netherlands to the final of the 1974 FIFA World Cup with three goals and three assists; he received the Golden Ball as player of the tournament.[12][13] After finishing third in UEFA Euro 1976, Cruyff refused to play in the 1978 FIFA World Cup after a kidnapping attempt targeting him and his family in their Barcelona home dissuaded him from football.[14] At club level, Cruyff started his career at Ajax, where he won eight Eredivisie titles, three European Cups, and one Intercontinental Cup, where he had two assists in the final.[15][16] In 329 matches for Ajax, he scored 257 goals and provided more than 170 assists. In 1973, he moved to Barcelona for a world record transfer fee, helping the team win La Liga in his first season and winning the Ballon d'Or. In 180 official matches for Barcelona, he scored 60 goals and provided 83 assists.[17] After retiring from playing in 1984, Cruyff became highly successful as manager of Ajax and later Barcelona; he remained an advisor to both clubs after his coaching tenures. His son Jordi also played football professionally for Barcelona.

In 1999, Cruyff was voted European Player of the Century in an election held by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics, and came second behind Pelé in their World Player of the Century poll.[18] He came third in a vote organised by the French magazine France Football consulting their former Ballon d'Or winners to elect their Football Player of the Century.[19] He was included in the World Team of the 20th Century in 1998, the FIFA World Cup Dream Team in 2002, and in 2004 was named in the FIFA 100 list of the world's greatest living players.[20]

Early life

I was born shortly after the war, though, and was taught not to just accept anything.

—Cruyff said in a documentary on TV3 channel (2015).[21]

Hendrik Johannes "Johan" Cruyff was born on 25 April 1947 in the Burgerziekenhuis hospital in Amsterdam. He grew up on a street five minutes away from Ajax's stadium, his first football club. Johan was the second son of Hermanus Cornelis Cruijff and Petronella Bernarda Draaijer, from a humble, working-class background in east Amsterdam. Cruyff, encouraged by his influential football-loving father and his close proximity in Akkerstraat Stadium, played football with his schoolmates and older brother, Henny, whenever he could, and idolised the prolific Dutch dribbler, Faas Wilkes.

In 1959, Cruyff's father died from a heart attack. His father's death had a major impact on his mentality. As Cruyff recalled, in celebration of his 50th birthday, "My father died when I was just 12 and he was 45. From that day the feeling crept stronger over me that I would die at the same age and, when I had serious heart problems when I reached 45, I thought: 'This is it.' Only medical science, which was not available to help my father, kept me alive."[22] Viewing a potential football career as a way of paying tribute to his father, the death inspired the strong-willed Cruyff, who also frequently visited the burial site at Oosterbegraafplaats.[23] His mother began working at Ajax as a cleaner, deciding that she could no longer carry on at the grocer without her husband, and in the future, this made Cruyff near-obsessed with financial security but also gave him an appreciation for player aids. His mother soon met her second husband, Henk Angel, a field hand at Ajax who proved a key influence in Cruyff's life.[24]

Club career

Gloria Ajax and the golden era of Total Football

See also: Gloria Ajax (AFC Ajax) and Total Football (Totaalvoetbal)
 
Cruyff was instrumental in Ajax's dominance of European football in the early 1970s. He played for Ajax from 1957 to 1973 and 1981 to 1983 (seen here in 1967 against Feyenoord).

Cruyff joined the Ajax youth system on his tenth birthday. Cruyff and his friends would frequently visit a "playground" in their neighbourhood and Ajax youth coach Jany van der Veen, who lived close by, noticed Cruyff's talent and decided to offer him a place at Ajax without a formal trial.[23] When he first joined Ajax, Cruyff preferred baseball and continued to play the sport until age fifteen when he quit at the urging of his coaches.[25]

He made his first team debut on 15 November 1964 in the Eredivisie, against GVAV, scoring the only goal for Ajax in a 3–1 defeat. That year, Ajax finished in their lowest position since the establishment of professional football, in 13th.[26] Cruyff really started to make an impression in the 1965–66 season and established himself as a regular first team player after scoring two goals against DWS in the Olympic stadium on 24 October 1965 in a 2–0 victory. In the seven games that winter, he scored eight times and in March 1966 scored the first three goals in a league game against Telstar in a 6–2 win. Four days later, in a cup game against Veendam in a 7–0 win, he scored four goals. In total that season, Cruyff scored 25 goals in 23 games, and Ajax won the league championship.[12]

 
Cruyff playing for Ajax taking on Liverpool defender Tommy Smith in a European Cup game in December 1966

In the 1966–67 season, Ajax again won the league championship, and also won the KNVB Cup, for Cruyff's first "double".[12] Cruyff ended the season as the leading goalscorer in the Eredivisie with 33. Cruyff won the league for the third successive year in the 1967–68 season. He was also named Dutch footballer of the year for the second successive time, a feat he repeated in 1969.[12] On 28 May 1969, Cruyff played in his first European Cup final against Milan, but the Italians won 4–1.

In the 1969–70 season, Cruyff won his second league and cup "double"; at the beginning of the 1970–71 season, he suffered a groin injury. He made his comeback on 30 October 1970 against PSV, and rather than wear his usual number 9, which was in use by Gerrie Mühren, he instead used number 14.[12] Ajax won 1–0. Although it was very uncommon in those days for the starters of a game not to play with numbers 1 to 11, from that moment onwards, Cruyff wore number 14, even with the Dutch national team. There was a documentary on Cruyff, Nummer 14 Johan Cruyff[27] and in the Netherlands there is a magazine by Voetbal International, Nummer 14.[28]

In a league game against AZ '67 on 29 November 1970, Cruyff scored six goals in an 8–1 victory. After winning a replayed KNVB Cup final against Sparta Rotterdam by a score of 2–1, Ajax won in Europe for the first time. On 2 June 1971, in London, Ajax won the European Cup by defeating Panathinaikos 2–0.[12] He signed a seven-year contract at Ajax. At the end of the season, he was named the Dutch and European Footballer of the Year for 1971.[12]

In 1972, Ajax won a second European Cup, beating Inter Milan 2–0 in the final, with Cruyff scoring both goals.[12] This victory prompted Dutch newspapers to announce the demise of the Italian style of defensive football in the face of Total Football. Soccer: The Ultimate Encyclopaedia says, "Single-handed, Cruyff not only pulled Internazionale of Italy apart in the 1972 European Cup Final, but scored both goals in Ajax's 2–0 win."[29] Cruyff also scored in the 3–2 victory over ADO Den Haag in the KNVB Cup final. In the league, Cruyff was the top scorer with 25 goals as Ajax became champions. Ajax won the Intercontinental Cup, beating Argentina's Independiente 1–1 in the first game followed by 3–0, and then in January 1973, they won the European Super Cup by beating Rangers 3–1 away and 3–2 in Amsterdam. Cruyff's only own goal came on 20 August 1972 against FC Amsterdam. A week later, against Go Ahead Eagles in a 6–0 win, Cruyff scored four times for Ajax. The 1972–73 season was concluded with another league championship victory and a third successive European Cup with a 1–0 win over Juventus in the final.[29]

Barcelona and the first La Liga title in 14 years

When players like [Gareth] Bale and [Cristiano] Ronaldo are worth around €100 million, Johan [Cruyff] would go in the billions!

—Franz Beckenbauer, in an interview with Bild.de (September 2014) about Cruyff's transfer value in the early 1970s.[30][31]

 
Cruyff played for Barcelona from 1973 to 1978

In mid-1973, Cruyff was sold to Barcelona for 6 million guilders (approx. US$2 million, c. 1973) in a world record transfer fee.[32] On 19 August 1973, he played his last match for Ajax where they defeated FC Amsterdam 6–1, the second match of the 1973–74 season.

Cruyff endeared himself to the Barcelona fans when he chose a Catalan name, Jordi, for his son. He helped the club win La Liga for the first time since 1960, defeating their fiercest rivals Real Madrid 5–0 at their home of the Santiago Bernabéu. Thousands of Barcelona fans who watched the match on television poured out of their homes to join in street celebrations.[33] A New York Times journalist wrote that Cruyff had done more for the spirit of the Catalan people in 90 minutes than many politicians in years of struggle.[33] Football historian Jimmy Burns stated, "with Cruyff, the team felt they couldn't lose".[33] He gave them speed, flexibility and a sense of themselves.[33] In 1974 Cruyff was crowned European Footballer of the Year.[12]

During his time at Barcelona, in a game against Atlético Madrid, Cruyff scored a goal in which he leapt into the air and kicked the ball past Miguel Reina in the Atlético goal with his right heel (the ball was at about neck height and had already travelled wide of the far post).[34] The goal was featured in the documentary En un momento dado, in which fans of Cruyff attempted to recreate that moment. The goal has been dubbed Le but impossible de Cruyff (Cruyff's impossible goal).[citation needed] In 1978, Barcelona defeated Las Palmas 3–1, to win the Copa del Rey.[12] Cruyff played two games with Paris Saint-Germain in 1975 during the Paris tournament. He had only agreed because he was a fan of designer Daniel Hechter, who was then president of PSG.[35][36]

Brief retirement and spells in the United States

Cruyff briefly retired in 1978. But after losing most of his money in a series of poor investments, including a pig farm, that were counseled by a scam artist, Cruyff and his family came to the United States.[37][38] As he recalled, "I had lost millions in pig-farming and that was the reason I decided to become a footballer again."[22] Cruyff insisted that his decision to resume his playing career in the United States was pivotal in his career. "It was wrong, a mistake, to quit playing at 31 with the unique talent I possessed", and adding that "Starting from zero in America, many miles away from my past, was one of the best decisions I made. There I learned how to develop my uncontrolled ambitions, to think as a coach and about sponsorship."[22]

In May 1979, Cruyff signed a lucrative deal with the Los Angeles Aztecs of the North American Soccer League (NASL).[39][12] He had previously been rumoured to be joining the New York Cosmos but the deal did not materialise; he played a few exhibition games for the Cosmos. He stayed at the Aztecs for only one season, and was voted NASL Player of the Year. After considering an offer to join Dumbarton F.C. in Scotland, In February 1980, he moved to play for the Washington Diplomats.[40] He played the whole 1980 campaign for the Diplomats, even as the team was facing dire financial trouble. In May 1981, Cruyff played as a guest player for Milan in a tournament, but was injured. As a result, he missed the beginning of the 1981 NASL season, which ultimately led to Cruyff choosing to leave the team. Cruyff also loathed playing on artificial surfaces, which were common in the NASL at the time.

Return to Spain with Levante and second spell at Washington Diplomats

In January 1981, Cruyff played three friendly matches for FC Dordrecht. Also in January 1981, manager Jock Wallace of English club Leicester City made an attempt to sign Cruyff, competing with Arsenal and an unnamed German club for his services,[41] and despite negotiations lasting three weeks, in which Cruyff expressed his desire to play for the club, a deal could not be reached. Cruyff instead chose to sign with Spanish Segunda División side Levante in February 1981.[42]

On 1 March 1981, Cruyff took the field for the first time for Levante, starting in a 1–0 win against Palencia.[41] Injuries and disagreements with the administration of the club, however, blighted his spell in the Segunda División and he only made ten appearances, scoring two goals. Having failed to secure promotion to the Primera División, a contract with Levante fell through.[43]

In June 1981, Cruyff returned to the U.S. and he played for Washington Diplomats in 1981 NASL season.

Second spell at Ajax

 
Johan Cruyff with Japanese fans in 1982

After his spell in the U.S. and his short-lived stay in Spain, Cruyff returned to playing for Ajax in December 1981. Originally, he had rejoined Ajax on 30 November 1980, before his time as a player with Levante, as "technical advisor" to trainer Leo Beenhakker, Ajax being eighth in the league table at the time after 13 games played. After 34 games, however, Ajax finished the 1980–81 season in second. In December 1981, Cruyff signed a contract as "player" with Ajax until the summer of 1983.[43]

In the 1981–82 and 1982–83 seasons, Ajax, along with Cruyff, became league champions. In 1982–83, Ajax won the Dutch Cup (KNVB-Beker). In 1982, he scored a famous goal against Helmond Sport. While playing for Ajax, Cruyff scored a penalty the same way Rik Coppens had done it 25 years earlier.[44][45] He put the ball down as for a routine penalty kick, but instead of shooting at goal, Cruyff nudged the ball sideways to teammate Jesper Olsen, who in return passed it back to Cruyff to tap the ball into the empty net, as Otto Versfeld, the Helmond goalkeeper, looked on.[12]

 
Cruyff's farewell at Feyenoord

Final season at Feyenoord and retirement

At the end of the 1982–83 season, Ajax decided not to offer Cruyff a new contract. This angered Cruyff, who responded by signing for Ajax's archrivals Feyenoord.[46] Cruyff's season at Feyenoord was a successful one in which the club won the Eredivisie for the first time in a decade, part of a league and KNVB Cup double. The team's success was due to the performances of Cruyff along with Ruud Gullit and Peter Houtman.[47]

Despite his relatively advanced age, Cruyff played all league matches that season except for one. Because of his performance on the field, he was voted as Dutch Footballer of the Year for the fifth time. At the end of the season, the veteran announced his final retirement. He ended his Eredivisie playing career on 13 May 1984 with a goal against PEC Zwolle. Cruyff played his last game in Saudi Arabia against Al-Ahli, bringing Feyenoord back into the game with a goal and an assist.[48]

International career

 
Cruyff as captain of the Netherlands prior to a game at the 1974 World Cup

As a Dutch international, Cruyff played 48 matches, scoring 33 goals.[12][49] The national team never lost a match in which Cruyff scored. On 7 September 1966, he made his official debut for the Netherlands in the UEFA Euro 1968 qualifier against Hungary, scoring in the 2–2 draw. In his second match, a friendly against Czechoslovakia, Cruyff was the first Dutch international to receive a red card. The Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) banned him from Internationals games but not Eredivise or KNVB Cup games.[50]

Accusations of Cruyff's "aloofness" were not rebuffed by his habit of wearing a shirt with only two black stripes along the sleeves, as opposed to Adidas' usual design feature of three, worn by all the other Dutch players. Cruyff had a separate sponsorship deal with Puma.[51] From 1970 onwards, he wore the number 14 jersey for the Netherlands, setting a trend for wearing shirt numbers outside the usual starting line-up numbers of 1 to 11.[12]

Cruyff led the Netherlands to a runners-up medal in the 1974 World Cup and was named player of the tournament.[12] Thanks to his team's mastery of Total Football, they coasted all the way to the final, knocking out Argentina (4–0), East Germany (2–0) and Brazil (2–0) along the way.[12] Cruyff scored twice against Argentina in one of his team's most dominating performances, then he scored the second goal against Brazil to knock out the defending champions.[12]

 
 
(Left): Cruyff in the box during the 1974 World Cup Final, just before he was fouled for a penalty; (right): Three of the most notable figures of the Totaalvoetbal school: Johan Neeskens, Rinus Michels and Cruyff, pictured in 1976

The Netherlands faced hosts West Germany in the final. Cruyff kicked off and the ball was passed around the Oranje team 15 times before returning to Cruyff, who then went on a run past Berti Vogts and ended when he was fouled by Uli Hoeneß inside the box. Teammate Johan Neeskens scored from the spot kick to give the Netherlands a 1–0 lead and the Germans had not yet touched the ball.[12] During the latter half of the final, his influence was stifled by the effective marking of Vogts, while Franz Beckenbauer, Uli Hoeneß and Wolfgang Overath dominated the midfield as West Germany came back to win 2–1.[52]

After 1976

Cruyff retired from international football in October 1977, having helped the national team qualify for the upcoming World Cup.[12] Without him, the Netherlands finished runners-up in the World Cup again. Initially, there were two rumours as to his reason for missing the 1978 World Cup: either he missed it for political reasons (a military dictatorship was in power in Argentina at that time), or that his wife dissuaded him from playing.[53] In 2008, Cruyff stated to the journalist Antoni Bassas in Catalunya Ràdio that he and his family were subject to a kidnap attempt in Barcelona a year before the tournament, and that this had caused his retirement. "To play a World Cup you have to be 200% okay, there are moments when there are other values in life."[54]

Coaching career

Entry into management with Ajax

 
 
Two images of Cruyff as Ajax manager: (left): with Van Basten and Rijkaard in 1986; (right): during a press conference in November 1987

After retiring from playing, Cruyff followed in the footsteps of his mentor Rinus Michels, coaching a young Ajax side to victory in the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1987 (1–0). In May and June 1985, Cruyff returned to Ajax again. In the 1985–86 season, the league title was lost to Jan Reker's PSV, despite Ajax having a goal difference of +85 (120 goals for, 35 goals against). In the 1985–86 and 1986–87 seasons, Ajax won the KNVB Cup.

It was during this period as manager that Cruyff was able to implement his favoured team formation—three mobile defenders; plus one more covering space – becoming, in effect, a defensive midfielder (from Rijkaard, Blind, Silooy, Verlaat, Larsson, Spelbos), two "controlling" midfielders (from Rijkaard, Scholten, Winter, Wouters, Mühren, Witschge) with responsibilities to feed the attack-minded players, one second striker (Bosman, Scholten), two touchline-hugging wingers (from Bergkamp, van't Schip, De Wit, Witschge) and one versatile centre forward (from Van Basten, Meijer, Bosman). So successful was this system that Ajax won the Champions League in 1995 playing Cruyff's system – a tribute to Cruyff's legacy as Ajax coach.[55]

Return to Barcelona as manager and building the Dream Team

After having appeared for the club as a player, Cruyff returned to Barcelona for the 1988–89 season, this time to take up his new role as coach of the first team. Before returning to Barcelona, however, Cruyff had already built up plenty of experience as a coach/manager. In the Netherlands, he was strongly praised for the attacking flair he imposed on his sides and also for his commendable work as talent spotter. With Barça, Cruyff started work with a completely remodelled side after the previous season's scandal, known as the "Hesperia Mutiny" ("El Motí de l'Hespèria [ca]" in Catalan). His second in command was Carles Rexach, who had already been at the club for a year. Cruyff immediately had his Barça charges playing his attractive brand of football and the results did not take long in coming. But, this did not just happen with the first team, the youth teams also displayed that same attacking style, something that made it easier for reserve players to make the switch to first team football.[56][57] As Sid Lowe noted, when Cruyff took over as manager, Barcelona of the late 1980s "were a club in debt and in crisis. Results were bad, performances were worse, the atmosphere terrible and attendances down, while even the relationship between the president of the club Josep Lluís Núñez and the president of the Spanish autonomous community they represented, Jordi Pujol, had deteriorated. It did not work immediately but he [Cruyff] recovered the identity he had embodied as a player. He took risks, and rewards followed."[58]

 
Main façade of old La Masia, the Barcelona youth academy.

