Hendrik Johannes Cruijff (, internationally known as Johan Cruyff; 25 April 1947 – 24 March 2016) was a Dutch professional
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
player and
manager
Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business.
Management includes the activities o ...
. As a player, he won the
Ballon d'Or
The Ballon d'Or (; ) is an annual football award presented by French news magazine ''France Football'' since 1956. Between 2010 and 2015, in an agreement with FIFA, the award was temporarily merged with the FIFA World Player of the Year (fo ...
three times, in 1971, 1973 and 1974. Cruyff was a proponent of the football philosophy known as Total Football explored by
Rinus Michels
Marinus Jacobus Hendricus Michels (; 9 February 1928 – 3 March 2005) was a Dutch football player and coach. He played his entire career for AFC Ajax, which he later managed, and played for and later managed the Netherlands national team ...
. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport and one of the most influential figures in modern football, as well as one of its best managers ever.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s,
Dutch football
Football is the most popular sport in the Netherlands. Football was introduced to the Netherlands by Pim Mulier in the 19th century when in 1879, at the age of 14, he founded Haarlemsche Football Club. Over the next 30 years, football gained ...
rose from a semi-professional and obscure level to become a powerhouse in the sport. Cruyff led the
Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
to the final of the
1974 FIFA World Cup
The 1974 FIFA World Cup was the tenth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in West Germany (and West Berlin) between 13 June and 7 July. The tournament marked the first time that the ...
and received the Golden Ball as player of the tournament."The Netherlands' Grand Master" FIFA.com. Retrieved 15 May 2014. After finishing third in
UEFA Euro 1976
The 1976 UEFA European Football Championship final tournament was held in Yugoslavia. This was the fifth UEFA European Championship, held every four years and endorsed by UEFA. The final tournament took place between 16 and 20 June 1976.
Only f ...
, Cruyff refused to play in the
1978 FIFA World Cup
The 1978 FIFA World Cup was the 11th edition of the FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial international football world championship tournament among the men's senior national teams. It was held in Argentina between 1 and 25 June.
The Cup was won by t ...
after a kidnapping attempt targeting him and his family in their
Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
home dissuaded him from football. At club level, Cruyff started his career at
Ajax
Ajax may refer to:
Greek mythology and tragedy
* Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea
* Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris
* ''Ajax'' (play), by the ancient Greek ...
, where he won eight
Eredivisie
The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...
titles, three
European Cup
The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...
Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
La Liga
The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...
in his first season and winning the Ballon d'Or. After retiring from playing in 1984, Cruyff became highly successful as manager of Ajax and later Barcelona; he remained an influential advisor to both clubs after his coaching tenures. His son
Jordi
Jordi () is the Catalan form of the ancient Greek name Georgios. Jordi is a popular name in Catalonia and is also given in the Netherlands and in Spanish-, English- and German-speaking countries.
Jordi may also refer to:
*Sant Jordi – patron sa ...
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
The International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) is an organisation that chronicles the history and records of association football. It was founded in 1984 by Alfredo Pöge in Leipzig. The IFFHS was based in Abu Dhabi for so ...
, and came second behind
Pelé
Edson Arantes do Nascimento (; born 23 October 1940), known as Pelé (), is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a forward. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time and labelled "the greatest" by FIFA, ...
France Football
''France Football'' is a French weekly magazine containing football news from all over the world. It is considered to be one of the most reputable sports publications in Europe, mostly because of its photographic reports, in-depth and exclusiv ...
'' consulting their former Ballon d'Or winners to elect their Football Player of the Century. He was included in the
World Team of the 20th Century
The World Team of the 20th Century was chosen in 1998 to comprise the best association football players of the 20th century CE. The team comprises an eleven-member side, with one goalkeeper, four defenders, three midfielders, and three forwards.
...
in 1998, the
FIFA World Cup Dream Team The FIFA World Cup Dream Team is an all-time FIFA World Cup all-star team published by FIFA in 2002 after conducting an internet poll of fans to select a World Cup dream team.FIFA 100
The FIFA 100 is a list of Brazilian footballer Pelé's choice of the "greatest living footballers". Unveiled on 4 March 2004 at a gala ceremony in London, England, the FIFA 100 marked part of the celebrations of the 100th anniversary of the fo ...
list of the world's greatest living players.
Early life
Hendrik Johannes "Johan" Cruyff was born on 25 April 1947 in the Burgerziekenhuis hospital in
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...