At Barça, Cruyff brought in players such as Pep Guardiola, José Mari Bakero, Txiki Begiristain, Andoni Goikoetxea, Ronald Koeman, Michael Laudrup, Romário, Gheorghe Hagi and Hristo Stoichkov. With Cruyff, Barça experienced a glorious era. In the space of five years (1989–1994), he led the club to four European finals (two European Cup Winners' Cup finals and two European Cup/UEFA Champions League finals). Cruyff's track record includes one European Cup, four Liga championships, one Cup Winners' Cup, one Copa del Rey and four Supercopa de España.[59]

Under Cruyff, Barça's "Dream Team" won four La Liga titles in a row (1991–1994), and beat Sampdoria in both the 1989 European Cup Winners' Cup final and the 1992 European Cup final at Wembley Stadium.[60][57] On 10 May 1989, goals from Salinas and López Rekarte led Barcelona to a 2–0 victory against Sampdoria. Over 25,000 supporters travelled to Switzerland to support the team. Cruyff's new Barça took home the club's third Cup Winners' Cup. The European Cup dream became a reality on 20 May 1992 at Wembley in London, when Barça beat Sampdoria. Cruyff's last instruction to his players before they stepped onto the pitch was "Salid y disfrutad" (Spanish for "Go out and enjoy it" or "Go out there and enjoy yourselves").[61][62] The match went to extra time after a scoreless draw. In the 111th minute, Ronald Koeman's brilliant free kick clinched Barça's first European Cup victory. Twenty-five thousand supporters accompanied the team to Wembley, while one million turned out on the streets of Barcelona to welcome the European champions home.[61] Victories under Cruyff include a 5–0 La Liga win over Real Madrid in El Clásico at the Camp Nou, as well as a 4–0 win against Manchester United in the Champions League.[63][64][65] Barcelona won a Copa del Rey in 1990, the European Super Cup in 1992 and three Supercopa de España, as well as finishing runner-up to Manchester United and Milan in two European finals.[60]

With 11 trophies, Cruyff was Barcelona's most successful manager, but has since been surpassed by his former player Pep Guardiola, who achieved 15. Cruyff was also the club's longest-serving manager. In his final two seasons, however, he failed to win any trophies, falling out with chairman Josep Lluís Núñez, who ultimately sacked him as Barcelona coach.[66]

While still at Barcelona, Cruyff was in negotiations with the KNVB to manage the national team for the 1994 World Cup finals, but talks broke off at the last minute.[67]

Catalonia national team

 
Cruyff with the Catalonia national team in January 2013

As well as representing Catalonia on the pitch in 1976, Cruyff also managed the Catalonia national team from 2009 to 2013, leading the team to a victory over Argentina in his debut match.[68]

On 2 November 2009, Cruyff was named as manager of the Catalonia national team. It was his first managing job in 13 years.[69] On 22 December 2009, they played a friendly game against Argentina, which ended in a Catalonia win, 4–2 at Camp Nou. On 28 December 2010, Catalonia played a friendly against Honduras winning 4–0 at Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys.[70] On 30 December 2011, Catalonia played Tunisia in a goalless draw at the Lluís Companys.[71] In their last game under Cruyff, on 2 January 2013, Catalonia drew with Nigeria at the Cornellà-El Prat, 1–1.[72]

Other football-related activities

As a technical advisor

Unofficial advisor to Barcelona president Joan Laporta

Later in his reign as Barcelona manager, Cruyff suffered a heart attack and was advised to quit coaching by his doctors. He left in 1996, and never took another top job, but his influence did not end there. Though he vowed never to coach again, he remained a vocal football critic and analyst. Cruyff's open support helped candidate Joan Laporta to victory in Barcelona's presidential elections. He continued to be an adviser for him, although he held no official post at Barcelona.[73][74] Back in an advisory capacity alongside Joan Laporta, he recommended the appointment of Frank Rijkaard in 2003. Again Barca was successful, winning back-to-back league titles and another Champions League crown in 2006.

After two relatively disappointing campaigns, Laporta survived a censure motion and an overhaul was needed. In summer 2008, Rijkaard left the club and even though José Mourinho was pushing for the job at Camp Nou, Cruyff chose Pep Guardiola. Many were quick to point to Guardiola's lack of coaching experience, but Cruyff said, "The biggest test for a coach at a team like Barça is the strength to make decisions and the ability to talk to the press, because they don't help and you have to manage that. After that, it's easy for those who know football. But there aren't many who know."[75]

On 26 March 2010, Cruyff was named honorary president of Barcelona in recognition of his contributions to the club as both a player and manager.[76] In July 2010, however, he was stripped of this title by new president Sandro Rosell.[77][78]

Return to Ajax as technical director

On 20 February 2008, in the wake of a major research on the ten-year-mismanagement, it was announced that Cruyff would be the new technical director at his boyhood club Ajax, his fourth stint with the Amsterdam club.[79] Cruyff announced in March that he was pulling out of his planned return to Ajax because of "professional difference of opinion" between him and Ajax's new manager, Marco van Basten. Van Basten said that Cruyff's plans were "going too fast", because he was "not so dissatisfied with how things are going now".[80]

On 11 February 2011, Cruyff returned to Ajax on an advisory basis after agreeing to become a member of one of three "sounding board groups".[81] After presenting his plans to reform the club, in particular to rejuvenate the youth academy, the Ajax board of advisors and the CEO resigned on 30 March 2011.[82] On 6 June 2011, he was appointed to the new Ajax board of advisors to implement his reform plans.[83][84]

The Ajax advisory board made a verbal agreement with Louis van Gaal to appoint him as the new CEO, without consulting Cruyff.[85] Cruyff, a fellow board member, took Ajax to court in an attempt to block the appointment.[86] The court overturned the appointment, saying that the board had "deliberately put Cruyff offside".[87] Due to the ongoing quarrel within the advisory board, Cruyff resigned on 10 April 2012, with Ajax stating that Cruyff will "remain involved with the implementation of his football vision within the club".[88]

Technical advisor for Chivas Guadalajara

Cruyff became a technical advisor for Mexican club Guadalajara in February 2012. Jorge Vergara, the owner of the club, made him the team's sport consultant in response to the losing record Guadalajara sustained in the last few months of 2011.[89] Although signed to a three-year contract, Cruyff's contract was terminated December 2012 after just nine months with the club. Guadalajara said that other members of the team's coaching staff would likely not be terminated.[90]

Ambassador for Belgium and the Netherlands joint bid to host the World Cup

In September 2009, Cruyff and Ruud Gullit were unveiled as ambassadors for the Belgium–Netherlands joint bid for the World Cup finals in 2018 or 2022 at the official launch in Eindhoven.[91]

Style of play and legacy

Cruyff is widely seen as a revolutionary figure in the history of Ajax, Barcelona, and the Netherlands. The style of play Cruyff introduced at Barcelona later came to be known as tiki-taka—characterised by short passing and movement, working the ball through various channels, and maintaining possession—which was later adopted by the Euro 2008, 2010 FIFA World Cup and Euro 2012 winning Spain national football team.[92]

The total footballer

 
Cruyff playing with Ajax in 1971

Throughout his career, Cruyff became synonymous with the playing style of "Total Football".[93][94][95] It is a system where a player who moves out of his position is replaced by another from his team, thus allowing the team to retain their intended organizational structure. In this fluid system, no footballer is fixed in their intended outfield role. The style was honed by Ajax coach Rinus Michels, with Cruyff serving as the on-field "conductor".[96][97] Space and the creation of it were central to the concept of Total Football. Ajax defender Barry Hulshoff, who played with Cruyff, explained how the team that won the European Cup in 1971, 1972 and 1973 worked it to their advantage: "We discussed space the whole time. Cruyff always talked about where people should run, where they should stand, where they should not be moving. It was all about making space and coming into space. It is a kind of architecture on the field. We always talked about speed of ball, space and time. Where is the most space? Where is the player who has the most time? That is where we have to play the ball. Every player had to understand the whole geometry of the whole pitch and the system as a whole."[98]

The team orchestrator, Cruyff was a creative playmaker with a gift for timing passes.[99] Nominally, he played centre-forward in this system and was a prolific goalscorer, but dropped deep to confuse his markers or moved to the wing to great effect.[100] In the 1974 World Cup final between West Germany and the Netherlands, from the kick-off, the Dutch monopolised ball possession. At the start of the move that led to the opening goal, Cruyff picked up the ball in his own half. The Dutch captain, who was nominally a centre-forward, was the deepest Dutch outfield player, and after a series of passes, he set off on a run from the centre circle into the West German box. Unable to stop Cruyff by fair means, Uli Hoeness brought Cruyff down, conceding a penalty scored by Johan Neeskens. The first German to thus touch the ball was goalkeeper Sepp Maier picking the ball out of his own net.[101] Due to the way Cruyff played the game, he is still referred to as "the total footballer".[102]

Cruyff was known for his technical ability, speed, acceleration, dribbling and vision, possessing an awareness of his teammates' positions as an attack unfolded. "Football consists of different elements: technique, tactics and stamina", he told the journalists Henk van Dorp and Frits Barend, in one of the interviews collected in their book Ajax, Barcelona, Cruyff. "There are some people who might have better technique than me, and some may be fitter than me, but the main thing is tactics. With most players, tactics are missing. You can divide tactics into insight, trust and daring. In the tactical area, I think I just have more than most other players." On the concept of technique in football, Cruyff once said: "Technique is not being able to juggle a ball 1,000 times. Anyone can do that by practising. Then you can work in the circus. Technique is passing the ball with one touch, with the right speed, at the right foot of your team mate."[103]

Win-with-style philosophy

Winning is just one day, a reputation can last a lifetime. Winning is an important thing, but to have your own style, to have people copy you, to admire you, that is the greatest gift.

— Johan Cruyff[104]

Cruyff always considered the aesthetic and moral aspects of the game; it was not just about winning, but about winning with the ‘right’ style and in the ‘right’ way. He also always spoke highly of the entertainment value of the game. The beautiful game, for him, was as much about entertainment and joy as results. In the thinking of Cruyff, victory was only truly meaningful when it could fully capture the minds and hearts of competitors and spectators. As he once noted, "Quality without results is pointless. Results without quality is boring,".[105] For Cruyff, choosing a ’right’ style of play to win was even more important than winning itself.[106][107] Cruyff always believed in simplicity, seeing simplicity and beauty as inseparable. "Simple football is the most beautiful. But playing simple football is the hardest thing", as Cruyff once summed up his fundamental philosophy.[108] "How often do you see a pass of forty meters when twenty meters is enough?... To play well, you need good players, but a good player almost always has the problem of a lack of efficiency. He always wants to do things prettier than strictly necessary."[109]

Cruyff also perfected a feint now known as the "Cruyff Turn".[100] The feint is an example of the simplicity in Cruyff's football philosophy. It was neither carried out to embarrass the opponent nor to excite the watching crowd, but because Cruyff estimated that it was the simplest method (in terms of effort and risk versus expected result) to beat his opponent. Cruyff looked to pass or cross the ball, then, instead of kicking it, he dragged the ball behind his planted foot with the inside of his other foot, turned through 180 degrees, and accelerated away.[110] As Swedish defender Jan Olsson (a "victim" of the Cruyff Turn at the 1974 World Cup) recalled, "I played 18 years in top football and seventeen times for Sweden but that moment against Cruyff was the proudest moment of my career. I thought I'd win the ball for sure, but he tricked me. I was not humiliated. I had no chance. Cruyff was a genius."[111]

Like Dutch football in general until the mid-1960s, Cruyff's early playing career was considerably influenced by coaching philosophy of British coaches such as Vic Buckingham.[112][113]

The mind-body duality always played an important role in his footballing philosophy. In Cruyff's words, quoted in Dennis Bergkamp's autobiography Stillness and Speed: My Story, "...Because you play football with your head, and your legs are there to help you. If you don't use your head, using your feet won't be sufficient. Why does a player have to chase the ball? Because he started running too late. You have to pay attention, use your brain and find the right position. If you get to the ball late, it means you chose the wrong position. Bergkamp was never late."[114] For Cruyff, football was an artistic-oriented mind-body game instead of an athletic-oriented physical competition. As he put it, "Every trainer talks about movement, about running a lot. I say don't run so much. Football is a game you play with your brain. You have to be in the right place at the right moment, not too early, not too late."[98]

The creativity was always the key element in his footballing philosophy, both as a player and as a manager. Cruyff once compared his more intuitive and individualistic approach with Louis van Gaal's more mechanized and rigid coaching style, "Van Gaal has a good vision on football. But it's not mine. He wants to gel winning teams and has a militaristic way of working with his tactics. I don't. I want individuals to think for themselves and take the decision on the pitch that is best for the situation... I don't have anything against computers, but you judge football players intuitively and with your heart. On the basis of the criteria which are now in use at Ajax [recommended by Van Gaal] I would have failed the test. When I was 15, I could barely kick the ball 15 metres with my left and with the right maybe 20 metres. I would not have been able to take a corner. Besides, I was physically weak and relatively slow. My two qualities were great technique and insight, which happen to be two things you cannot measure with a computer."[115]

Cruyff's favourite world XI

In his posthumously released autobiography My Turn: The Autobiography,[116] Cruyff reveals his dream all-time XI in his favourite 3–4–3/4–3–3 formation. Cruyff's side (in the 3–4–3 diamond formation) reads as follows: Lev Yashin (goalkeeper); Ruud Krol (full back/wing-back), Franz Beckenbauer (central defender/libero), Carlos Alberto (full-back/wing-back); Pep Guardiola (holding midfielder/midfield anchor), Bobby Charlton, Alfredo Di Stéfano, Diego Maradona (playmaker/attacking midfielder/second striker); Piet Keizer (winger), Garrincha (winger), and Pelé (centre-forward/striker). For humility, Cruyff did not put himself in there, but there is a spot for his pupil, Pep Guardiola and his former teammates, Ruud Krol and Piet Keizer. It's a typically attacking line-up but Cruyff explains the selection in detail. "For the ideal squad, I also try and find a formula in which talent is used to the maximum in every case", notes Cruyff. "The qualities of one player have to complement the qualities of another."[117][118]

Cruyff's 14 rules

In his autobiography, Cruyff explained why he made a set of 14 basic rules, which are displayed at every Cruyff Court in the world: "I read an article once about the building of the pyramids in Egypt. It turns out that some of the numbers coincide completely with natural laws – the position of the moon at certain times and so on. And it makes you think: how is it possible that those ancient people built something so scientifically complex? They must have had something that we don't, even though we always think that we're a lot more advanced than they were. Take Rembrandt and van Gogh: who can match them today? When I think that way, I'm increasingly convinced that everything is actually possible. If they managed to do the impossible nearly five thousand years ago, why can't we do it today? That applies equally to football, but also to something like the Cruyff Courts and school sports grounds. My fourteen rules are set out for every court and every school sports ground to follow. They are there to teach young people that sports and games can also be translated into everyday life."[116]

And he listed his 14 basic rules that include:

  1. Team player – 'To accomplish things, you have to do them together.';
  2. Responsibility – 'Take care of things as if they were your own.';
  3. Respect – 'Respect one another.';
  4. Integration – 'Involve others in your activities.';
  5. Initiative – 'Dare to try something new.';
  6. Coaching – 'Always help each other within a team.';
  7. Personality – 'Be yourself.';
  8. Social involvement – 'Interaction is crucial, both in sport and in life.';
  9. Technique – 'Know the basics.';
  10. Tactics – 'Know what to do.';
  11. Development – 'Sport strengthens body and soul.';
  12. Learning – 'Try to learn something new every day.';
  13. Play together – 'An essential part of any game.';
  14. Creativity – 'Bring beauty to the sport.'[116]

Named after Cruyff

  • Cruyff turn (known as "Cruijff turn" in Dutch), a dribbling trick perfected by Cruyff. The trick was famously employed by Cruyff during the 1974 World Cup.[111]
  • Johan Cruyff Shield (Johan Cruijff Schaal in Dutch), a football trophy in the Netherlands, also referred to as the Dutch Super Cup.
  • Johan Cruyff Award or Dutch Football Talent of the Year (Dutch: Nederlands Voetbal Talent van het Jaar), the title has been awarded in the Netherlands since 1984 for footballers under 21. The award Dutch Football Talent of the Year was replaced by the Johan Cruyff Trophy (Johan Cruijff Prijs in Dutch) in 2003.
  • 14282 Cruijff, the asteroid (minor planet) was named after Cruyff. The International Astronomical Union (IAU) officially ratified the naming of Cruijff on 23 September 2010.
  • Johan Cruyff Institute, an educational institution, founded by Johan Cruyff, aimed at educating athletes, sport and business professionals in the field of sport management, sport marketing, football business, sponsorship and coaching through a network that currently has five Johan Cruyff Institute (postgraduate and executive education), three Johan Cruyff Academy (graduate education) and five Johan Cruyff College (vocational training).
  • Johan Cruyff Foundation, founded in 1997 from the wish of Cruyff to give children the opportunity to play and be active.
  • Johan Cruyff Academy, offers elite athletes an opportunity to balance sports with a four-year Bachelor of Business Administration programme in Sport Marketing, a learning track of Commercial Economics. There are Johan Cruyff Academy in Amsterdam, Groningen and Tilburg. These Johan Cruyff Academy are part of Dutch universities of applied science.
  • Johan Cruyff College, offers elite athletes from all kinds of sports an opportunity to balance sport with vocational education. The programmes of the Johan Cruyff College are designed for students who practice sports at the highest levels in The Netherlands, and are delivered in Dutch. There are five Johan Cruyff College in The Netherlands: Amsterdam, Enschede, Groningen, Nijmegen and Roosendaal. Each Johan Cruyff College is part of a Regional Education Centre or ROC, academic centres that are administered by the Dutch government.
  • Cruyff Courts, smaller sized football fields suitable for seven-a-side game. A Cruyff Court is a modern alternative to the ancient green public playground, which one could find in a lot of neighbourhoods and districts, but that over the years has been sacrificed due to urbanisation and expansion.[119]
  • Cruijffiaans, the name given to the way of speaking, or a collection of sayings, made famous by Cruyff, particularly "one-liners that hover somewhere between the brilliant and the banal".
  • Cruyffista (mainly in Spain), a follower/supporter of Cruyff's views (principles) on football development philosophy and sports culture.[120][107]
  • Johan Cruyff Stadium (Estadi Johan Cruyff in Catalan), FC Barcelona's newly constructed stadium is named after Cruyff.
  • Johan Cruyff Arena (Johan Cruijff Arena in Dutch), previously known as the Amsterdam Arena.

In popular culture

 
Bronze statue of Johan Cruyff and Berti Vogts (depicting tackling of Vogts versus Cruyff in World Cup final 1974) in front of the Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam, by Ek van Zanten.
 
Cruyff's statue at the main entrance of the Johan Cruijff Arena in Amsterdam

In 2018, Cruyff was added as an icon to the Ultimate Team in EA Sports' FIFA video game FIFA 19, receiving a 94 rating.[121] British sportswriter David Winner's 2000 book on Dutch football, Brilliant Orange, mentions Cruyff frequently. In the book, Dutch football's ideas (in particular Cruyff's) effectively related to the use of space in Dutch painting and Dutch architecture.

In 1976, the Italian-language documentary film Il profeta del gol was directed by Sandro Ciotti. The documentary narrates the successes of Johan Cruyff's football career in the 1970s. In 2004, the documentary film Johan Cruijff – En un momento dado ("Johan Cruijff – At Any Given Moment") was made by Ramon Gieling and charts the years Cruyff spent at Barcelona, the club where he had the most profound effect in both a footballing and cultural sense. In 2014, the Catalan-language documentary film L'últim partit: 40 anys de Johan Cruyff a Catalunya was directed by Jordi Marcos, celebrating 40 years since Johan Cruyff signed for Barcelona in August 1973.

British rock band The Hours recorded a song called "Love You More" in 2007. In it lead singer Antony Genn described his partner as "Better than Elvis in his '68 comeback, Better than Cruyff in '74..", In an interview with German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung in 2008, when German Chancellor Angela Merkel was discussing the upcoming Euro 2008, she praised Cruyff's performance at the 1974 World Cup: "Cruyff really impressed me. I think I wasn't the only one in Europe."[122] Cruyff stood out at the 1974 World Cup in West Germany which Merkel watched from her then home country East Germany.[123]

In the Netherlands, and to some extent Spain, Cruyff is famous for his one-liners that usually hover between brilliant insight and the blatantly obvious. They are famous for their Amsterdam dialect and incorrect grammar, and often feature tautologies and paradoxes.[124] In Spain, his most famous statement is "En un momento dado" ("In any given moment"). The quote has been used for the title of a 2004 documentary about Cruyff's life: Johan Cruijff – En un momento dado. In the Netherlands, his most famous one-liner is "Ieder nadeel heb z'n voordeel" ("Every disadvantage has its advantage") and his way of expressing himself has been dubbed "Cruijffiaans". Cruyff rarely limited himself to a single line though, and in a comparison with the equally oracular but reserved football manager Rinus Michels, Kees Fens equated Cruyff's monologues to experimental prose, "without a subject, only an attempt to drop words in a sea of uncertainty ... there is no full stop".[124]

He had a small hit (number 21 in the charts) in the Netherlands with "Oei Oei Oei (Dat Was Me Weer Een Loei)". Upon arriving in Barcelona, the Spanish branch of Polydor decided to release the single in Spain as well, where it was rather popular.[125]

Cruyff suffered a heart attack (like his father who died of a heart attack when he was 12) in his early forties. He used to smoke 20 cigarettes a day prior to undergoing double heart bypass surgery in 1991 while he was the coach of Barcelona. Cruyff was forced to immediately give up smoking, and he made an anti-smoking advertisement for the Catalan Department of Health. In the TV spot, Cruyff is dressed like a manager in a long trench coat combined with collared shirt and necktie. He performed keepy-uppies with a pack of cigarettes by juggling it 16 times – using feet, thighs, knees, heel, chest, shoulder, and head like holding up a ball – before volleying it away. Throughout the commercial he speaks in Catalan about the dangers of smoking.[126]

In November 2003, Cruyff invoked legal proceedings against the publisher Tirion Uitgevers, over its photo book Johan Cruyff de Ajacied ("Johan Cruijff the Ajax player"), which used photographs by Guus de Jong. Cruyff was working on another book, also using De Jong's photographs, and claimed unsuccessfully that Tirion's book violated his trademark and portrait rights.

In 2004, a public poll in the Netherlands to determine the greatest Dutchman ("De Grootste Nederlander") named Cruyff the 6th-greatest Dutchman of all time, with Cruyff finishing above Rembrandt (9th) and Vincent van Gogh (10th).[127] In 2010, the asteroid (minor planet) 14282 Cruijff (2097 P-L) [de] was named after him. The International Astronomical Union (IAU) officially ratified the naming of Cruijff on 23 September 2010. After Josef Bican and Ferenc Puskás, Cruyff is the third football player to have an asteroid named after him.[128][129]

Nicknames

There were many nicknames Cruyff had in the Netherlands and Spain, including "Jopie", "Nummer 14" (Number 14),[130] "Het orakel van Betondorp" (the prophet of Betondorp), "El Salvador" (The Saviour), and "El Flaco" (The Skinny One). One of his best known nicknames was "El Salvador" or "The Saviour", a nickname he received during the 1973–74 season and again in 1988, when he helped terminate crisis eras in Barça's history.[58][104][131] However, contrary to popular belief, the nickname "El Salvador" is a Dutch rather than Spanish invention.[132]

Outside football

Hobbies

Outside football, Cruyff's favourite sport (and hobby) was golf.[133][134] In the 1970s, Cruyff loved to collect cars. In the Sandro Ciotti's documentary film Il Profeta del gol (1976), Cruyff said, "I like to drive for the 20 km that separate the training camp from my house, it relaxes me. I love the cars."[135]

Business ventures

In 1979, Cruyff was reaching the twilight of his career in Barcelona. He began to imagine creating a range of footwear himself to challenge the technical and luxury qualities of those on the market beforehand. After a few years of trying and failing to encourage big sportswear brands to take his idea seriously, after all this was quite an unusual ambition of a professional sportsman at the time. Eventually he combined with his close friend, Italian designer Emilio Lazzarini, and using his knowledge he set out to create a technical shoe which managed to balance functionality with elegance. Initially the range was filled with "luxury" indoor football shoes, but they quickly became used as a fashion shoe due to their attractive appearance. And so Cruyff Classics brand was born.[136][137]

Writing

Cruyff is the author/co-author of several books (in Dutch and Spanish) about his football career, in particular his principles and view about the football world. He also wrote his weekly columns for El Periódico (Barcelona-based newspaper) and De Telegraaf (Amsterdam-based newspaper).[138]

Cruyff was multilingual; British football writer Brian Glanville wrote: "his intelligence off the field as well as on it was quite remarkable. How well I remember seeing Cruyff surrounded by journalists from all over the world in 1978 to whose questions he replied almost casually in a multiplicity of languages. Not only Dutch, but English, French, Spanish and German."[139]

Philanthropy

The Johan Cruyff Foundation[140] has provided over 200 Cruyff Courts in 22 countries, including Israel, Malaysia, Japan, United States and Mexico, for children of all backgrounds to play street football together. UEFA praised the foundation for its positive effect on young people, and Cruyff received the UEFA Grassroots Award on the opening of the 100th court in late 2009.[141] In 1999, he founded the Johan Cruyff Institute with a programme for 35 athletes as part of the Johan Cruyff University of Amsterdam and has since become a global network.[142]

Personality

Born in the heavily damaged post–World War II Netherlands, Cruyff came from a humble background and lost his father as a child. This had a great influence on his future career and character. He was renowned for his strong personality. His character, both in and beyond the footballing world, was much described as the complicated combination of an idealist,[143] individualist, libertarian, collectivist, romantic, purist, pragmatist, rebel,[144] and even despot.[145] Dutch sportswriter Johan Derksen, a close friend of Cruyff, once said of him, "Johan is absolutely religious, though he never goes to church."[146]

In August 1973, Ajax players voted for Piet Keizer to be the team's captain in a secret ballot, ahead of Cruyff. And Cruyff decided his time in Amsterdam had come to an end. He joined Barcelona just weeks later, two years before the Spanish dictator Francisco Franco died, maintaining to the European press corps en route that he chose Barcelona over rivals Real Madrid because he could never join a club "associated with Franco".[147] As he recalled in a documentary on TV3 channel, "I remember my move to Spain was quite controversial. ... The president of Ajax wanted to sell me to Real Madrid, ... Barcelona weren't at the same level as Madrid football wise, but it was a challenge to play for a Catalan club. Barcelona was more than a club."[148] At the end of the 1982–83 season, Ajax decided not to offer Cruyff a new contract. This angered Cruyff and he responded by signing for Ajax's archrivals Feyenoord. Cruyff's season at Feyenoord was a successful one in which the club won the Eredivisie for the first time in a decade, part of a league and KNVB Cup double.[47]

Cruyff's strong personality played a role in the struggle between Puma and Adidas, the two rival brands that were born from the divisions between the two Dassler brothers.[135] Cruyff was a fan of Puma's King boots and by 1974 had signed a sponsorship deal with the German sportswear and equipment supplier. At the 1974 World Cup, he was under contract with Puma in a deal that prohibited him from promoting other sports brands. As the tournament approached, Cruyff flatly refused to wear Adidas's trademark three black stripes on his No. 14 jersey. The Netherlands national football association had little choice but to honour the wishes of their best player, and Dutch officials eventually persuaded Adidas to design a separate jersey just for Cruyff, with just two stripes running along the sleeves.[149][150]

Jersey number 14

 
Cruyff wearing number 14, the number most identified with him.[151]

Until the 1990s, players did not have fixed numbering — except in some short competitions like the World Cup or European Championship where players were given a designated number. The starting players usually wore jerseys from 1 to 11 and the substitutes from 12 to 16. Cruyff's usual number was 9.[151]

On 30 October 1970, Cruyff was coming back from a long-term injury to play Ajax's rivals PSV. However, in the locker room before the match, teammate Gerrie Muhren could not find his number 7 jersey. Cruyff offered his shirt to Muhren and went to the basket to pick another one at random. It happened to be the number 14.[151] Ajax won 1–0 and Cruyff suggested they keep the same numbers to the following game — according to Muhren, in an interview to Voetbal International, it was a form to challenge the Dutch Football Association.[151] From then on, Cruyff kept using the number 14 for Ajax and Netherlands national team when he was allowed to.[12][151]

 
The iconic No. 14 worn by Cruyff in Ajax was retired in 2007

In the 1974 FIFA World Cup, Netherlands' head coach Rinus Michels wanted his squad to wear numbers alphabetically. As Cruyff was the first player on the roster, he would be number 1, but he refused and insisted on wearing his lucky number 14.[151] Forward Ruud Geels ended up with the number 1 shirt while goalkeeper Jan Jongbloed played as the number 8.

Although the number 14 had become a trademark for Cruyff, he could be seen wearing his old number 9 on other occasions, like during most of his career for FC Barcelona, because the league demanded starting players were numbered 1 to 11,[152] or for Netherlands in the 1976 European Championship. In 2007, Ajax retired Cruyff's number 14.[151]

Relations with others

Cruyff remained a controversial figure throughout his life. His relationships with Ajax, Barça, and KNVB (Royal Dutch Football Association) were turbulent for some time, especially in his later years. In his native Netherlands, there was always a love–hate relationship between Cruyff and his fellow countrymen.[153] There was a long-standing feud between Cruyff and Louis van Gaal, though never confirmed publicly by both sides.[154] He also often criticised José Mourinho for his defensive-based coaching philosophy, stated, "José Mourinho is a negative coach. He only cares about the result and does not care much for good football." As David Winner notes, "Cruyff has had many enemies and critics over the years."[155] He has been accused of being arrogant, greedy,[153] intolerant, despotic, "too idealistic, too stubborn, insufficiently interested in defending and simply too difficult a personality. He loves an argument, and his conflict-model method of working can be bruising."[155] And Winner concludes that, "With his belief in the "conflict model" – the idea that you got the best out of people by provoking fights and thereby raising levels of excitement and adrenaline – Cruyff made enemies almost as easily as he generated delight. Battles with club presidents and teammates led to ruptures, especially at Ajax and Barcelona, the two clubs that defined his career."[156]

Criticism

Cruyff was also well known for his vocal criticism and uncompromising attitude. A perfectionist, he always had a strong opinion about things and was loyal to his principles even more than anything else in the football world.[157] As an outspoken and critical visionary, he strongly criticized the Netherlands' style of play at the 2010 World Cup. "Who am I supporting? I am Dutch but I support the football that Spain is playing. Spain's style is the style of Barcelona... Spain, a replica of Barça, is the best publicity for football", Cruyff wrote in his weekly column for the Barcelona-based newspaper El Periódico, prior to the final match.[158]

Until the early 2010s, Barcelona had mounting debts, built up over the previous few seasons, a situation that forced the club to push through an emergency bailout loan of €150 million. The Qatar Foundation, run by Sheikha Mozah, became the first shirt sponsor in Barcelona's 111-year history. The club had previously used UNICEF's logo on the front of its shirts.[159] In 2011, incoming Barcelona president Sandro Rosell agreed the deal for a period of five seasons, with the club receiving €30 million each year, starting on 1 July 2011 and running until 30 June 2016, plus bonuses for trophies won that could total €5m.[160] Writing in his El Periódico column, Cruyff slammed the deal, "We are a unique club in the world, no one has kept their jersey intact throughout their history, yet have remained as competitive as they come... We have sold this uniqueness for about six percent of our budget. I understand that we are currently losing more than we are earning. However, by selling the shirt it shows me that we are not being creative, and that we have become vulgar."[161]

In an interview with The Guardian's Donald McRae in 2014, Cruyff spoke about football's lost values and how money had eroded the game's purity, "Football is now all about money. There are problems with the values within the game. This is sad because football is the most beautiful game. We can play it in the street. We can play it everywhere. Everyone can play it whether you're tall or small, fat or thin. But those values are being lost. We have to bring them back."[162]

Personal life

 
Cruyff and Danny Coster getting married on 2 December 1968

At the wedding of Ajax teammate Piet Keizer, on 13 June 1967, Cruyff met his future wife, Diana Margaretha "Danny" Coster (born 1949). They started dating, and on 2 December 1968, at the age of 21, he married Danny. Her father was Dutch businessman Cor Coster who also happened to be Cruyff's agent. He was also credited with engineering Cruyff's move to FC Barcelona in 1973. The marriage is said to have been happy for almost 50 years.[163] Contrary to his well-known strong personality and superstar status, Cruyff led a relatively quiet private life beyond the world of football.[164] A highly principled, strong-minded and devoted family man, Cruyff's football career, both as a player and as a manager, was considerably influenced by his family, in particular his wife Danny.[165][166] He and Danny had three children together: Chantal (16 November 1970), Susila (27 January 1972), and Jordi (9 February 1974). The family has lived in Barcelona since 1973, with a six-year interruption from December 1981 to January 1988 when they lived in Vinkeveen, the Netherlands.[167]

In 1977, Cruyff announced his decision to retire from international football at the age of 30, despite still being lean and wiry, after helping the country qualify for the 1978 World Cup.[168] This move, shrouded in mystery and met with disbelief back in late 1977, was only finally stripped of its mystique in 2008, when Cruyff explained his decision in an interview with Catalunya Ràdio. It was while still living in Barcelona as a player in late 1977, Cruyff and his family became the victims of an armed attacker who forced his way into his flat in Barcelona.[169] And the man who was then the ultimate football superstar was confronted with the choice between family values and a highly promising World Cup glory at the end of his international career. In the interview with Catalunya Ràdio, he said that the attempted kidnap was the reason he decided not to go to the World Cup in Argentina in 1978. As he recalled, "You should know that I had problems at the end of my career as a player here and I don't know if you know that someone [put] a rifle at my head and tied me up and tied up my wife in front of the children at our flat in Barcelona. The children were going to school accompanied by the police. The police slept in our house for three or four months. I was going to matches with a bodyguard. All these things change your point of view towards many things. There are moments in life in which there are other values. We wanted to stop this and be a little more sensible. It was the moment to leave football and I couldn't play in the World Cup after this."[170]

Cruyff named his third child after the patron saint of Catalonia, St Jordi, commonly known in English as Saint George of Lydda. This was seen as a provocative gesture towards the then Spanish dictator General Franco, who had made all symbols of Catalan nationalism illegal. Cruyff had to fly his son back to the Netherlands to register his birth as the name "Jordi" had been banned by the Spanish authorities. Cruyff's decision to go to such great lengths to support Catalan nationalism is part of the reason he is a hero to Barcelona supporters and Catalan nationalists.[171]

Jordi Cruyff played for teams such as Barcelona (while father Johan was manager), Manchester United, Alavés and Espanyol. He wore "Jordi" on his shirt to distinguish himself from his father, which also reflects the common Spanish practice of referring to players by given names alone or by nicknames. His grandson, Jesjua Angoy, played for Dayton Dutch Lions. Pep Guardiola, Ronald Koeman, and Joan Laporta were among Cruyff's closest friends.[172] Estelle Cruijff, a niece of Cruyff, was married to Ruud Gullit for 12 years (2000–2012),[173][174] and their son Maxim Gullit plays for Cambuur.[175]

Religious views

Cruyff once described himself as "not religious" and criticised the practices of devoutly Catholic Spanish players: "In Spain all 22 players make the sign of the cross before a game; if it worked, every game would be a tie."[176] That widely quoted statement earned him a place on lists of the world's top atheist athletes. But in the 1990s, Cruyff told the Dutch Catholic radio station RKK/KRO that as a child he attended Sunday school, where he was taught about the Bible, and that while he did not go to church as an adult, he believed "there's something there."[177] The Dutch evangelical broadcaster EO posted an interview conducted before Cruyff's death with his friend Johan Derksen, the editor-in-chief of Voetbal International magazine. "People don't know the real Johan Cruyff", Derksen said. "I have on occasion had beautiful conversations with him about faith, because we both went to the same kind of schools and learned about the Bible. And it stays with you."[178][179] Cruyff also expressed his faith in God in an interview with Hanneke Groenteman on Sterren op het Doek.[180]

Quotes

Main article: Cruijffiaans
  • "Every trainer talks about movement, about running a lot. I say don't run so much. Football is a game you play with your brain. You have to be in the right place at the right moment, not too early, not too late."[98]
  • "In my teams, the goalie is the first attacker, and the striker the first defender."[181]
  • "Every disadvantage has its advantage."[155]
  • "If you can't win, make sure you don't lose."[155]
  • "Quality without results is pointless. Results without quality is boring."[105]
  • "Winning is an important thing, but to have your own style, to have people copy you, to admire you, that is the greatest gift."[104]
  • "Playing football is very simple but playing simple football is the hardest thing there is"[1]

Illness, death and tributes

He has enriched and personified our football. He was an icon of the Netherlands. Johan Cruijff belonged to all of us.