. He grew up on a street five minutes away from
Ajax
Ajax may refer to:
Greek mythology and tragedy
* Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea
* Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris
* ''Ajax'' (play), by the ancient Greek ...
'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
Servaas "Faas" Wilkes (, 13 October 1923 – 15 August 2006) was a Dutch football forward, who earned a total of 38 caps for the Dutch national team, in which he scored 35 goals (average 0.92 goals per game). However, for a prolonged period of ...
.
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." 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. 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.
Club career
''Gloria Ajax'' and the golden era of Total Football
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. When he first joined Ajax, Cruyff preferred
baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...
and continued to play the sport until age fifteen when he quit at the urging of his coaches.
He made his first team debut on 15 November 1964 in the
Eredivisie
The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...
, against
GVAV
GVAV-Rapiditas are a Dutch multi-sport club based in Groningen, Netherlands. Its first association football team competes in the seventh-tier Tweede Klasse since 2015, when it relegated from the Eerste Klasse. From 1954 to 1971, the club featured ...
, 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. 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
Veendam () is a town and municipality with a population of 27,752 in the province of Groningen in the northeast of the Netherlands. Veendam was established in 1648 as a peat colony by Adriaan Geerts Wildervanck.
A Holland America Line cruise ship ...
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.
In the 1966–67 season, Ajax again won the league championship, and also won the
KNVB Cup
The KNVB Beker (; en, KNVB Cup), branded as the TOTO KNVB Beker for sponsorship reasons, is a competition in the Netherlands organized by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. Ou ...
, for Cruyff's first "double". 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. On 28 May 1969, Cruyff played in his first
European Cup
The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...
final against
Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
, 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
Gerardus ("Gerrie") Dominicus Hyacinthus Maria Mühren (2 February 1946 – 19 September 2013) was a Dutch footballer who played as a midfielder. He was the older brother of Arnold Mühren, who likewise played for the Netherlands national team. ...
, he instead used number 14. 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'' and in the Netherlands there is a magazine by
Voetbal International
''Voetbal International'' (VI) is a Dutch football magazine. It is the oldest Dutch football magazine that is still running.
History and Profile
''Voetbal International'' was established in 1965. VI was one of the founding members of ESM but l ...
, ''Nummer 14''.
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
Sparta Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club based in Rotterdam. Established on 1 April 1888, Sparta Rotterdam is the oldest professional football team in the Netherlands.
Sparta currently compete in the Eredivisie, the top flight ...
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
Panathinaikos Athlitikos Omilos ( el, Παναθηναϊκός Αθλητικός Όμιλος, literally in English: "Panathenaic Athletic Club" or Panathinaikos A.C.), also known simply as Panathinaikós , is a major Greek multi-sport club ba ...
2–0. 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
The Ballon d'Or (; ) is an annual football award presented by French news magazine ''France Football'' since 1956. Between 2010 and 2015, in an agreement with FIFA, the award was temporarily merged with the FIFA World Player of the Year (foun ...
for 1971.
In 1972, Ajax won a second European Cup, beating
Inter Milan
Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Football in Italy, Italian professional Association football, football ...
2–0 in the final, with Cruyff scoring both goals. 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.""Johan Cruyff – Hall of Fame" International Football Hall of Fame. Retrieved 16 May 2014. Cruyff also scored in the 3–2 victory over
ADO Den Haag
Alles Door Oefening Den Haag (), commonly known by the abbreviated name ADO Den Haag (), is a Dutch association football club from the city of The Hague. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, following relegation f ...
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
The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions; the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's official name was originall ...
by beating Rangers 3–1 away and 3–2 in Amsterdam. Cruyff's only own goal came on 20 August 1972 against
FC Amsterdam
FC Amsterdam was a Dutch football club which was founded on 20 June 1972, from the merger of the Amsterdam football clubs Blauw Wit and DWS. The club Volewijckers joined the side for the 1973–1974 season, in which season FC Amsterdam finished ...
. A week later, against
Go Ahead Eagles
Go Ahead Eagles () are a Dutch professional football club from the city of Deventer. They play in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football, having achieved promotion from the second tier Eerste Divisie in the 2020-21 season. The club's h ...
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
Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional Association football, football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football leagu ...
in the final.