—King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands pays tribute following Cruyff's death.[182]

Cruyff had always been a heavy smoker from his boyhood until he underwent an emergency bypass operation in 1991. After giving up smoking following the surgery, he took to sucking lollipops when watching games.[183] He featured in a Catalan health department advertisement, saying, "Football has given me everything in life, tobacco almost took it all away."[183][184] After more heart trouble in 1997, he vowed never to coach again (until 2009), though he remained a vocal football critic and analyst.[185]

In October 2015 he was diagnosed with lung cancer.[186] After the news broke, tributes poured in for Cruyff, with all Eredivisie games featuring a round of applause on 14 minutes, Cruyff's former shirt number. Ahead of their league game against Eibar at the Camp Nou (25 October 2015), Barcelona players showed their support for Cruyff by wearing orange T-shirts bearing the words "Ànims Johan" (Catalan for "Get well soon Johan"). Writing in his weekly De Telegraaf column, Cruyff admitted, "Often the media are an additional tax, but the last week that has been different. The way in which a reply is posted via a variety of media in my situation, was emotional and heartwarming. I am extremely proud of the appreciation shown by all responses." On his condition, Cruyff added, "Meanwhile, we have to wait. It's really annoying that it has been leaked so quickly, because the only thing I know now is that I have lung cancer. No more. Because the investigation is ongoing."[187]

In mid-February 2016, he stated that he had been responding well to chemotherapy and was "winning" his cancer battle.[188][189] On 2 March 2016, he was in attendance on the second day of winter testing at the Circuit de Catalunya just outside Barcelona and visited Dutch Formula One driver Max Verstappen. Cruyff appeared to be in good spirits and it is believed this was the last time he was seen in public.[190][191][192] On the morning of 24 March 2016, in a clinic in Barcelona, Cruyff died at the age of 68, surrounded by his wife, children, and grandchildren.[193] His lung cancer had metastasized to his brain and a week before his death he had begun to lose his ability to speak as well as movement on his left side. He was cremated in Barcelona within 24 hours[194] of his death. A private ceremony was held, attended only by his wife, children and grandchildren.[195][196][197]

Within a week of his death, several people (including players and managers) and organisations (including clubs) paid tribute to him, especially via social media.[198][199][200][201] Thousands of Barcelona fans passed through the memorial to Cruyff, opened inside the Camp Nou stadium, to pay tribute.[202][203][204] Former Barcelona president Sandro Rosell, who did not have a good relationship with Cruyff, was among the early visitors to the memorial.[205] Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez led a Real Madrid delegation to the memorial, including former players Emilio Butragueño and Amancio Amaro.[206]

A friendly match between the Netherlands and France was held on the day after Cruyff's death. The play (at the Amsterdam Arena) was stopped in the 14th minute as players, staff, and supporters gave a minute's applause for Cruyff, who wore the number 14 shirt for his country. Mascots from both teams took to the pitch wearing Netherlands national team shirts adorned with Cruyff's number 14 on the front, while there were numerous banners in the spectators' stands bearing the simple message, "Johan Bedankt" ("Thank you Johan").[207]

Ahead of the El Clásico against Real Madrid (2 April 2016),[208] Barcelona announced plans for five special tributes to Cruyff:

  • 1.) A mosaic formed by the 90,000 fans inside Camp Nou carrying the words 'Gràcies Johan' (Catalan for 'Thank you, Johan')
  • 2.) The words 'Gràcies Johan' would replace the World Club champions badge on the front of the Barcelona players' shirts
  • 3.) Children wearing T-shirts with the words 'Gràcies Johan' would accompany Barça's and Madrid's players on to the pitch at the beginning of the game. The logo of the Johan Cruyff Foundation would feature on the back of the T-shirts
  • 4.) The presence of all eight living (past and present) Barcelona presidents: Agustí Montal i Costa, Raimon Carrasco, Josep Lluís Núñez, Joan Gaspart, Enric Reyna, Joan Laporta, Sandro Rosell and Josep Maria Bartomeu
  • 5.) A commemorative video honouring Cruyff's life would be shown on the big screens at Camp Nou stadium.[209][210] An open letter signed by Barcelona's eight current and previous presidents read: "With Cruyff we began to play differently, breaking new ground and innovating. With him, both as a player and coach, we established our own style on the field, what is traditionally known as 'total football,' the Barça style everyone admires. The arrival of Cruyff altered the history of Barça. He contributed decisively to a change of mentality. He got us to keep our heads up and to see that no opponent was invincible, that we could attain what we were aiming for. Cruyff was an icon who explained, better than anyone, that Barça is more than a club. ... Without Cruyff's unabashed and non-conformist spirit, we quite possibly wouldn't have become the greatest club in the world."[211][212]

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition[213]
Club Season League Cup[a] Continental[b] Other[c] Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Ajax 1964–65 Eredivisie 10 4 0 0 — — 10 4
1965–66 19 16 4 9 — — 23 25
1966–67 30 33 5 5 6 3 — 41 41
1967–68 33 27 5 6 2 1 — 40 34
1968–69 29 24 3 3 10 6 1 1 43 34
1969–70 33 23 5 6 8 4 — 46 33
1970–71 25 21 6 5 6 1 — 37 27
1971–72 32 25 4 3 9 5 — 45 33
1972–73 32 17 0 0 6 3 4 3 42 23
1973–74 2 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 3
Total 245 193 32 37 47 23 5 4 329 257
Barcelona 1973–74 La Liga 26 16 12 8 0 0 — 38 24
1974–75 30 7 12 7 8 0 — 50 14
1975–76 29 6 10 3 9 2 — 48 11
1976–77 30 14 9 6 7 5 — 46 25
1977–78 28 5 7 1 10 5 — 45 11
Total 143 48 50 25 34 12 — 227 85
Los Angeles Aztecs 1979 NASL 22 14 — — 4 1 26 15
Washington Diplomats 1980 NASL 24 10 — — 2 0 26 10
Levante 1980–81 Segunda División 10 2 0 0 — — 10 2
Washington Diplomats 1981 NASL 5 2 — — — 5 2
Ajax 1981–82 Eredivisie 15 7 1 0 0 0 — 16 7
1982–83 21 7 7 2 2 0 — 30 9
Total 36 14 8 2 2 0 — 46 16
Feyenoord 1983–84 Eredivisie 33 11 7 1 4 1 — 44 13
Career total 518 294 97 65 87 36 11 5 713 400
  1. ^ Appearances in KNVB Cup and Copa del Rey
  2. ^ Appearances in European Cup and Fairs Cup
  3. ^ Appearances in Intertoto Cup, UEFA Super Cup, Intercontinental Cup and NASL Play Offs

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team Year Apps Goals
Netherlands 1966 2 1
1967 3 1
1968 1 0
1969 3 1
1970 2 2
1971 4 6
1972 5 5
1973 6 6
1974 12 8
1975 2 0
1976 4 2
1977 4 1
Total 48 33
Scores and results list the Netherlands' goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Cruyff goal.
List of international goals scored by Johan Cruyff[214]
No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1 7 September 1966 Rotterdam, Netherlands   Hungary 2–0 2–2 UEFA Euro 1968 qualifying
2 13 September 1967 Amsterdam, Netherlands   East Germany 1–0 1–0 UEFA Euro 1968 qualifying
3 26 March 1969 Rotterdam, Netherlands   Luxembourg 1–0 4–0 1970 FIFA World Cup qualification
4 2 December 1970 Amsterdam, Netherlands   Romania 1–0 2–0 Friendly
5 2–0
6 24 February 1971 Rotterdam, Netherlands   Luxembourg 3–0 6–0 UEFA Euro 1972 qualifying
7 4–0
8 17 November 1971 Eindhoven, Netherlands   Luxembourg 1–0 8–0 UEFA Euro 1972 qualifying
9 7–0
10 8–0
11 1 December 1971 Amsterdam, Netherlands   Scotland 1–0 2–1 Friendly
12 16 February 1972 Athens, Greece   Greece 3–0 5–0 Friendly
13 5–0
14 30 August 1972 Prague, Czechoslovakia   Czechoslovakia 1–0 2–1 Friendly
15 1 November 1972 Rotterdam, Netherlands   Norway 4–0 9–0 1974 FIFA World Cup qualification
16 8–0
17 2 May 1973 Amsterdam, Netherlands   Spain 3–2 3–2 Friendly
18 22 August 1973 Amsterdam, Netherlands   Iceland 2–0 5–0 1974 FIFA World Cup qualification
19 5–0
20 29 August 1973 Deventer, Netherlands   Iceland 2–0 8–1 1974 FIFA World Cup qualification
21 4–0
22 12 September 1973 Oslo, Norway   Norway 1–0 2–1 1974 FIFA World Cup qualification
23 26 June 1974 Gelsenkirchen, West Germany   Argentina 1–0 4–0 1974 FIFA World Cup
24 4–0
25 3 July 1974 Dortmund, Germany   Brazil 2–0 2–0 1974 FIFA World Cup
26 4 September 1974 Stockholm, Sweden   Sweden 1–0 5–1 Friendly
27 25 September 1974 Helsinki, Finland   Finland 1–1 3–1 UEFA Euro 1976 qualifying
28 2–1
29 20 November 1974 Rotterdam, Netherlands   Italy 2–1 3–1 UEFA Euro 1976 qualifying
30 3–1
31 22 May 1976 Brussels, Belgium   Belgium 2–1 2–1 UEFA Euro 1976 qualifying
32 13 October 1976 Rotterdam, Netherlands   Northern Ireland 2–1 2–2 1978 FIFA World Cup qualification
33 26 March 1977 Antwerp, Belgium   Belgium 2–0 2–0 1978 FIFA World Cup qualification

Managerial statistics

Team From To Record
G W D L Win %
Ajax 6 June 1985 4 January 1988 117 86 10 21 073.50
Barcelona 4 May 1988 18 May 1996 430 250 97 83 058.14
Catalonia 2 November 2009 2 January 2013 4 2 2 0 050.00
Total 551 338 109 104 061.34

Honours

Player

Ajax[12]

Barcelona[12]

Feyenoord

International

Manager

Ajax[12]
Barcelona[12]

Individual

Player[12]

 
Cruyff receiving the 1971 Ballon d'Or

Manager

Orders and further honours

See also

References

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External links

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Johan Cruijff.
 
Wikiquote has quotations related to Johan Cruyff.
  • The World of Johan Cruyff – Explore the World of Johan Cruyff.
  • Johan Cruyff Foundation – Johan Cruyff Foundation
  • Biography of Johan Cruyff – UEFA.com
  • – FIFA competition record (archived)
  • Johan Cruyff at BDFutbol
  • Johan Cruyff manager profile at BDFutbol
  • Johan Cruyff at Wereld van Oranje (in Dutch)
  • International Football Hall of Fame: Johan Cruyff – ifhof.com
Awards and achievements
Preceded by European Cup Winning Coach
1991–92 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Dutch Sportsman of the Year
1973–1974 		Succeeded by