Barcelona and the first La Liga title in 14 years
In mid-1973, Cruyff was sold to
Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
for 6 million
guilders
Guilder is the English translation of the Dutch and German ''gulden'', originally shortened from Middle High German ''guldin pfenninc'' "gold penny". This was the term that became current in the southern and western parts of the Holy Roman Empir ...
(approx. US$2 million, c. 1973) in a world record transfer fee. 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
The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...
for the first time since 1960, defeating their fiercest rivals
Real Madrid
Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid.
Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...
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.Jimmy Burns (2011). "Barça: A People's Passion". Bloomsbury Publishing, A ''
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' journalist wrote that Cruyff had done more for the spirit of the
Catalan
Catalan may refer to:
Catalonia
From, or related to Catalonia:
* Catalan language, a Romance language
* Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia
Places
* 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...
people in 90 minutes than many politicians in years of struggle. Football historian Jimmy Burns stated, "with Cruyff, the team felt they couldn't lose". He gave them speed, flexibility and a sense of themselves. In 1974 Cruyff was crowned European Footballer of the Year.
During his time at Barcelona, in a game against
Atlético Madrid
Club Atlético de Madrid, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), known simply as Atleti in the Spanish-speaking world and commonly referred to at international level as Atlético Madrid, is a Spanish profess ...
, Cruyff scored a goal in which he leapt into the air and kicked the ball past
Miguel Reina
Miguel Reina Santos (born 21 January 1946) is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a goalkeeper.
He played 312 La Liga matches over 16 seasons, mainly in representation of Barcelona and Atlético Madrid (seven years apiece), winning six ...
in the Atlético goal with his right heel (the ball was at about neck height and had already travelled wide of the far post). The goal was featured in the documentary ', in which fans of Cruyff attempted to recreate that moment. The goal has been dubbed ' (Cruyff's impossible goal). In 1978, Barcelona defeated
Las Palmas
Las Palmas (, ; ), officially Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, is a Spain, Spanish city and capital of Gran Canaria, in the Canary Islands, on the Atlantic Ocean.
It is the capital (jointly with Santa Cruz de Tenerife), the most populous city in th ...
3–1, to win the
Copa del Rey
The Campeonato de España–Copa de Su Majestad el Rey, commonly known as Copa del Rey or simply La Copa and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–36) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–76), is an annual knockout footbal ...
. Cruyff played two games with
Paris Saint-Germain
Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain, Paris, Paris SG or simply PSG is a professional football club based in Paris, France. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. As Fr ...
in 1975 during the Paris tournament. He had only agreed because he was a fan of designer
Daniel Hechter
Daniel Hechter (born 30 July 1938) is a French-Belgian fashion designer who is sometimes referred to as the inventor of ready-to-wear (prêt-à-porter). He is also known for being the president of Paris Saint-Germain F.C. from 1974 to 1978, h ...
, who was then president of PSG.
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. As he recalled, "I had lost millions in pig-farming and that was the reason I decided to become a footballer again." 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."
At the age of 32, Cruyff signed a lucrative deal with the
Los Angeles Aztecs
The Los Angeles Aztecs was an American professional soccer team based in Los Angeles, California that existed from 1974 to 1981. The Aztecs competed in the North American Soccer League (NASL) from 1974 to 1981 as well as the 1975 NASL Indoor tour ...
of the
North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League may refer to:
*North American Soccer League (1968–1984), a former Division I league
*North American Soccer League (2011–2017)
The North American Soccer League (NASL) was a professional men's soccer league b ...
(NASL). He had previously been rumoured to be joining the
New York Cosmos New York Cosmos may refer to
* New York Cosmos (1970–1985), a team in the North American Soccer League (then the top-tier soccer league in the United States and Canada)
* New York Cosmos (2010), a team playing since 2020 in the National Independe ...
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.
Dumbarton Football Club is a semi-professional football club in Dumbarton, Scotland. Founded on 23 December 1872, they are one of the oldest football clubs in Scotland.
The club plays home games at the Dumbarton Football Stadium next to Dumbar ...
in Scotland, the following season, he moved to play for the
Washington Diplomats
The Washington Diplomats were an American soccer club representing Washington, D.C. Throughout their playing existence, the club played their home games at Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium and indoor home matches at the neighboring D.C. Arm ...
. 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 soccer 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
In January 1981, Cruyff played three friendly matches for
FC Dordrecht
Football Club Dordrecht, or simply FC Dordrecht () is a professional Dutch association football club based in Dordrecht, a city in the Western Netherlands, located in the province of South Holland. They currently compete in the Eerste Divisie, ...