April 21, 2023
johan, cruyff, cruyff, redirects, here, jordi, cruyff, hendrik, johannes, cruijff, dutch, ˈjoːɦɑŋ, ˈkrœyf, listen, internationally, known, april, 1947, march, 2016, dutch, professional, football, player, manager, widely, regarded, greatest, players, time, ball. Cruyff redirects here For Johan Cruyff s son see Jordi Cruyff Hendrik Johannes Cruijff Dutch ˈjoːɦɑŋ ˈkrœyf listen internationally known as Johan Cruyff 25 April 1947 24 March 2016 was a Dutch professional football player and manager Widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time he won the Ballon d Or three times in 1971 1973 and 1974 4 Cruyff was a proponent of the football philosophy known as Total Football explored by Rinus Michels which Cruyff also employed as a manager Because of the far reaching impact of his playing style and his ideas as manager he is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in modern football Apart from being one of the best players of all time Cruyff is also widely considered to be one of the greatest managers in the history of the sport 5 6 7 8 9 Johan CruyffCruyff with the Netherlands in 1974Personal informationFull nameHendrik Johannes CruijffDate of birth 1947 04 25 25 April 1947 1 Place of birthAmsterdam NetherlandsDate of death24 March 2016 2016 03 24 aged 68 Place of deathBarcelona SpainHeight1 78 m 5 ft 10 in 2 3 Position s Forward attacking midfielderYouth career1957 1964AjaxSenior career YearsTeamApps Gls 1964 1973Ajax245 193 1973 1978Barcelona143 48 1979Los Angeles Aztecs22 14 1980Washington Diplomats24 10 1981Levante10 2 1981Washington Diplomats5 2 1981 1983Ajax36 14 1983 1984Feyenoord33 11 Total518 294 International career1966 1977Netherlands48 33 Managerial career1985 1988Ajax1988 1996Barcelona2009 2013CataloniaHonours Men s footballRepresenting NetherlandsFIFA World CupRunner up 1974 West GermanyEuropean Championship1976 Yugoslavia Club domestic league appearances and goalsIn the late 1960s and early 1970s Dutch football rose from a semi professional and obscure level to become a powerhouse in the sport 10 11 Cruyff led the Netherlands to the final of the 1974 FIFA World Cup with three goals and three assists he received the Golden Ball as player of the tournament 12 13 After finishing third in UEFA Euro 1976 Cruyff refused to play in the 1978 FIFA World Cup after a kidnapping attempt targeting him and his family in their Barcelona home dissuaded him from football 14 At club level Cruyff started his career at Ajax where he won eight Eredivisie titles three European Cups and one Intercontinental Cup where he had two assists in the final 15 16 In 329 matches for Ajax he scored 257 goals and provided more than 170 assists In 1973 he moved to Barcelona for a world record transfer fee helping the team win La Liga in his first season and winning the Ballon d Or In 180 official matches for Barcelona he scored 60 goals and provided 83 assists 17 After retiring from playing in 1984 Cruyff became highly successful as manager of Ajax and later Barcelona he remained an advisor to both clubs after his coaching tenures His son Jordi also played football professionally for Barcelona In 1999 Cruyff was voted European Player of the Century in an election held by the International Federation of Football History amp Statistics and came second behind Pele in their World Player of the Century poll 18 He came third in a vote organised by the French magazine France Football consulting their former Ballon d Or winners to elect their Football Player of the Century 19 He was included in the World Team of the 20th Century in 1998 the FIFA World Cup Dream Team in 2002 and in 2004 was named in the FIFA 100 list of the world s greatest living players 20 Contents 1 Early life 2 Club career 2 1 Gloria Ajax and the golden era of Total Football 2 2 Barcelona and the first La Liga title in 14 years 2 3 Brief retirement and spells in the United States 2 4 Return to Spain with Levante and second spell at Washington Diplomats 2 5 Second spell at Ajax 2 6 Final season at Feyenoord and retirement 3 International career 3 1 After 1976 4 Coaching career 4 1 Entry into management with Ajax 4 2 Return to Barcelona as manager and building the Dream Team 4 3 Catalonia national team 5 Other football related activities 5 1 As a technical advisor 5 1 1 Unofficial advisor to Barcelona president Joan Laporta 5 1 2 Return to Ajax as technical director 5 1 3 Technical advisor for Chivas Guadalajara 5 2 Ambassador for Belgium and the Netherlands joint bid to host the World Cup 6 Style of play and legacy 6 1 The total footballer 6 2 Win with style philosophy 6 3 Cruyff s favourite world XI 6 4 Cruyff s 14 rules 6 5 Named after Cruyff 7 In popular culture 8 Nicknames 9 Outside football 9 1 Hobbies 9 2 Business ventures 9 3 Writing 10 Philanthropy 11 Personality 11 1 Jersey number 14 11 2 Relations with others 11 3 Criticism 12 Personal life 13 Religious views 14 Quotes 15 Illness death and tributes 16 Career statistics 16 1 Club 16 2 International 17 Managerial statistics 18 Honours 18 1 Player 18 2 Manager 18 3 Individual 18 4 Orders and further honours 19 See also 20 References 21 External linksEarly life EditI was born shortly after the war though and was taught not to just accept anything Cruyff said in a documentary on TV3 channel 2015 21 Hendrik Johannes Johan Cruyff was born on 25 April 1947 in the Burgerziekenhuis hospital in Amsterdam He grew up on a street five minutes away from Ajax s stadium his first football club Johan was the second son of Hermanus Cornelis Cruijff and Petronella Bernarda Draaijer from a humble working class background in east Amsterdam Cruyff encouraged by his influential football loving father and his close proximity in Akkerstraat Stadium played football with his schoolmates and older brother Henny whenever he could and idolised the prolific Dutch dribbler Faas Wilkes In 1959 Cruyff s father died from a heart attack His father s death had a major impact on his mentality As Cruyff recalled in celebration of his 50th birthday My father died when I was just 12 and he was 45 From that day the feeling crept stronger over me that I would die at the same age and when I had serious heart problems when I reached 45 I thought This is it Only medical science which was not available to help my father kept me alive 22 Viewing a potential football career as a way of paying tribute to his father the death inspired the strong willed Cruyff who also frequently visited the burial site at Oosterbegraafplaats 23 His mother began working at Ajax as a cleaner deciding that she could no longer carry on at the grocer without her husband and in the future this made Cruyff near obsessed with financial security but also gave him an appreciation for player aids His mother soon met her second husband Henk Angel a field hand at Ajax who proved a key influence in Cruyff s life 24 Club career EditGloria Ajax and the golden era of Total Football Edit See also Gloria Ajax AFC Ajax and Total Football Totaalvoetbal Cruyff was instrumental in Ajax s dominance of European football in the early 1970s He played for Ajax from 1957 to 1973 and 1981 to 1983 seen here in 1967 against Feyenoord Cruyff joined the Ajax youth system on his tenth birthday Cruyff and his friends would frequently visit a playground in their neighbourhood and Ajax youth coach Jany van der Veen who lived close by noticed Cruyff s talent and decided to offer him a place at Ajax without a formal trial 23 When he first joined Ajax Cruyff preferred baseball and continued to play the sport until age fifteen when he quit at the urging of his coaches 25 He made his first team debut on 15 November 1964 in the Eredivisie against GVAV scoring the only goal for Ajax in a 3 1 defeat That year Ajax finished in their lowest position since the establishment of professional football in 13th 26 Cruyff really started to make an impression in the 1965 66 season and established himself as a regular first team player after scoring two goals against DWS in the Olympic stadium on 24 October 1965 in a 2 0 victory In the seven games that winter he scored eight times and in March 1966 scored the first three goals in a league game against Telstar in a 6 2 win Four days later in a cup game against Veendam in a 7 0 win he scored four goals In total that season Cruyff scored 25 goals in 23 games and Ajax won the league championship 12 Cruyff playing for Ajax taking on Liverpool defender Tommy Smith in a European Cup game in December 1966 In the 1966 67 season Ajax again won the league championship and also won the KNVB Cup for Cruyff s first double 12 Cruyff ended the season as the leading goalscorer in the Eredivisie with 33 Cruyff won the league for the third successive year in the 1967 68 season He was also named Dutch footballer of the year for the second successive time a feat he repeated in 1969 12 On 28 May 1969 Cruyff played in his first European Cup final against Milan but the Italians won 4 1 In the 1969 70 season Cruyff won his second league and cup double at the beginning of the 1970 71 season he suffered a groin injury He made his comeback on 30 October 1970 against PSV and rather than wear his usual number 9 which was in use by Gerrie Muhren he instead used number 14 12 Ajax won 1 0 Although it was very uncommon in those days for the starters of a game not to play with numbers 1 to 11 from that moment onwards Cruyff wore number 14 even with the Dutch national team There was a documentary on Cruyff Nummer 14 Johan Cruyff 27 and in the Netherlands there is a magazine by Voetbal International Nummer 14 28 In a league game against AZ 67 on 29 November 1970 Cruyff scored six goals in an 8 1 victory After winning a replayed KNVB Cup final against Sparta Rotterdam by a score of 2 1 Ajax won in Europe for the first time On 2 June 1971 in London Ajax won the European Cup by defeating Panathinaikos 2 0 12 He signed a seven year contract at Ajax At the end of the season he was named the Dutch and European Footballer of the Year for 1971 12 In 1972 Ajax won a second European Cup beating Inter Milan 2 0 in the final with Cruyff scoring both goals 12 This victory prompted Dutch newspapers to announce the demise of the Italian style of defensive football in the face of Total Football Soccer The Ultimate Encyclopaedia says Single handed Cruyff not only pulled Internazionale of Italy apart in the 1972 European Cup Final but scored both goals in Ajax s 2 0 win 29 Cruyff also scored in the 3 2 victory over ADO Den Haag in the KNVB Cup final In the league Cruyff was the top scorer with 25 goals as Ajax became champions Ajax won the Intercontinental Cup beating Argentina s Independiente 1 1 in the first game followed by 3 0 and then in January 1973 they won the European Super Cup by beating Rangers 3 1 away and 3 2 in Amsterdam Cruyff s only own goal came on 20 August 1972 against FC Amsterdam A week later against Go Ahead Eagles in a 6 0 win Cruyff scored four times for Ajax The 1972 73 season was concluded with another league championship victory and a third successive European Cup with a 1 0 win over Juventus in the final 29 Barcelona and the first La Liga title in 14 years Edit When players like Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo are worth around 100 million Johan Cruyff would go in the billions Franz Beckenbauer in an interview with Bild de September 2014 about Cruyff s transfer value in the early 1970s 30 31 Cruyff played for Barcelona from 1973 to 1978 In mid 1973 Cruyff was sold to Barcelona for 6 million guilders approx US 2 million c 1973 in a world record transfer fee 32 On 19 August 1973 he played his last match for Ajax where they defeated FC Amsterdam 6 1 the second match of the 1973 74 season Cruyff endeared himself to the Barcelona fans when he chose a Catalan name Jordi for his son He helped the club win La Liga for the first time since 1960 defeating their fiercest rivals Real Madrid 5 0 at their home of the Santiago Bernabeu Thousands of Barcelona fans who watched the match on television poured out of their homes to join in street celebrations 33 A New York Times journalist wrote that Cruyff had done more for the spirit of the Catalan people in 90 minutes than many politicians in years of struggle 33 Football historian Jimmy Burns stated with Cruyff the team felt they couldn t lose 33 He gave them speed flexibility and a sense of themselves 33 In 1974 Cruyff was crowned European Footballer of the Year 12 During his time at Barcelona in a game against Atletico Madrid Cruyff scored a goal in which he leapt into the air and kicked the ball past Miguel Reina in the Atletico goal with his right heel the ball was at about neck height and had already travelled wide of the far post 34 The goal was featured in the documentary En un momento dado in which fans of Cruyff attempted to recreate that moment The goal has been dubbed Le but impossible de Cruyff Cruyff s impossible goal citation needed In 1978 Barcelona defeated Las Palmas 3 1 to win the Copa del Rey 12 Cruyff played two games with Paris Saint Germain in 1975 during the Paris tournament He had only agreed because he was a fan of designer Daniel Hechter who was then president of PSG 35 36 Brief retirement and spells in the United States Edit Cruyff briefly retired in 1978 But after losing most of his money in a series of poor investments including a pig farm that were counseled by a scam artist Cruyff and his family came to the United States 37 38 As he recalled I had lost millions in pig farming and that was the reason I decided to become a footballer again 22 Cruyff insisted that his decision to resume his playing career in the United States was pivotal in his career It was wrong a mistake to quit playing at 31 with the unique talent I possessed and adding that Starting from zero in America many miles away from my past was one of the best decisions I made There I learned how to develop my uncontrolled ambitions to think as a coach and about sponsorship 22 In May 1979 Cruyff signed a lucrative deal with the Los Angeles Aztecs of the North American Soccer League NASL 39 12 He had previously been rumoured to be joining the New York Cosmos but the deal did not materialise he played a few exhibition games for the Cosmos He stayed at the Aztecs for only one season and was voted NASL Player of the Year After considering an offer to join Dumbarton F C in Scotland In February 1980 he moved to play for the Washington Diplomats 40 He played the whole 1980 campaign for the Diplomats even as the team was facing dire financial trouble In May 1981 Cruyff played as a guest player for Milan in a tournament but was injured As a result he missed the beginning of the 1981 NASL season which ultimately led to Cruyff choosing to leave the team Cruyff also loathed playing on artificial surfaces which were common in the NASL at the time Return to Spain with Levante and second spell at Washington Diplomats Edit In January 1981 Cruyff played three friendly matches for FC Dordrecht Also in January 1981 manager Jock Wallace of English club Leicester City made an attempt to sign Cruyff competing with Arsenal and an unnamed German club for his services 41 and despite negotiations lasting three weeks in which Cruyff expressed his desire to play for the club a deal could not be reached Cruyff instead chose to sign with Spanish Segunda Division side Levante in February 1981 42 On 1 March 1981 Cruyff took the field for the first time for Levante starting in a 1 0 win against Palencia 41 Injuries and disagreements with the administration of the club however blighted his spell in the Segunda Division and he only made ten appearances scoring two goals Having failed to secure promotion to the Primera Division a contract with Levante fell through 43 In June 1981 Cruyff returned to the U S and he played for Washington Diplomats in 1981 NASL season Second spell at Ajax Edit Johan Cruyff with Japanese fans in 1982 After his spell in the U S and his short lived stay in Spain Cruyff returned to playing for Ajax in December 1981 Originally he had rejoined Ajax on 30 November 1980 before his time as a player with Levante as technical advisor to trainer Leo Beenhakker Ajax being eighth in the league table at the time after 13 games played After 34 games however Ajax finished the 1980 81 season in second In December 1981 Cruyff signed a contract as player with Ajax until the summer of 1983 43 In the 1981 82 and 1982 83 seasons Ajax along with Cruyff became league champions In 1982 83 Ajax won the Dutch Cup KNVB Beker In 1982 he scored a famous goal against Helmond Sport While playing for Ajax Cruyff scored a penalty the same way Rik Coppens had done it 25 years earlier 44 45 He put the ball down as for a routine penalty kick but instead of shooting at goal Cruyff nudged the ball sideways to teammate Jesper Olsen who in return passed it back to Cruyff to tap the ball into the empty net as Otto Versfeld the Helmond goalkeeper looked on 12 Cruyff s farewell at Feyenoord Final season at Feyenoord and retirement Edit At the end of the 1982 83 season Ajax decided not to offer Cruyff a new contract This angered Cruyff who responded by signing for Ajax s archrivals Feyenoord 46 Cruyff s season at Feyenoord was a successful one in which the club won the Eredivisie for the first time in a decade part of a league and KNVB Cup double The team s success was due to the performances of Cruyff along with Ruud Gullit and Peter Houtman 47 Despite his relatively advanced age Cruyff played all league matches that season except for one Because of his performance on the field he was voted as Dutch Footballer of the Year for the fifth time At the end of the season the veteran announced his final retirement He ended his Eredivisie playing career on 13 May 1984 with a goal against PEC Zwolle Cruyff played his last game in Saudi Arabia against Al Ahli bringing Feyenoord back into the game with a goal and an assist 48 International career Edit Cruyff as captain of the Netherlands prior to a game at the 1974 World Cup As a Dutch international Cruyff played 48 matches scoring 33 goals 12 49 The national team never lost a match in which Cruyff scored On 7 September 1966 he made his official debut for the Netherlands in the UEFA Euro 1968 qualifier against Hungary scoring in the 2 2 draw In his second match a friendly against Czechoslovakia Cruyff was the first Dutch international to receive a red card The Royal Dutch Football Association KNVB banned him from Internationals games but not Eredivise or KNVB Cup games 50 Accusations of Cruyff s aloofness were not rebuffed by his habit of wearing a shirt with only two black stripes along the sleeves as opposed to Adidas usual design feature of three worn by all the other Dutch players Cruyff had a separate sponsorship deal with Puma 51 From 1970 onwards he wore the number 14 jersey for the Netherlands setting a trend for wearing shirt numbers outside the usual starting line up numbers of 1 to 11 12 Cruyff led the Netherlands to a runners up medal in the 1974 World Cup and was named player of the tournament 12 Thanks to his team s mastery of Total Football they coasted all the way to the final knocking out Argentina 4 0 East Germany 2 0 and Brazil 2 0 along the way 12 Cruyff scored twice against Argentina in one of his team s most dominating performances then he scored the second goal against Brazil to knock out the defending champions 12 Left Cruyff in the box during the 1974 World Cup Final just before he was fouled for a penalty right Three of the most notable figures of the Totaalvoetbal school Johan Neeskens Rinus Michels and Cruyff pictured in 1976 The Netherlands faced hosts West Germany in the final Cruyff kicked off and the ball was passed around the Oranje team 15 times before returning to Cruyff who then went on a run past Berti Vogts and ended when he was fouled by Uli Hoeness inside the box Teammate Johan Neeskens scored from the spot kick to give the Netherlands a 1 0 lead and the Germans had not yet touched the ball 12 During the latter half of the final his influence was stifled by the effective marking of Vogts while Franz Beckenbauer Uli Hoeness and Wolfgang Overath dominated the midfield as West Germany came back to win 2 1 52 After 1976 Edit Cruyff retired from international football in October 1977 having helped the national team qualify for the upcoming World Cup 12 Without him the Netherlands finished runners up in the World Cup again Initially there were two rumours as to his reason for missing the 1978 World Cup either he missed it for political reasons a military dictatorship was in power in Argentina at that time or that his wife dissuaded him from playing 53 In 2008 Cruyff stated to the journalist Antoni Bassas in Catalunya Radio that he and his family were subject to a kidnap attempt in Barcelona a year before the tournament and that this had caused his retirement To play a World Cup you have to be 200 okay there are moments when there are other values in life 54 Coaching career EditEntry into management with Ajax Edit Two images of Cruyff as Ajax manager left with Van Basten and Rijkaard in 1986 right during a press conference in November 1987 After retiring from playing Cruyff followed in the footsteps of his mentor Rinus Michels coaching a young Ajax side to victory in the European Cup Winners Cup in 1987 1 0 In May and June 1985 Cruyff returned to Ajax again In the 1985 86 season the league title was lost to Jan Reker s PSV despite Ajax having a goal difference of 85 120 goals for 35 goals against In the 1985 86 and 1986 87 seasons Ajax won the KNVB Cup It was during this period as manager that Cruyff was able to implement his favoured team formation three mobile defenders plus one more covering space becoming in effect a defensive midfielder from Rijkaard Blind Silooy Verlaat Larsson Spelbos two controlling midfielders from Rijkaard Scholten Winter Wouters Muhren Witschge with responsibilities to feed the attack minded players one second striker Bosman Scholten two touchline hugging wingers from Bergkamp van t Schip De Wit Witschge and one versatile centre forward from Van Basten Meijer Bosman So successful was this system that Ajax won the Champions League in 1995 playing Cruyff s system a tribute to Cruyff s legacy as Ajax coach 55 Return to Barcelona as manager and building the Dream Team Edit After having appeared for the club as a player Cruyff returned to Barcelona for the 1988 89 season this time to take up his new role as coach of the first team Before returning to Barcelona however Cruyff had already built up plenty of experience as a coach manager In the Netherlands he was strongly praised for the attacking flair he imposed on his sides and also for his commendable work as talent spotter With Barca Cruyff started work with a completely remodelled side after the previous season s scandal known as the Hesperia Mutiny El Moti de l Hesperia ca in Catalan His second in command was Carles Rexach who had already been at the club for a year Cruyff immediately had his Barca charges playing his attractive brand of football and the results did not take long in coming But this did not just happen with the first team the youth teams also displayed that same attacking style something that made it easier for reserve players to make the switch to first team football 56 57 As Sid Lowe noted when Cruyff took over as manager Barcelona of the late 1980s were a club in debt and in crisis Results were bad performances were worse the atmosphere terrible and attendances down while even the relationship between the president of the club Josep Lluis Nunez and the president of the Spanish autonomous community they represented Jordi Pujol had deteriorated It did not work immediately but he Cruyff recovered the identity he had embodied as a player He took risks and rewards followed 58 Main facade of old La Masia the Barcelona youth academy At Barca Cruyff brought in players such as Pep Guardiola Jose Mari Bakero Txiki Begiristain Andoni Goikoetxea Ronald Koeman Michael Laudrup Romario Gheorghe Hagi and Hristo Stoichkov With Cruyff Barca experienced a glorious era In the space of five years 1989 1994 he led the club to four European finals two European Cup Winners Cup finals and two European Cup UEFA Champions League finals Cruyff s track record includes one European Cup four Liga championships one Cup Winners Cup one Copa del Rey and four Supercopa de Espana 59 Under Cruyff Barca s Dream Team won four La Liga titles in a row 1991 1994 and beat Sampdoria in both the 1989 European Cup Winners Cup final and the 1992 European Cup final at Wembley Stadium 60 57 On 10 May 1989 goals from Salinas and Lopez Rekarte led Barcelona to a 2 0 victory against Sampdoria Over 25 000 supporters travelled to Switzerland to support the team Cruyff s new Barca took home the club s third Cup Winners Cup The European Cup dream became a reality on 20 May 1992 at Wembley in London when Barca beat Sampdoria Cruyff s last instruction to his players before they stepped onto the pitch was Salid y disfrutad Spanish for Go out and enjoy it or Go out there and enjoy yourselves 61 62 The match went to extra time after a scoreless draw In the 111th minute Ronald Koeman s brilliant free kick clinched Barca s first European Cup victory Twenty five thousand supporters accompanied the team to Wembley while one million turned out on the streets of Barcelona to welcome the European champions home 61 Victories under Cruyff include a 5 0 La Liga win over Real Madrid in El Clasico at the Camp Nou as well as a 4 0 win against Manchester United in the Champions League 63 64 65 Barcelona won a Copa del Rey in 1990 the European Super Cup in 1992 and three Supercopa de Espana as well as finishing runner up to Manchester United and Milan in two European finals 60 With 11 trophies Cruyff was Barcelona s most successful manager but has since been surpassed by his former player Pep Guardiola who achieved 15 Cruyff was also the club s longest serving manager In his final two seasons however he failed to win any trophies falling out with chairman Josep Lluis Nunez who ultimately sacked him as Barcelona coach 66 While still at Barcelona Cruyff was in negotiations with the KNVB to manage the national team for the 1994 World Cup finals but talks broke off at the last minute 67 Catalonia national team Edit Cruyff with the Catalonia national team in January 2013 As well as representing Catalonia on the pitch in 1976 Cruyff also managed the Catalonia national team from 2009 to 2013 leading the team to a victory over Argentina in his debut match 68 On 2 November 2009 Cruyff was named as manager of the Catalonia national team It was his first managing job in 13 years 69 On 22 December 2009 they played a friendly game against Argentina which ended in a Catalonia win 4 2 at Camp Nou On 28 December 2010 Catalonia played a friendly against Honduras winning 4 0 at Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys 70 On 30 December 2011 Catalonia played Tunisia in a goalless draw at the Lluis Companys 71 In their last game under Cruyff on 2 January 2013 Catalonia drew with Nigeria at the Cornella El Prat 1 1 72 Other football related activities EditAs a technical advisor Edit Unofficial advisor to Barcelona president Joan Laporta Edit Later in his reign as Barcelona manager Cruyff suffered a heart attack and was advised to quit coaching by his doctors He left in 1996 and never took another top job but his influence did not end there Though he vowed never to coach again he remained a vocal football critic and analyst Cruyff s open support helped candidate Joan Laporta to victory in Barcelona s presidential elections He continued to be an adviser for him although he held no official post at Barcelona 73 74 Back in an advisory capacity alongside Joan Laporta he recommended the appointment of Frank Rijkaard in 2003 Again Barca was successful winning back to back league titles and another Champions League crown in 2006 After two relatively disappointing campaigns Laporta survived a censure motion and an overhaul was needed In summer 2008 Rijkaard left the club and even though Jose Mourinho was pushing for the job at Camp Nou Cruyff chose Pep Guardiola Many were quick to point to Guardiola s lack of coaching experience but Cruyff said The biggest test for a coach at a team like Barca is the strength to make decisions and the ability to talk to the press because they don t help and you have to manage that After that it s easy for those who know football But there aren t many who know 75 On 26 March 2010 Cruyff was named honorary president of Barcelona in recognition of his contributions to the club as both a player and manager 76 In July 2010 however he was stripped of this title by new president Sandro Rosell 77 78 Return to Ajax as technical director Edit On 20 February 2008 in the wake of a major research on the ten year mismanagement it was announced that Cruyff would be the new technical director at his boyhood club Ajax his fourth stint with the Amsterdam club 79 Cruyff announced in March that he was pulling out of his planned return to Ajax because of professional difference of opinion between him and Ajax s new manager Marco van Basten Van Basten said that Cruyff s plans were going too fast because he was not so dissatisfied with how things are going now 80 On 11 February 2011 Cruyff returned to Ajax on an advisory basis after agreeing to become a member of one of three sounding board groups 81 After presenting his plans to reform the club in particular to rejuvenate the youth academy the Ajax board of advisors and the CEO resigned on 30 March 2011 82 On 6 June 2011 he was appointed to the new Ajax board of advisors to implement his reform plans 83 84 The Ajax advisory board made a verbal agreement with Louis van Gaal to appoint him as the new CEO without consulting Cruyff 85 Cruyff a fellow board member took Ajax to court in an attempt to block the appointment 86 The court overturned the appointment saying that the board had deliberately put Cruyff offside 87 Due to the ongoing quarrel within the advisory board Cruyff resigned on 10 April 2012 with Ajax stating that Cruyff will remain involved with the implementation of his football vision within the club 88 Technical advisor for Chivas Guadalajara Edit Cruyff became a technical advisor for Mexican club Guadalajara in February 2012 Jorge Vergara the owner of the club made him the team s sport consultant in response to the losing record Guadalajara sustained in the last few months of 2011 89 Although signed to a three year contract Cruyff s contract was terminated December 2012 after just nine months with the club Guadalajara said that other members of the team s coaching staff would likely not be terminated 90 Ambassador for Belgium and the Netherlands joint bid to host the World Cup Edit In September 2009 Cruyff and Ruud Gullit were unveiled as ambassadors for the Belgium Netherlands joint bid for the World Cup finals in 2018 or 2022 at the official launch in Eindhoven 91 Style of play and legacy EditCruyff is widely seen as a revolutionary figure in the history of Ajax Barcelona and the Netherlands The style of play Cruyff introduced at Barcelona later came to be known as tiki taka characterised by short passing and movement working the ball through various channels and maintaining possession which was later adopted by the Euro 2008 2010 FIFA World Cup and Euro 2012 winning Spain national football team 92 The total footballer Edit Cruyff playing with Ajax in 1971 Throughout his career Cruyff became synonymous with the playing style of Total Football 93 94 95 It is a system where a player who moves out of his position is replaced by another from his team thus allowing the team to retain their intended organizational structure In this fluid system no footballer is fixed in their intended outfield role The style was honed by Ajax coach Rinus Michels with Cruyff serving as the on field conductor 96 97 Space and the creation of it were central to the concept of Total Football Ajax defender Barry Hulshoff who played with Cruyff explained how the team that won the European Cup in 1971 1972 and 1973 worked it to their advantage We discussed space the whole time Cruyff always talked about where people should run where they should stand where they should not be moving It was all about making space and coming into space It is a kind of architecture on the field We always talked about speed of ball space and time Where is the most space Where is the player who has the most time That is where we have to play the ball Every player had to understand the whole geometry of the whole pitch and the system as a whole 98 The team orchestrator Cruyff was a creative playmaker with a gift for timing passes 99 Nominally he played centre forward in this system and was a prolific goalscorer but dropped deep to confuse his markers or moved to the wing to great effect 100 In the 1974 World Cup final between West Germany and the Netherlands from the kick off the Dutch monopolised ball possession At the start of the move that led to the opening goal Cruyff picked up the ball in his own half The Dutch captain who was nominally a centre forward was the deepest Dutch outfield player and after a series of passes he set off on a run from the centre circle into the West German box Unable to stop Cruyff by fair means Uli Hoeness brought Cruyff down conceding a penalty scored by Johan Neeskens The first German to thus touch the ball was goalkeeper Sepp Maier picking the ball out of his own net 101 Due to the way Cruyff played the game he is still referred to as the total footballer 102 Cruyff was known for his technical ability speed acceleration dribbling and vision possessing an awareness of his teammates positions as an attack unfolded Football consists of different elements technique tactics and stamina he told the journalists Henk van Dorp and Frits Barend in one of the interviews collected in their book Ajax Barcelona Cruyff There are some people who might have better technique than me and some may be fitter than me but the main thing is tactics With most players tactics are missing You can divide tactics into insight trust and daring In the tactical area I think I just have more than most other players On the concept of technique in football Cruyff once said Technique is not being able to juggle a ball 1 000 times Anyone can do that by practising Then you can work in the circus Technique is passing the ball with one touch with the right speed at the right foot of your team mate 103 Win with style philosophy Edit Winning is just one day a reputation can last a lifetime Winning is an important thing but to have your own style to have people copy you to admire you that is the greatest gift Johan Cruyff 104 Cruyff always considered the aesthetic and moral aspects of the game it was not just about winning but about winning with the right style and in the right way He also always spoke highly of the entertainment value of the game The beautiful game for him was as much about entertainment and joy as results In the thinking of Cruyff victory was only truly meaningful when it could fully capture the minds and hearts of competitors and spectators As he once noted Quality without results is pointless Results without quality is boring 105 For Cruyff choosing a right style of play to win was even more important than winning itself 106 107 Cruyff always believed in simplicity seeing simplicity and beauty as inseparable Simple football is the most beautiful But playing simple football is the hardest thing as Cruyff once summed up his fundamental philosophy 108 How often do you see a pass of forty meters when twenty meters is enough To play well you need good players but a good player almost always has the problem of a lack of efficiency He always wants to do things prettier than strictly necessary 109 Cruyff also perfected a feint now known as the Cruyff Turn 100 The feint is an example of the simplicity in Cruyff s football philosophy It was neither carried out to embarrass the opponent nor to excite the watching crowd but because Cruyff estimated that it was the simplest method in terms of effort and risk versus expected result to beat his opponent Cruyff looked to pass or cross the ball then instead of kicking it he dragged the ball behind his planted foot with the inside of his other foot turned through 180 degrees and accelerated away 110 As Swedish defender Jan Olsson a victim of the Cruyff Turn at the 1974 World Cup recalled I played 18 years in top football and seventeen times for Sweden but that moment against Cruyff was the proudest moment of my career I thought I d win the ball for sure but he tricked me I was not humiliated I had no chance Cruyff was a genius 111 Like Dutch football in general until the mid 1960s Cruyff s early playing career was considerably influenced by coaching philosophy of British coaches such as Vic Buckingham 112 113 The mind body duality always played an important role in his footballing philosophy In Cruyff s words quoted in Dennis Bergkamp s autobiography Stillness and Speed My Story Because you play football with your head and your legs are there to help you If you don t use your head using your feet won t be sufficient Why does a player have to chase the ball Because he started running too late You have to pay attention use your brain and find the right position If you get to the ball late it means you chose the wrong position Bergkamp was never late 114 For Cruyff football was an artistic oriented mind body game instead of an athletic oriented physical competition As he put it Every trainer talks about movement about running a lot I say don t run so much Football is a game you play with your brain You have to be in the right place at the right moment not too early not too late 98 The creativity was always the key element in his footballing philosophy both as a player and as a manager Cruyff once compared his more intuitive and individualistic approach with Louis van Gaal s more mechanized and rigid coaching style Van Gaal has a good vision on football But it s not mine He wants to gel winning teams and has a militaristic way of working with his tactics I don t I want individuals to think for themselves and take the decision on the pitch that is best for the situation I don t have anything against computers but you judge football players intuitively and with your heart On the basis of the criteria which are now in use at Ajax recommended by Van Gaal I would have failed the test When I was 15 I could barely kick the ball 15 metres with my left and with the right maybe 20 metres I would not have been able to take a corner Besides I was physically weak and relatively slow My two qualities were great technique and insight which happen to be two things you cannot measure with a computer 115 Cruyff s favourite world XI Edit In his posthumously released autobiography My Turn The Autobiography 116 Cruyff reveals his dream all time XI in his favourite 3 4 3 4 3 3 formation Cruyff s side in the 3 4 3 diamond formation reads as follows Lev Yashin goalkeeper Ruud Krol full back wing back Franz Beckenbauer central defender libero Carlos Alberto full back wing back Pep Guardiola holding midfielder midfield anchor Bobby Charlton Alfredo Di Stefano Diego Maradona playmaker attacking midfielder second striker Piet Keizer winger Garrincha winger and Pele centre forward striker For humility Cruyff did not put himself in there but there is a spot for his pupil Pep Guardiola and his former teammates Ruud Krol and Piet Keizer It s a typically attacking line up but Cruyff explains the selection in detail For the ideal squad I also try and find a formula in which talent is used to the maximum in every case notes Cruyff The qualities of one player have to complement the qualities of another 117 118 Cruyff s 14 rules Edit In his autobiography Cruyff explained why he made a set of 14 basic rules which are displayed at every Cruyff Court in the world I read an article once about the building of the pyramids in Egypt It turns out that some of the numbers coincide completely with natural laws the position of the moon at certain times and so on And it makes you think how is it possible that those ancient people built something so scientifically complex They must have had something that we don t even though we always think that we re a lot more advanced than they were Take Rembrandt and van Gogh who can match them today When I think that way I m increasingly convinced that everything is actually possible If they managed to do the impossible nearly five thousand years ago why can t we do it today That applies equally to football but also to something like the Cruyff Courts and school sports grounds My fourteen rules are set out for every court and every school sports ground to follow They are there to teach young people that sports and games can also be translated into everyday life 116 And he listed his 14 basic rules that include Team player To accomplish things you have to do them together Responsibility Take care of things as if they were your own Respect Respect one another Integration Involve others in your activities Initiative Dare to try something new Coaching Always help each other within a team Personality Be yourself Social involvement Interaction is crucial both in sport and in life Technique Know the basics Tactics Know what to do Development Sport strengthens body and soul Learning Try to learn something new every day Play together An essential part of any game Creativity Bring beauty to the sport 116 Named after Cruyff Edit Cruyff turn known as Cruijff turn in Dutch a dribbling trick perfected by Cruyff The trick was famously employed by Cruyff during the 1974 World Cup 111 Johan Cruyff Shield Johan Cruijff Schaal in Dutch a football trophy in the Netherlands also referred to as the Dutch Super Cup Johan Cruyff Award or Dutch Football Talent of the Year Dutch Nederlands Voetbal Talent van het Jaar the title has been awarded in the Netherlands since 1984 for footballers under 21 The award Dutch Football Talent of the Year was replaced by the Johan Cruyff Trophy Johan Cruijff Prijs in Dutch in 2003 14282 Cruijff the asteroid minor planet was named after Cruyff The International Astronomical Union IAU officially ratified the naming of Cruijff on 23 September 2010 Johan Cruyff Institute an educational institution founded by Johan Cruyff aimed at educating athletes sport and business professionals in the field of sport management sport marketing football business sponsorship and coaching through a network that currently has five Johan Cruyff Institute postgraduate and executive education three Johan Cruyff Academy graduate education and five Johan Cruyff College vocational training Johan Cruyff Foundation founded in 1997 from the wish of Cruyff to give children the opportunity to play and be active Johan Cruyff Academy offers elite athletes an opportunity to balance sports with a four year Bachelor of Business Administration programme in Sport Marketing a learning track of Commercial Economics There are Johan Cruyff Academy in Amsterdam Groningen and Tilburg These Johan Cruyff Academy are part of Dutch universities of applied science Johan Cruyff College offers elite athletes from all kinds of sports an opportunity to balance sport with vocational education The programmes of the Johan Cruyff College are designed for students who practice sports at the highest levels in The Netherlands and are delivered in Dutch There are five Johan Cruyff College in The Netherlands Amsterdam Enschede Groningen Nijmegen and Roosendaal Each Johan Cruyff College is part of a Regional Education Centre or ROC academic centres that are administered by the Dutch government Cruyff Courts smaller sized football fields suitable for seven a side game A Cruyff Court is a modern alternative to the ancient green public playground which one could find in a lot of neighbourhoods and districts but that over the years has been sacrificed due to urbanisation and expansion 119 Cruijffiaans the name given to the way of speaking or a collection of sayings made famous by Cruyff particularly one liners that hover somewhere between the brilliant and the banal Cruyffista mainly in Spain a follower supporter of Cruyff s views principles on football development philosophy and sports culture 120 107 Johan Cruyff Stadium Estadi Johan Cruyff in Catalan FC Barcelona s newly constructed stadium is named after Cruyff Johan Cruyff Arena Johan Cruijff Arena in Dutch previously known as the Amsterdam Arena In popular culture Edit Bronze statue of Johan Cruyff and Berti Vogts depicting tackling of Vogts versus Cruyff in World Cup final 1974 in front of the Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam by Ek van Zanten Cruyff s statue at the main entrance of the Johan Cruijff Arena in Amsterdam In 2018 Cruyff was added as an icon to the Ultimate Team in EA Sports FIFA video game FIFA 19 receiving a 94 rating 121 British sportswriter David Winner s 2000 book on Dutch football Brilliant Orange mentions Cruyff frequently In the book Dutch football s ideas in particular Cruyff s effectively related to the use of space in Dutch painting and Dutch architecture In 1976 the Italian language documentary film Il profeta del gol was directed by Sandro Ciotti The documentary narrates the successes of Johan Cruyff s football career in the 1970s In 2004 the documentary film Johan Cruijff En un momento dado Johan Cruijff At Any Given Moment was made by Ramon Gieling and charts the years Cruyff spent at Barcelona the club where he had the most profound effect in both a footballing and cultural sense In 2014 the Catalan language documentary film L ultim partit 40 anys de Johan Cruyff a Catalunya was directed by Jordi Marcos celebrating 40 years since Johan Cruyff signed for Barcelona in August 1973 British rock band The Hours recorded a song called Love You More in 2007 In it lead singer Antony Genn described his partner as Better than Elvis in his 68 comeback Better than Cruyff in 74 In an interview with German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung in 2008 when German Chancellor Angela Merkel was discussing the upcoming Euro 2008 she praised Cruyff s performance at the 1974 World Cup Cruyff really impressed me I think I wasn t the only one in Europe 122 Cruyff stood out at the 1974 World Cup in West Germany which Merkel watched from her then home country East Germany 123 In the Netherlands and to some extent Spain Cruyff is famous for his one liners that usually hover between brilliant insight and the blatantly obvious They are famous for their Amsterdam dialect and incorrect grammar and often feature tautologies and paradoxes 124 In Spain his most famous statement is En un momento dado In any given moment The quote has been used for the title of a 2004 documentary about Cruyff s life Johan Cruijff En un momento dado In the Netherlands his most famous one liner is Ieder nadeel heb z n voordeel Every disadvantage has its advantage and his way of expressing himself has been dubbed Cruijffiaans Cruyff rarely limited himself to a single line though and in a comparison with the equally oracular but reserved football manager Rinus Michels Kees Fens equated Cruyff s monologues to experimental prose without a subject only an attempt to drop words in a sea of uncertainty there is no full stop 124 He had a small hit number 21 in the