. Also in January 1981, manager
Jock Wallace
John Martin Bokas Wallace (6 September 1935 – 24 July 1996) was a Scottish professional footballer and manager. Wallace played as a goalkeeper, and has the unique distinction of being the only player ever to play in the English, Welsh and Sco ...
of English club
Leicester City
Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands.
The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...
made an attempt to sign Cruyff, competing with
Arsenal
An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...
and an unnamed German club for his services, 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
The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commercially known as LaLiga SmartBank for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spanish football league system. Administrated by the Lig ...
side Levante.
On 1 March 1981, Cruyff took the field for the first time for Levante, starting in a 1–0 win against
Palencia
Palencia () is a city of Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the province of Palencia.
Located in the Northwest of the Iberian Peninsula, in the northern half o ...
. 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.
Second spell at Ajax
After his spell in the U.S. and his short-lived stay in Spain, Cruyff returned to playing for Ajax from the start of the 1981–82 season. He had rejoined Ajax on 30 November 1980, before his time as a player with Levante, as "technical advisor" to trainer
Leo Beenhakker
Leo Beenhakker CM (; born 2 August 1942) is a Dutch international football coach. He has had an extensive and successful career both at club and international level. He led both Ajax and Feyenoord to Dutch championships and also had domestic s ...
, 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 extension with Ajax until the summer of 1983.Scott Murray, Rowan Walker (2008). "Day of the Match: A History of Football in 365 Days". p. 271. Pan Macmillan, 2008
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
Helmond Sport is a professional association football club based in the city of Helmond, North Brabant, Netherlands, that competes in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of the Dutch football league system. The club was founded on 27 June 1967, as ...
. While playing for Ajax, Cruyff scored a penalty the same way Rik Coppens had done it 25 years earlier. 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
Jesper Olsen (born 20 March 1961) is a Danish former professional footballer who played as a left winger. He is best remembered for representing Ajax of the Netherlands and Manchester United of England. He was a regular player for the Danish n ...
, who in return passed it back to Cruyff to tap the ball into the empty net, as Otto Versfeld, the Helmond goalkeeper, looked on.
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
Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the club changed to various names before settling on being called after its ...
. 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
League or The League may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band
* ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football
Sports
* Sports league
* Rugby league, full contact footba ...
and
KNVB Cup
The KNVB Beker (; en, KNVB Cup), branded as the TOTO KNVB Beker for sponsorship reasons, is a competition in the Netherlands organized by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. Ou ...
double. The team's success was due to the performances of Cruyff along with
Ruud Gullit
Ruud Gullit (; born Rudi Dil; 1 September 1962) is a Dutch footballer and subsequent manager who played professionally in the 1980s and 1990s as a defender, midfielder or forward. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all t ...
and
Peter Houtman
Peter Houtman (born 4 June 1957 in Rotterdam) is a retired football striker from the Netherlands who obtained eight caps for the Netherlands national team in the 1980s, scoring seven goals.
Houtman played for Feyenoord Rotterdam and FC Gron ...
.Mik Schots (2013). "Feyenoord-Ajax: gezworen vijanden". Singel Uitgeverijen
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
PEC Zwolle is a Dutch football club based in Zwolle, Netherlands. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, following relegation from the Eredivisie in the 2021–22 season. They have played in the Eredivisie for a total ...
. Cruyff played his last game in Saudi Arabia against Al-Ahli, bringing Feyenoord back into the game with a goal and an assist.
International career
As a Dutch international, Cruyff played 48
matches
A match is a tool for starting a fire. Typically, matches are made of small wooden sticks or stiff paper. One end is coated with a material that can be ignited by friction generated by striking the match against a suitable surface. Wooden matc ...
, scoring 33 goals. 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
The 1968 UEFA European Football Championship final tournament was held in Italy. This was the third UEFA European Championship, an event held every four years and organised by UEFA. The final tournament took place between 5 and 10 June 1968.
It ...
qualifier
In linguistics, a modifier is an optional element in phrase structure or clause structure which ''modifies'' the meaning of another element in the structure. For instance, the adjective "red" acts as a modifier in the noun phrase "red ball", provi ...
against
Hungary
Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...