charts in the Netherlands with Oei Oei Oei Dat Was Me Weer Een Loei Upon arriving in Barcelona the Spanish branch of Polydor decided to release the single in Spain as well where it was rather popular 125 Cruyff suffered a heart attack like his father who died of a heart attack when he was 12 in his early forties He used to smoke 20 cigarettes a day prior to undergoing double heart bypass surgery in 1991 while he was the coach of Barcelona Cruyff was forced to immediately give up smoking and he made an anti smoking advertisement for the Catalan Department of Health In the TV spot Cruyff is dressed like a manager in a long trench coat combined with collared shirt and necktie He performed keepy uppies with a pack of cigarettes by juggling it 16 times using feet thighs knees heel chest shoulder and head like holding up a ball before volleying it away Throughout the commercial he speaks in Catalan about the dangers of smoking 126 In November 2003 Cruyff invoked legal proceedings against the publisher Tirion Uitgevers over its photo book Johan Cruyff de Ajacied Johan Cruijff the Ajax player which used photographs by Guus de Jong Cruyff was working on another book also using De Jong s photographs and claimed unsuccessfully that Tirion s book violated his trademark and portrait rights In 2004 a public poll in the Netherlands to determine the greatest Dutchman De Grootste Nederlander named Cruyff the 6th greatest Dutchman of all time with Cruyff finishing above Rembrandt 9th and Vincent van Gogh 10th 127 In 2010 the asteroid minor planet 14282 Cruijff 2097 P L de was named after him The International Astronomical Union IAU officially ratified the naming of Cruijff on 23 September 2010 After Josef Bican and Ferenc Puskas Cruyff is the third football player to have an asteroid named after him 128 129 Nicknames EditThere were many nicknames Cruyff had in the Netherlands and Spain including Jopie Nummer 14 Number 14 130 Het orakel van Betondorp the prophet of Betondorp El Salvador The Saviour and El Flaco The Skinny One One of his best known nicknames was El Salvador or The Saviour a nickname he received during the 1973 74 season and again in 1988 when he helped terminate crisis eras in Barca s history 58 104 131 However contrary to popular belief the nickname El Salvador is a Dutch rather than Spanish invention 132 Outside football EditHobbies Edit Outside football Cruyff s favourite sport and hobby was golf 133 134 In the 1970s Cruyff loved to collect cars In the Sandro Ciotti s documentary film Il Profeta del gol 1976 Cruyff said I like to drive for the 20 km that separate the training camp from my house it relaxes me I love the cars 135 Business ventures Edit In 1979 Cruyff was reaching the twilight of his career in Barcelona He began to imagine creating a range of footwear himself to challenge the technical and luxury qualities of those on the market beforehand After a few years of trying and failing to encourage big sportswear brands to take his idea seriously after all this was quite an unusual ambition of a professional sportsman at the time Eventually he combined with his close friend Italian designer Emilio Lazzarini and using his knowledge he set out to create a technical shoe which managed to balance functionality with elegance Initially the range was filled with luxury indoor football shoes but they quickly became used as a fashion shoe due to their attractive appearance And so Cruyff Classics brand was born 136 137 Writing Edit Cruyff is the author co author of several books in Dutch and Spanish about his football career in particular his principles and view about the football world He also wrote his weekly columns for El Periodico Barcelona based newspaper and De Telegraaf Amsterdam based newspaper 138 Cruyff was multilingual British football writer Brian Glanville wrote his intelligence off the field as well as on it was quite remarkable How well I remember seeing Cruyff surrounded by journalists from all over the world in 1978 to whose questions he replied almost casually in a multiplicity of languages Not only Dutch but English French Spanish and German 139 Philanthropy EditThe Johan Cruyff Foundation 140 has provided over 200 Cruyff Courts in 22 countries including Israel Malaysia Japan United States and Mexico for children of all backgrounds to play street football together UEFA praised the foundation for its positive effect on young people and Cruyff received the UEFA Grassroots Award on the opening of the 100th court in late 2009 141 In 1999 he founded the Johan Cruyff Institute with a programme for 35 athletes as part of the Johan Cruyff University of Amsterdam and has since become a global network 142 Personality EditBorn in the heavily damaged post World War II Netherlands Cruyff came from a humble background and lost his father as a child This had a great influence on his future career and character He was renowned for his strong personality His character both in and beyond the footballing world was much described as the complicated combination of an idealist 143 individualist libertarian collectivist romantic purist pragmatist rebel 144 and even despot 145 Dutch sportswriter Johan Derksen a close friend of Cruyff once said of him Johan is absolutely religious though he never goes to church 146 In August 1973 Ajax players voted for Piet Keizer to be the team s captain in a secret ballot ahead of Cruyff And Cruyff decided his time in Amsterdam had come to an end He joined Barcelona just weeks later two years before the Spanish dictator Francisco Franco died maintaining to the European press corps en route that he chose Barcelona over rivals Real Madrid because he could never join a club associated with Franco 147 As he recalled in a documentary on TV3 channel I remember my move to Spain was quite controversial The president of Ajax wanted to sell me to Real Madrid Barcelona weren t at the same level as Madrid football wise but it was a challenge to play for a Catalan club Barcelona was more than a club 148 At the end of the 1982 83 season Ajax decided not to offer Cruyff a new contract This angered Cruyff and he responded by signing for Ajax s archrivals Feyenoord Cruyff s season at Feyenoord was a successful one in which the club won the Eredivisie for the first time in a decade part of a league and KNVB Cup double 47 Cruyff s strong personality played a role in the struggle between Puma and Adidas the two rival brands that were born from the divisions between the two Dassler brothers 135 Cruyff was a fan of Puma s King boots and by 1974 had signed a sponsorship deal with the German sportswear and equipment supplier At the 1974 World Cup he was under contract with Puma in a deal that prohibited him from promoting other sports brands As the tournament approached Cruyff flatly refused to wear Adidas s trademark three black stripes on his No 14 jersey The Netherlands national football association had little choice but to honour the wishes of their best player and Dutch officials eventually persuaded Adidas to design a separate jersey just for Cruyff with just two stripes running along the sleeves 149 150 Jersey number 14 Edit Cruyff wearing number 14 the number most identified with him 151 Until the 1990s players did not have fixed numbering except in some short competitions like the World Cup or European Championship where players were given a designated number The starting players usually wore jerseys from 1 to 11 and the substitutes from 12 to 16 Cruyff s usual number was 9 151 On 30 October 1970 Cruyff was coming back from a long term injury to play Ajax s rivals PSV However in the locker room before the match teammate Gerrie Muhren could not find his number 7 jersey Cruyff offered his shirt to Muhren and went to the basket to pick another one at random It happened to be the number 14 151 Ajax won 1 0 and Cruyff suggested they keep the same numbers to the following game according to Muhren in an interview to Voetbal International it was a form to challenge the Dutch Football Association 151 From then on Cruyff kept using the number 14 for Ajax and Netherlands national team when he was allowed to 12 151 The iconic No 14 worn by Cruyff in Ajax was retired in 2007 In the 1974 FIFA World Cup Netherlands head coach Rinus Michels wanted his squad to wear numbers alphabetically As Cruyff was the first player on the roster he would be number 1 but he refused and insisted on wearing his lucky number 14 151 Forward Ruud Geels ended up with the number 1 shirt while goalkeeper Jan Jongbloed played as the number 8 Although the number 14 had become a trademark for Cruyff he could be seen wearing his old number 9 on other occasions like during most of his career for FC Barcelona because the league demanded starting players were numbered 1 to 11 152 or for Netherlands in the 1976 European Championship In 2007 Ajax retired Cruyff s number 14 151 Relations with others Edit Cruyff remained a controversial figure throughout his life His relationships with Ajax Barca and KNVB Royal Dutch Football Association were turbulent for some time especially in his later years In his native Netherlands there was always a love hate relationship between Cruyff and his fellow countrymen 153 There was a long standing feud between Cruyff and Louis van Gaal though never confirmed publicly by both sides 154 He also often criticised Jose Mourinho for his defensive based coaching philosophy stated Jose Mourinho is a negative coach He only cares about the result and does not care much for good football As David Winner notes Cruyff has had many enemies and critics over the years 155 He has been accused of being arrogant greedy 153 intolerant despotic too idealistic too stubborn insufficiently interested in defending and simply too difficult a personality He loves an argument and his conflict model method of working can be bruising 155 And Winner concludes that With his belief in the conflict model the idea that you got the best out of people by provoking fights and thereby raising levels of excitement and adrenaline Cruyff made enemies almost as easily as he generated delight Battles with club presidents and teammates led to ruptures especially at Ajax and Barcelona the two clubs that defined his career 156 Criticism Edit Cruyff was also well known for his vocal criticism and uncompromising attitude A perfectionist he always had a strong opinion about things and was loyal to his principles even more than anything else in the football world 157 As an outspoken and critical visionary he strongly criticized the Netherlands style of play at the 2010 World Cup Who am I supporting I am Dutch but I support the football that Spain is playing Spain s style is the style of Barcelona Spain a replica of Barca is the best publicity for football Cruyff wrote in his weekly column for the Barcelona based newspaper El Periodico prior to the final match 158 Until the early 2010s Barcelona had mounting debts built up over the previous few seasons a situation that forced the club to push through an emergency bailout loan of 150 million The Qatar Foundation run by Sheikha Mozah became the first shirt sponsor in Barcelona s 111 year history The club had previously used UNICEF s logo on the front of its shirts 159 In 2011 incoming Barcelona president Sandro Rosell agreed the deal for a period of five seasons with the club receiving 30 million each year starting on 1 July 2011 and running until 30 June 2016 plus bonuses for trophies won that could total 5m 160 Writing in his El Periodico column Cruyff slammed the deal We are a unique club in the world no one has kept their jersey intact throughout their history yet have remained as competitive as they come We have sold this uniqueness for about six percent of our budget I understand that we are currently losing more than we are earning However by selling the shirt it shows me that we are not being creative and that we have become vulgar 161 In an interview with The Guardian s Donald McRae in 2014 Cruyff spoke about football s lost values and how money had eroded the game s purity Football is now all about money There are problems with the values within the game This is sad because football is the most beautiful game We can play it in the street We can play it everywhere Everyone can play it whether you re tall or small fat or thin But those values are being lost We have to bring them back 162 Personal life Edit Cruyff and Danny Coster getting married on 2 December 1968 At the wedding of Ajax teammate Piet Keizer on 13 June 1967 Cruyff met his future wife Diana Margaretha Danny Coster born 1949 They started dating and on 2 December 1968 at the age of 21 he married Danny Her father was Dutch businessman Cor Coster who also happened to be Cruyff s agent He was also credited with engineering Cruyff s move to FC Barcelona in 1973 The marriage is said to have been happy for almost 50 years 163 Contrary to his well known strong personality and superstar status Cruyff led a relatively quiet private life beyond the world of football 164 A highly principled strong minded and devoted family man Cruyff s football career both as a player and as a manager was considerably influenced by his family in particular his wife Danny 165 166 He and Danny had three children together Chantal 16 November 1970 Susila 27 January 1972 and Jordi 9 February 1974 The family has lived in Barcelona since 1973 with a six year interruption from December 1981 to January 1988 when they lived in Vinkeveen the Netherlands 167 In 1977 Cruyff announced his decision to retire from international football at the age of 30 despite still being lean and wiry after helping the country qualify for the 1978 World Cup 168 This move shrouded in mystery and met with disbelief back in late 1977 was only finally stripped of its mystique in 2008 when Cruyff explained his decision in an interview with Catalunya Radio It was while still living in Barcelona as a player in late 1977 Cruyff and his family became the victims of an armed attacker who forced his way into his flat in Barcelona 169 And the man who was then the ultimate football superstar was confronted with the choice between family values and a highly promising World Cup glory at the end of his international career In the interview with Catalunya Radio he said that the attempted kidnap was the reason he decided not to go to the World Cup in Argentina in 1978 As he recalled You should know that I had problems at the end of my career as a player here and I don t know if you know that someone put a rifle at my head and tied me up and tied up my wife in front of the children at our flat in Barcelona The children were going to school accompanied by the police The police slept in our house for three or four months I was going to matches with a bodyguard All these things change your point of view towards many things There are moments in life in which there are other values We wanted to stop this and be a little more sensible It was the moment to leave football and I couldn t play in the World Cup after this 170 Cruyff named his third child after the patron saint of Catalonia St Jordi commonly known in English as Saint George of Lydda This was seen as a provocative gesture towards the then Spanish dictator General Franco who had made all symbols of Catalan nationalism illegal Cruyff had to fly his son back to the Netherlands to register his birth as the name Jordi had been banned by the Spanish authorities Cruyff s decision to go to such great lengths to support Catalan nationalism is part of the reason he is a hero to Barcelona supporters and Catalan nationalists 171 Jordi Cruyff played for teams such as Barcelona while father Johan was manager Manchester United Alaves and Espanyol He wore Jordi on his shirt to distinguish himself from his father which also reflects the common Spanish practice of referring to players by given names alone or by nicknames His grandson Jesjua Angoy played for Dayton Dutch Lions Pep Guardiola Ronald Koeman and Joan Laporta were among Cruyff s closest friends 172 Estelle Cruijff a niece of Cruyff was married to Ruud Gullit for 12 years 2000 2012 173 174 and their son Maxim Gullit plays for Cambuur 175 Religious views EditCruyff once described himself as not religious and criticised the practices of devoutly Catholic Spanish players In Spain all 22 players make the sign of the cross before a game if it worked every game would be a tie 176 That widely quoted statement earned him a place on lists of the world s top atheist athletes But in the 1990s Cruyff told the Dutch Catholic radio station RKK KRO that as a child he attended Sunday school where he was taught about the Bible and that while he did not go to church as an adult he believed there s something there 177 The Dutch evangelical broadcaster EO posted an interview conducted before Cruyff s death with his friend Johan Derksen the editor in chief of Voetbal International magazine People don t know the real Johan Cruyff Derksen said I have on occasion had beautiful conversations with him about faith because we both went to the same kind of schools and learned about the Bible And it stays with you 178 179 Cruyff also expressed his faith in God in an interview with Hanneke Groenteman on Sterren op het Doek 180 Quotes EditMain article Cruijffiaans Every trainer talks about movement about running a lot I say don t run so much Football is a game you play with your brain You have to be in the right place at the right moment not too early not too late 98 In my teams the goalie is the first attacker and the striker the first defender 181 Every disadvantage has its advantage 155 If you can t win make sure you don t lose 155 Quality without results is pointless Results without quality is boring 105 Winning is an important thing but to have your own style to have people copy you to admire you that is the greatest gift 104 Playing football is very simple but playing simple football is the hardest thing there is 1 Illness death and tributes EditHe has enriched and personified our football He was an icon of the Netherlands Johan Cruijff belonged to all of us King Willem Alexander of the Netherlands pays tribute following Cruyff s death 182 Cruyff had always been a heavy smoker from his boyhood until he underwent an emergency bypass operation in 1991 After giving up smoking following the surgery he took to sucking lollipops when watching games 183 He featured in a Catalan health department advertisement saying Football has given me everything in life tobacco almost took it all away 183 184 After more heart trouble in 1997 he vowed never to coach again until 2009 though he remained a vocal football critic and analyst 185 In October 2015 he was diagnosed with lung cancer 186 After the news broke tributes poured in for Cruyff with all Eredivisie games featuring a round of applause on 14 minutes Cruyff s former shirt number Ahead of their league game against Eibar at the Camp Nou 25 October 2015 Barcelona players showed their support for Cruyff by wearing orange T shirts bearing the words Anims Johan Catalan for Get well soon Johan Writing in his weekly De Telegraaf column Cruyff admitted Often the media are an additional tax but the last week that has been different The way in which a reply is posted via a variety of media in my situation was emotional and heartwarming I am extremely proud of the appreciation shown by all responses On his condition Cruyff added Meanwhile we have to wait It s really annoying that it has been leaked so quickly because the only thing I know now is that I have lung cancer No more Because the investigation is ongoing 187 In mid February 2016 he stated that he had been responding well to chemotherapy and was winning his cancer battle 188 189 On 2 March 2016 he was in attendance on the second day of winter testing at the Circuit de Catalunya just outside Barcelona and visited Dutch Formula One driver Max Verstappen Cruyff appeared to be in good spirits and it is believed this was the last time he was seen in public 190 191 192 On the morning of 24 March 2016 in a clinic in Barcelona Cruyff died at the age of 68 surrounded by his wife children and grandchildren 193 His lung cancer had metastasized to his brain and a week before his death he had begun to lose his ability to speak as well as movement on his left side He was cremated in Barcelona within 24 hours 194 of his death A private ceremony was held attended only by his wife children and grandchildren 195 196 197 Within a week of his death several people including players and managers and organisations including clubs paid tribute to him especially via social media 198 199 200 201 Thousands of Barcelona fans passed through the memorial to Cruyff opened inside the Camp Nou stadium to pay tribute 202 203 204 Former Barcelona president Sandro Rosell who did not have a good relationship with Cruyff was among the early visitors to the memorial 205 Real Madrid president Florentino Perez led a Real Madrid delegation to the memorial including former players Emilio Butragueno and Amancio Amaro 206 A friendly match between the Netherlands and France was held on the day after Cruyff s death The play at the Amsterdam Arena was stopped in the 14th minute as players staff and supporters gave a minute s applause for Cruyff who wore the number 14 shirt for his country Mascots from both teams took to the pitch wearing Netherlands national team shirts adorned with Cruyff s number 14 on the front while there were numerous banners in the spectators stands bearing the simple message Johan Bedankt Thank you Johan 207 Ahead of the El Clasico against Real Madrid 2 April 2016 208 Barcelona announced plans for five special tributes to Cruyff 1 A mosaic formed by the 90 000 fans inside Camp Nou carrying the words Gracies Johan Catalan for Thank you Johan 2 The words Gracies Johan would replace the World Club champions badge on the front of the Barcelona players shirts 3 Children wearing T shirts with the words Gracies Johan would accompany Barca s and Madrid s players on to the pitch at the beginning of the game The logo of the Johan Cruyff Foundation would feature on the back of the T shirts 4 The presence of all eight living past and present Barcelona presidents Agusti Montal i Costa Raimon Carrasco Josep Lluis Nunez Joan Gaspart Enric Reyna Joan Laporta Sandro Rosell and Josep Maria Bartomeu 5 A commemorative video honouring Cruyff s life would be shown on the big screens at Camp Nou stadium 209 210 An open letter signed by Barcelona s eight current and previous presidents read With Cruyff we began to play differently breaking new ground and innovating With him both as a player and coach we established our own style on the field what is traditionally known as total football the Barca style everyone admires The arrival of Cruyff altered the history of Barca He contributed decisively to a change of mentality He got us to keep our heads up and to see that no opponent was invincible that we could attain what we were aiming for Cruyff was an icon who explained better than anyone that Barca is more than a club Without Cruyff s unabashed and non conformist spirit we quite possibly wouldn t have become the greatest club in the world 211 212 Career statistics EditClub Edit Appearances and goals by club season and competition 213 Club Season League Cup a Continental b Other c TotalDivision Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps GoalsAjax 1964 65 Eredivisie 10 4 0 0 10 41965 66 19 16 4 9 23 251966 67 30 33 5 5 6 3 41 411967 68 33 27 5 6 2 1 40 341968 69 29 24 3 3 10 6 1 1 43 341969 70 33 23 5 6 8 4 46 331970 71 25 21 6 5 6 1 37 271971 72 32 25 4 3 9 5 45 331972 73 32 17 0 0 6 3 4 3 42 231973 74 2 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 