, scoring in the 2–2 draw. In his second match, a friendly against
, Cruyff was the first Dutch international to receive a
red card A red card is a type of penalty card that is shown in many sports after a rules infraction.
Red card may also refer to:
Art, entertainment, and media
* ''Red Card'' (album), 1976 release by Streetwalkers
* Red card, suit (cards) of hearts or d ...
. The
Royal Dutch Football Association
The Royal Dutch Football Association (, ; KNVB ) is the governing body of football in the Netherlands. It organises the main Dutch football leagues (Eredivisie and Eerste Divisie), the amateur leagues, the KNVB Cup, and the Dutch men's and women ...
(KNVB) banned him from Internationals games but not Eredivise or KNVB Cup games.
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
Adidas AG (; stylized as adidas since 1949) is a German multinational corporation, founded and headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, that designs and manufactures shoes, clothing and accessories. It is the largest sportswear manufactur ...
' usual design feature of three, worn by all the other Dutch players. Cruyff had a separate sponsorship deal with Puma. 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.
Cruyff led the Netherlands to a runners-up medal in the
1974 World Cup
The 1974 FIFA World Cup was the tenth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in West Germany (and West Berlin) between 13 June and 7 July. The tournament marked the first time that the ...
and was named player of the tournament. Thanks to his team's mastery of Total Football, they coasted all the way to the final, knocking out
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
(4–0),
East Germany
East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
(2–0) and
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
(2–0) along the way. 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.
The Netherlands faced hosts
West Germany
West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
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
Hans-Hubert "Berti" Vogts (; born 30 December 1946) is a German former professional footballer who played as a defender. He played for Borussia Mönchengladbach in the Bundesliga his whole professional club career and won the FIFA World Cup wi ...
and ended when he was fouled by
Uli Hoeneß
Ulrich "Uli" Hoeneß (, ; born 5 January 1952) is the former president of German football club Bayern Munich and a former footballer for West Germany who played as a forward for club and country. Hoeneß represented Germany at one World Cup and ...
inside the box. Teammate
Johan Neeskens
RCH may stand for:
* Radio Club de Honduras, an amateur radio organization
* Railway Clearing House, the British financial clearing house and technical standards bureau for railways
* The Royal Canadian Hussars (Montreal), a unit of the Canadian F ...
scored from the spot kick to give the Netherlands a 1–0 lead and the Germans had not yet touched the ball. During the latter half of the final, his influence was stifled by the effective marking of Vogts, while
Franz Beckenbauer
Franz Anton Beckenbauer (, ; born 11 September 1945) is a German former professional footballer and manager. In his playing career he was nicknamed ''Der Kaiser'' ("The Emperor") because of his elegant style, dominance and leadership on the fi ...
, Uli Hoeneß and
Wolfgang Overath
Wolfgang Overath (born 29 September 1943) is a former West German footballer. A true one-club man, Overath spent his entire professional career at 1. FC Köln. He represented his country three times in World Cup finals, culminating in 1974 wit ...
dominated the midfield as West Germany came back to win 2–1.
After 1976
Cruyff retired from international football in October 1977, having helped the national team qualify for the upcoming World Cup. 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
The 1978 FIFA World Cup was the 11th edition of the FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial international football world championship tournament among the men's senior national teams. It was held in Argentina between 1 and 25 June.
The Cup was won by ...
: 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. In 2008, Cruyff stated to the journalist Antoni Bassas in
Catalunya Ràdio
''Catalunya Ràdio'' () is Catalonia's public radio network. With headquarters in Barcelona, it is part of the Corporació Catalana de Mitjans Audiovisuals (CCMA), owned by the Generalitat de Catalunya.
Catalunya Ràdio broadcasts exclusively i ...
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."
Coaching career
Entry into management with Ajax
After retiring from playing, Cruyff followed in the footsteps of his mentor
Rinus Michels
Marinus Jacobus Hendricus Michels (; 9 February 1928 – 3 March 2005) was a Dutch football player and coach. He played his entire career for AFC Ajax, which he later managed, and played for and later managed the Netherlands national team ...
, coaching a young Ajax side to victory in the
European Cup Winners' Cup
The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...
in
1987
File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...
(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
Jan Reker (, born 3 June 1948) is a Dutch football manager and director.
Reker started his coaching career in the Willem II and PSV Eindhoven youth ranks, which was followed up by the assistant manager role at VVV-Venlo and PSV. After half a se ...