3Total 245 193 32 37 47 23 5 4 329 257Barcelona 1973 74 La Liga 26 16 12 8 0 0 38 241974 75 30 7 12 7 8 0 50 141975 76 29 6 10 3 9 2 48 111976 77 30 14 9 6 7 5 46 251977 78 28 5 7 1 10 5 45 11Total 143 48 50 25 34 12 227 85Los Angeles Aztecs 1979 NASL 22 14 4 1 26 15Washington Diplomats 1980 NASL 24 10 2 0 26 10Levante 1980 81 Segunda Division 10 2 0 0 10 2Washington Diplomats 1981 NASL 5 2 5 2Ajax 1981 82 Eredivisie 15 7 1 0 0 0 16 71982 83 21 7 7 2 2 0 30 9Total 36 14 8 2 2 0 46 16Feyenoord 1983 84 Eredivisie 33 11 7 1 4 1 44 13Career total 518 294 97 65 87 36 11 5 713 400 Appearances in KNVB Cup and Copa del Rey Appearances in European Cup and Fairs Cup Appearances in Intertoto Cup UEFA Super Cup Intercontinental Cup and NASL Play Offs International Edit Appearances and goals by national team and year National team Year Apps GoalsNetherlands 1966 2 11967 3 11968 1 01969 3 11970 2 21971 4 61972 5 51973 6 61974 12 81975 2 01976 4 21977 4 1Total 48 33Scores and results list the Netherlands goal tally first score column indicates score after each Cruyff goal List of international goals scored by Johan Cruyff 214 No Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition1 7 September 1966 Rotterdam Netherlands Hungary 2 0 2 2 UEFA Euro 1968 qualifying2 13 September 1967 Amsterdam Netherlands East Germany 1 0 1 0 UEFA Euro 1968 qualifying3 26 March 1969 Rotterdam Netherlands Luxembourg 1 0 4 0 1970 FIFA World Cup qualification4 2 December 1970 Amsterdam Netherlands Romania 1 0 2 0 Friendly5 2 06 24 February 1971 Rotterdam Netherlands Luxembourg 3 0 6 0 UEFA Euro 1972 qualifying7 4 08 17 November 1971 Eindhoven Netherlands Luxembourg 1 0 8 0 UEFA Euro 1972 qualifying9 7 010 8 011 1 December 1971 Amsterdam Netherlands Scotland 1 0 2 1 Friendly12 16 February 1972 Athens Greece Greece 3 0 5 0 Friendly13 5 014 30 August 1972 Prague Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia 1 0 2 1 Friendly15 1 November 1972 Rotterdam Netherlands Norway 4 0 9 0 1974 FIFA World Cup qualification16 8 017 2 May 1973 Amsterdam Netherlands Spain 3 2 3 2 Friendly18 22 August 1973 Amsterdam Netherlands Iceland 2 0 5 0 1974 FIFA World Cup qualification19 5 020 29 August 1973 Deventer Netherlands Iceland 2 0 8 1 1974 FIFA World Cup qualification21 4 022 12 September 1973 Oslo Norway Norway 1 0 2 1 1974 FIFA World Cup qualification23 26 June 1974 Gelsenkirchen West Germany Argentina 1 0 4 0 1974 FIFA World Cup24 4 025 3 July 1974 Dortmund Germany Brazil 2 0 2 0 1974 FIFA World Cup26 4 September 1974 Stockholm Sweden Sweden 1 0 5 1 Friendly27 25 September 1974 Helsinki Finland Finland 1 1 3 1 UEFA Euro 1976 qualifying28 2 129 20 November 1974 Rotterdam Netherlands Italy 2 1 3 1 UEFA Euro 1976 qualifying30 3 131 22 May 1976 Brussels Belgium Belgium 2 1 2 1 UEFA Euro 1976 qualifying32 13 October 1976 Rotterdam Netherlands Northern Ireland 2 1 2 2 1978 FIFA World Cup qualification33 26 March 1977 Antwerp Belgium Belgium 2 0 2 0 1978 FIFA World Cup qualificationManagerial statistics EditTeam From To RecordG W D L Win Ajax 6 June 1985 4 January 1988 117 86 10 21 0 73 50Barcelona 4 May 1988 18 May 1996 430 250 97 83 0 58 14Catalonia 2 November 2009 2 January 2013 4 2 2 0 0 50 00Total 551 338 109 104 0 61 34Honours EditPlayer Edit Ajax 12 Eredivisie 1965 66 1966 67 1967 68 1969 70 1971 72 1972 73 1981 82 1982 83 KNVB Cup 1966 67 1969 70 1970 71 1971 72 1982 83 European Cup 1970 71 1971 72 1972 73 European Super Cup 1972 Intercontinental Cup 1972Barcelona 12 La Liga 1973 74 Copa del Rey 1977 78Feyenoord Eredivisie 1983 84 KNVB Cup 1983 84International FIFA World Cup Runner up 1974 UEFA European Championship Third place 1976Manager Edit Ajax 12 KNVB Cup 1985 86 1986 87 European Cup Winners Cup 1986 87Barcelona 12 La Liga 1990 91 1991 92 1992 93 1993 94 Copa del Rey 1989 90 Supercopa de Espana 1991 1992 1994 European Cup 1991 92 European Cup Winners Cup 1988 89 European Super Cup 1992Individual Edit Player 12 Cruyff receiving the 1971 Ballon d Or Ballon d Or 1971 1973 1974 Third place 1975 4 Eredivisie top scorer 1966 67 1971 72 KNVB Cup top scorer 1966 67 1967 68 1969 70 1970 71 1971 72 European Cup top scorer 1971 72 Dutch Footballer of the Year 1968 215 1972 216 1984 Dutch Sportsman of the Year 1973 1974 FIFA World Cup Golden Ball 1974 217 FIFA World Cup All Star Team 1974 218 IOC European Footballer of the Season 1970 71 1972 73 219 Onze de Onze 1977 220 Don Balon Award for Best LaLiga Foreign Player 1977 1978 221 North American Soccer League MVP 1979 FIFA World Cup All Time Team 1994 222 FIFA World Cup Dream Team 2002 223 World Team of the 20th Century 222 FIFA 100 2004 224 World Soccer s Greatest XI of All Time 2013 225 World Soccer s The Greatest Players of the 20th Century 3 France Football s Player of the Century 3 IFFHS European Player of the Century 1 18 IFFHS World Player of the Century 2 UEFA Golden Jubilee Poll 2004 3 IFFHS The Best European Player 1956 1990 3 Ballon d Or Dream Team Silver 2020 226 11 Leyendas Jornal AS 2021 227 IFFHS All time Men s Dream Team 2021 228 Manager World Soccer Awards Manager of the Year 1987 Don Balon Award for Coach of the Year 1991 1992 Onze d Or for Coach of the Year 1991 1992 European Coach of the Season 1991 92 El Pais Manager of the Year 1992 1993 1994Orders and further honours Edit In 1974 Cruyff was appointed Knight of the Order of Orange Nassau In 2002 Cruyff was promoted to Officer of the Order of Orange Nassau In November 2003 to celebrate UEFA s Jubilee he was selected as the Golden Player of the Netherlands by the KNVB as their most outstanding player of the past 50 years 229 On 22 May 2006 Cruyff was presented a Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution to football by Laureus in their annual World Sports Awards 230 In April 2016 Cruyff was posthumously awarded the Laureus Spirit of Sport Award which was accepted by his son Jordi 231 Cruyff received a lifetime achievement award from the KNVB in August 2006 232 233 In 2006 Cruyff played in Dennis Bergkamp s Testimonial as a second half substitute with Ajax 234 On 18 April 2007 Ajax decided to retire the number 14 shirt in honour of Cruyff and in celebration of his birthday 235 In 2010 Cruyff was presented the FIFA Order of Merit highest honour awarded by FIFA for his contribution to football 12 In 2010 Cruyff entered in the FICTS Hall of Fame and was awarded with Excellence Guirlande D Honneur 236 In 2013 Cruyff was recognised with the UEFA President s Award 237 On 29 March 2016 the Prime Minister of Spain awarded Cruyff with the Gold Medal of the Royal Order of Sporting Merit 238 On 25 October 2017 the Amsterdam Arena was renamed Johan Cruyff Arena 239 See also EditList of UEFA club competition winning managers List of European Cup and UEFA Champions League winning managersReferences Edit Johan Cruyff Trainerprofil DFB dfb de Archived from the original on 4 June 2022 Retrieved 21 April 2022 Strack Zimmermann Benjamin Johan Cruijff Player www national football teams com Retrieved 28 July 2022 Johan Cruyff worldfootball net Retrieved 28 July 2022 a b Moore Rob Stokkermans Karel 21 January 2011 European Footballer of the Year Ballon d Or RSSSF Retrieved 13 January 2015 FIFA Classic Player The Netherlands Grand Master FIFA com Retrieved 14 July 2014 Ossie Ardiles Perfect XI FourFourTwo 1 October 2006 Retrieved 1 July 2016 Classic Players Johan Cruyff I was there FIFA com retrieved 14 July 2014 McRae Donald Pep Guardiola Forget about me Johan Cruyff was the best manager The Irish Times Retrieved 15 June 2021 The Best x Players of the Century All Time Archived 31 December 2015 at the Wayback Machine Rsssf com 5 February 2001 retrieved 18 January 2013 MENOTTI Pele fue el mas grande Archived from the original on 3 April 2013 Retrieved 22 September 2012 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint bot original URL status unknown link Elgrancampeon com ar Retrieved 28 October 2013 Interview Alex Ferguson New Statesman Retrieved on 18 January 2013 Chaplin Mark 27 August 2014 European football in the 1970s UEFA org Retrieved 28 August 2015 The Netherlands made their first appearance at the World Cup final tournament in 1934 After a second appearance in 1938 they did not appear in another World Cup until 1974 As Simon Kuper in Holland a Country of Clubs noted The mere fact that almost everyone in Holland plays football cannot itself explain the country s success Until the 1970s Dutch football was mediocre Holland would occasionally lose to Luxembourg and considered their main rivals to be Belgium a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z The Netherlands Grand Master FIFA com Retrieved 15 May 2014 Furniss Matt 24 March 2022 Total Legend Remembering Johan Cruyff The Analyst Retrieved 25 January 2023 Why did Cruyff not play at Argentina 1978 MARCA English marca com 26 March 2016 Retrieved 29 January 2021 We are the champions FIFA com 11 December 2005 Archived from the original on 8 December 2015 Retrieved 24 March 2016 Player with most assists in Intercontinental Cup history www besoccer com Retrieved 25 January 2023 Hendrick Johannes Johan Cruyff stats FC Barcelona Players FCB Jugadors Retrieved 25 January 2023 a b IFFHS Century Elections RSSSF Retrieved 22 March 2007 The Best x Players of the Century All Time RSSSF Archived from the original on 31 December 2015 Retrieved 18 March 2007 Pele s list of the greatest BBC Sport 4 March 2004 Retrieved 16 November 2013 Coerts Stefan 21 January 2015 Cruyff I nearly joined Real Madrid Goal com Retrieved 20 October 2015 a b c Cruyff the positive thinker looks ahead to new lease of football life Herald Scotland www heraldscotland com 26 April 1997 Retrieved 26 September 2016 a b Ramesh Priya 1 April 2016 Johan Cruijff A mortal with the potential of a superman Benefoot net Archived from the original on 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express yourself and play Make it special for you and for everyone watching For the good of football we need a team of invention attacking ideas and style to emerge Even if it doesn t win it will inspire footballers of all ages everywhere That is the greatest reward a b Winner David 8 March 2016 The Church of Cruyff Forever Spreading the Football Gospel Bleacher Report Media Lab Retrieved 18 June 2016 Early Ken 24 March 2016 Johan Cruyff the great idealist who proved beauty is best The Irish Times Retrieved 24 July 2016 Storey Daniel 17 February 2016 Portrait of an icon Johan Cruyff Football365 com Retrieved 27 July 2016 Top World Cup moments No8 The Cruyff turn makes its debut 1974 Archived 5 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine tntmagazine com accessed 24 October 2015 a b All time Top 20 No 3 Johan Cruyff espnfc com retrieved 17 November 2013 Townsend Jon 28 January 2016 Rinus Michels and the Total Football rebellion These Football Times Retrieved 28 July 2016 Votoupal David 30 March 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or queen Newstalk com Retrieved 25 August 2016 Boniface Pascal 29 August 2016 Johan Cruyff genie pop et despote 3 questions a Cherif Ghemmour Iris France org Institut de Relations Internationales et Strategiques Retrieved 19 September 2016 Cruijf Van God heb ik een hoop kwaliteiten gehad CIP nl Christelijke Informatie Platform 25 March 2016 Retrieved 25 September 2016 Fitzpatrick Richard 2012 El Clasico Barcelona v Real Madrid Football s Greatest Rivalry Bloomsbury Publishing Dhingra Himanshu 21 January 2015 Cruyff I almost joined Real Madrid Football Oranje Retrieved 20 October 2015 Johan Cruyff don t want to wear ADIDAS PUMA CATch up puma catchup com 4 November 2015 Retrieved 12 July 2016 Orr James 24 March 2016 Why Cruyff refused to wear the trademark three stripes of Adidas at the 1974 World Cup The Independent Retrieved 12 July 2016 a b c d e f g Sheen Tom 24 March 2016 Johan Cruyff Why the Dutch master wore the famous number 14 shirt Independent co uk Retrieved 2 February 2017 Giraldo Javier 25 March 2016 Why did the late great Johan Cruyff wear the No 14 shirt sport english com Retrieved 2 February 2017 a b Kuper Simon 24 March 2016 Johan Cruyff The player the coach the legacy Originally appeared in the July 2009 issue FourFourTwo Retrieved 18 July 2016 Simon Kuper he loved money with the passion of a man who had grown up without it When Cruyff returned to Ajax in 1981 the Dutch were sceptical The Calvinist Holland of the time distrusted anyone who thought he was special Cruyff had never been popular at home where he was known as Nose or The Moneywolf By now he was 34 with a broken body Surely he was coming back for the money Coerts Stefan 19 November 2011 Louis van Gaal amp Johan Cruyff Clash of personalities spells disaster for Ajax Goal com Retrieved 29 September 2016 a b c d Winner David 8 March 2016 The Church of Cruyff Forever Spreading the Football Gospel Bleacher Report Media Lab Retrieved 18 June 2016 Winner David 25 March 2016 Johan Cruyff father 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Retrieved 26 July 2016 Bouwes Ernst 23 April 2008 Hard to explain ESPN FC Retrieved 20 August 2015 Herbert Ian 25 March 2016 Johan Cruyff The balletic genius who changed football all over the world Independent co uk Retrieved 25 August 2016 Bouwes Ernst 23 April 2008 Hard to explain ESPN FC Retrieved 20 August 2015 Then Carles Rexach published his book and also claimed that she Danny always had a big influence over his career She can also be blamed for Holland missing out on the World Cup in 1970 and then probably winning it why not when Johan had to go on a trip to Milan with Danny to buy shoes for her shop in Amsterdam He returned too late for the Dutch training camp before their decisive qualifier against Bulgaria and was subsequently dropped A draw ended all hopes of a trip to Mexico Bouwes Ernst 12 April 2011 Cruyff rift tearing Ajax apart ESPN FC Retrieved 20 August 2015 Following his heart operation in 1991 Danny became stricter in controlling her man He withdrew as Netherlands national coach for the 1994 World Cup in a cloud of arguments after an initial agreement She probably forbade him to go as it was too dangerous for his health Several times since Cruyff has promised to commit to some responsibility only to resign later with some half hearted excuse It s as if she told him to stop being foolish but he did not dare to say so in public Danny appears to be very well capable of handling Cruyff Grote Johan Cruijff hype is in aantocht Voetbal International 25 October 2015 Bland Gareth 1 December 2015 In celebration of Holland s underappreciated 1978 masters These Football Times thesefootballtimes co Retrieved 31 August 2016 14 things you may or may not know about Johan Cruijff DutchNews nl 11 April 2016 Retrieved 20 July 2016 Keeley Graham 17 April 2008 After 30 years the truth behind Cruyff s World Cup absence The Guardian Retrieved 27 July 2016 Burns Danny 2009 Barca London Bloomsbury Publishing ISBN 978 1408805787 Laporta Joan 25 March 2016 Johan maestro amigo referente ELMUNDO es Retrieved 2 July 2016 Ghai Rishabh 2 August 2012 The Good Life Ruud Gullit Goal com Retrieved 22 September 2016 Badr Hari s Ex Partner Estelle Cruyff Allegedly Converts to Islam MoroccoWorldNews 23 January 2016 Retrieved 23 September 2016 Zoon van Ruud Gullit maakt debuut voor Jong AZ in kampioensduel Twente AD nl in Dutch 22 April 2019 Retrieved 1 June 2020 Johan Cruijff Quotes famousquotes com Archived from the original on 12 November 2013 Retrieved 9 July 2013 I m not religious in Spain all 22 players cross themselves if it works the game is always going to be a tie Verlosser Cruijff gelooft niet maar denkt wel dat er iets is Trouw 25 November 1999 Johan Cruijff was absoluut gelovig Johan Derksen over voetballegende Cruijff EO nl 24 March 2016 Retrieved 2 July 2016 Johan Derksen Johan Cruijff is absoluut gelovig al gaat hij nooit naar de kerk Original in Dutch Socolovsky Jerome 25 March 2016 The death of soccer s savior Religion News Service Retrieved 2 July 2016 Johan Cruijff gemist Start met kijken op NPO Start npostart nl Retrieved 29 January 2021 Calderon Ramon 24 March 2016 Johan Cruyff Former Real Madrid President Ramon Calderon Pays Tribute To A Visionary Newsweek Retrieved 24 July 2016 Reacties op het overlijden van Johan Cruijff NRC in Dutch 24 March 2016 Retrieved 24 March 2016 a b Johan Cruyff Netherlands great diagnosed with lung cancer BBC News 22 October 2015 Johan Cruyff diagnosed with lung cancer The Guardian London accessed 24 October 2015 Vinnell Paul 25 March 2016 Johan Cruyff dies of cancer at age of 68 SkySports com Retrieved 25 September 2016 De Menezes Jack 22 October 2015 Johan Cruyff Barcelona Ajax and Netherlands legend diagnosed with lung cancer The Independent Retrieved 22 October 2015 Bell Michael 26 October 2015 Cruyff Emotional after tributes Football Oranje com Retrieved 26 July 2016 Johan Cruyff says he feels 2 0 up in match against lung cancer BBC Sport 13 February 2016 Retrieved 24 March 2016 Wright Joe 13 February 2016 Cruyff feels 2 0 up in cancer battle Goal com Retrieved 23 July 2016 As Cruyff said in a statement on his official website Cruyff Management The World of Johan Cruyff After several medical treatments I can say that the results have been very positive thanks to the excellent work of the doctors the affection of the people and my positive mentality Right now I have the feeling that I am 2 0 up in the first half of a match that has not finished yet But I am sure that I will end up winning a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a External link in code class cs1 code quote code help Viaplana Josep 2 March 2016 Cruyff poses alongside Verstappen at Barcelona Grand Prix circuit Sport es Retrieved 24 July 2016 Lifona Daniel G 2 March 2016 Johan Cruyff visits Verstappen in Montmelo Marca com Retrieved 24 July 2016 Corless Liam 24 March 2016 Johan Cruyff s last public appearance came at F1 testing in Catalonia earlier in March Mirror co uk Retrieved 24 July 2016 Meagher Gerard 24 March 2016 Johan Cruyff Total Football pioneer dies at the age of 68 The Guardian Retrieved 24 July 2016 de Groot Jaap 24 March 2017 Johan Cruyff s final months remembered by his ghostwriter and dear friend FourFourTwo com Retrieved 1 November 2017 Netherlands great Johan Cruyff dies of cancer aged 68 BBC News 24 March 2016 Johan Cruyff Dutch football legend dies at the age of 68 The Guardian London 24 March 2016 Retrieved 24 March 2016 Johan Cruyff organised his death to be with family claims close friend The Daily Mirror 26 March 2016 Welch Julie 24 March 2016 Johan Cruyff obituary Europe s first football superstar The Guardian Retrieved 10 July 2016 MacLeary John 24 March 2016 Johan Cruyff dies aged 68 tributes and reaction The Telegraph Archived from the original on 11 January 2022 Retrieved 10 July 2016 Stars past and present react to Cruyff s death UEFA com 24 March 2016 Retrieved 10 July 2016 Mitten Andy 25 March 2016 How Barcelona Catalunya and Spain reacted to the death of Johan Cruyff ESPN FC Retrieved 10 July 2016 Smith Jamie 24 March 2016 Cruyff death a very sad day for football Van Gaal Goal com Retrieved 12 July 2016 Collins Paul 25 March 2016 Florentino Perez pays tribute to Johan Cruyff Realmadridnews com Retrieved 12 July 2016 Florentino Perez visits the memorial to Johan Cruyff Realmadrid com Real Madrid C F official website 26 March 2016 Retrieved 12 July 2016 Barcelona holds last day of memorial tribute to Johan Cruyff Belfasttelegraph Retrieved 29 January 2021 Mascaro Lluis 26 March 2016 Thousands of Barcelona fans pay tribute to Johan Cruyff at Camp Nou memorial SPORT es Retrieved 10 July 2016 Johan Cruyff tribute Holland v France halted in 14th minute to honour legend The Guardian 25 March 2016 Cristiano Ronaldo scores late to give Real Madrid victory at Barcelona ESPN 2 April 2016 FC Barcelona board reveals plans to honour Johan Cruyff at Clasico FCBARCELONA COM 29 March 2016 Retrieved 10 July 2016 Barcelona reveal five Clasico tributes in honour of Johan Cruyff SPORT es 29 March 2016 Retrieved 10 July 2016 Letter from the presidents of FC Barcelona to Johan Cruyff FCBARCELONA COM 24 March 2016 Retrieved 24 September 2016 Garcia Adriana 25 March 2016 Barcelona and Xavi thank Johan Cruyff for altering history ESPN FC Retrieved 25 September 2016 IFFHS International Federation of Football History amp Statistics IFFHS Johan Cruijff Goals in International Matches rsssf org retrieved 18 January 2013 Limburgsch dagblad Retrieved 6 April 2015 De Volkskrant 5 December 2012 Retrieved 6 April 2015 Jose Luis Pierrend 12 February 2015 FIFA Awards FIFA World Cup Golden Ball Awards RSSSF Archived from the original on 12 January 2016 Retrieved 24 March 2016 FIFA World Cup Awards All Star Team Archived from the original on 30 June 2016 Retrieved 24 March 2016 Skorobahatko Anatolii 25 August 2015 Best European footballers by season PDF Ukrainian Football Archived from the original PDF on 23 August 2017 Retrieved 2 June 2017 ukr Onze Mondial Awards RSSSF Retrieved 3 June 2022 Emilio Pla Diaz 21 January 2016 Spain Footballer of the Year RSSSF Retrieved 24 March 2016 a b World All Time Teams RSSSF Retrieved 24 March 2016 FIFA DREAM TEAM Maradona voted top player Reuters 19 June 2002 Archived from the original on 6 October 2012 Retrieved 24 March 2016 Davies Christopher 5 March 2004 Pele open to ridicule over top hundred The Telegraph Archived from the original on 11 January 2022 Retrieved 24 March 2016 Rainbow Jamie 2 July 2013 The Greatest World Soccer Retrieved 24 March 2016 The other two Ballon d Or Dream Team XIs Zidane Cruyff Iniesta Di Stefano but no Casillas MARCA 15 December 2020 Retrieved 15 December 2020 11 Leyenda el mejor once de la historia JornalAS 25 February 2021 IFFHS ALL TIME WORLD MEN S DREAM TEAM IFFHS 22 May 2021 Golden Players take centre stage UEFA com Archived from the original on 12 March 2007 Retrieved 18 March 2007 Johan Cruyff profile Laureus Archived from the original on 29 October 2013 Retrieved 28 October 2013 Jordi Cruyff accepts award on father s behalf Marca com 19 April 2016 Kuijt receives Dutch accolade UEFA com 29 August 2006 Archived from the original on 8 January 2009 Retrieved 28 October 2013 Huntelaar weer twee prijzen rijker Ajax nl in Dutch Retrieved 28 October 2013 Pictures Dennis Bergkamp s testimonial Arsenal com 22 July 2013 Retrieved 24 March 2016 Ajax tribute to priceless Cruyff UEFA com 19 April 2007 Archived from the original on 8 January 2009 Retrieved 28 October 2013 RIVERA CRUJFF TOMBA GIRADELLI E L INTER APRONO SPORT MOVIES amp TV 2010 Ficts 29 October 2010 Retrieved 25 May 2017 UEFA President s Award UEFA com 2 January 2014 Retrieved 1 June 2017 El Gobierno de Espana concede a Johan Cruyff la Medalla de Oro de la Real Orden del Merito Deportivo a titulo postumo in Spanish mecd gob es Retrieved 29 March 2016 Amsterdam Arena to be renamed after Johan Cruyff Goal com 25 April 2017External links Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to Johan Cruijff Wikiquote has quotations related to Johan Cruyff The World of Johan Cruyff Explore the World of Johan Cruyff Johan Cruyff Foundation Johan Cruyff Foundation Biography of Johan Cruyff UEFA com Johan Cruyff FIFA competition record archived Johan Cruyff at BDFutbol Johan Cruyff manager profile at BDFutbol Johan Cruyff at Wereld van Oranje in Dutch International Football Hall of Fame Johan Cruyff ifhof comAwards and achievementsPreceded byLjupko Petrovic European Cup Winning Coach1991 92 Succeeded byRaymond GoethalsPreceded byArd Schenk Dutch Sportsman of the Year1973 1974 Succeeded byJos Hermens Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Johan Cruyff amp oldid 1150505952, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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