'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
Defender(s) or The Defender(s) may refer to:
*Defense (military)
*Defense (sports)
**Defender (association football)
Arts and entertainment Film and television
* ''The Defender'' (1989 film), a Canadian documentary
* ''The Defender'' (1994 f ...
; plus one more covering space – becoming, in effect, a
defensive midfielder
A midfielder is an outfield position in association football.
Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...
Larsson Larsson () is a Swedish patronymic surname meaning "son of Lars". There are various spellings. Notable people with the surname include:
Academics
* Hans Larsson (1862–1944) was a Swedish Professor of Philosophy at Lund University, Sweden
* Susa ...
, Spelbos), two "controlling" midfielders (from Rijkaard, Scholten,
Winter
Winter is the coldest season of the year in polar and temperate climates. It occurs after autumn and before spring. The tilt of Earth's axis causes seasons; winter occurs when a hemisphere is oriented away from the Sun. Different cultures ...
,
Wouters Wouters is a Dutch patronymic surname, meaning son of Wouter, and corresponding to Walters in English. In 2007/2008 there were about 8700 people in the Netherlands and 15700 people in Belgium with that name.Mühren, Witschge) with responsibilities to feed the attack-minded players, one
second striker
Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...
De Wit
De Wit or de Wit is a surname of Dutch origin meaning "the white (one)", thought to be generally a reference to blond hair. In 2007, 24,904 people had this name in Netherlands alone, making it the 21st most common name in that country.Leendert Bro ...
Meijer
Meijer Inc. (, ; stylized as meijer) is an American supercenter chain that primarily operates throughout the Midwest. Its corporate headquarters are in Walker, Michigan, which is a part of the Grand Rapids metropolitan area. Founded in 1934 as ...
, 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.'Johan Cruyff: The Total Voetballer '. Back Page Football (14 September 2011); retrieved 30 May 2014. 'Johan Cruyff's legacy lives at both rivals Ajax and Barcelona ', TheNational.ae, 17 September 2013; retrieved 30 May 2014.
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" ("" in
Catalan
Catalan may refer to:
Catalonia
From, or related to Catalonia:
* Catalan language, a Romance language
* Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia
Places
* 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...
). His second in command was
Carles Rexach
Carles Rexach i Cerdà (; born 13 January 1947) is a Spanish former football winger and manager.
His career was mainly associated to Barcelona, spending 44 years at the club as a player (youth levels included) and coach. He formed a successful ...
, 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. As
Sid Lowe
Simon James "Sid" Lowe (born 21 June 1976) is an English columnist and journalist. Born in Archway, London, and based in Madrid, he covers Spanish football for many publications, websites, television channels, radio stations, and football-relate ...
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
José Luis Núñez Clemente (7 September 1931 – 3 December 2018), often known by the Catalanized form of his name used by the Catalan press, Josep Lluís Núñez i Clemente, was president of FC Barcelona between 1978 and 2000. He was elected ...
Jordi Pujol
Jordi Pujol Soley (, born 9 June 1930) is a Catalan politician who was the leader of the party Convergència Democràtica de Catalunya (CDC) from 1974 to 2003, and President of the Generalitat de Catalunya from 1980 to 2003.
Early life
Pujol was ...
, had deteriorated. It did not work immediately but he ruyffrecovered the identity he had embodied as a player. He took risks, and rewards followed."
At Barça, Cruyff brought in players such as
Pep Guardiola
Josep "Pep" Guardiola Sala (; born 18 January 1971) is a Spanish professional football manager and former player, who is the current manager of club Manchester City. He is considered one of the greatest managers of all time and holds the re ...
,
José Mari Bakero
José María Bakero Escudero (born 11 February 1963) is a Spanish former professional footballer, and a manager. Having played mainly for Real Sociedad and Barcelona, he began his career as a forward (not being a prolific goalscorer) but was co ...
,
Txiki Begiristain
Aitor "Txiki" Begiristain Mujika (born 12 August 1964) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played mainly as a left winger but also as a forward, currently director of football of English club Manchester City.
He was best known for ...
Ronald Koeman
Ronald Koeman (; born 21 March 1963) is a Dutch professional football manager and former player. He is the younger brother of his former international teammate Erwin Koeman and the son of former Dutch international Martin Koeman. Koeman was cap ...
,
Michael Laudrup
Michael Laudrup (, born 15 June 1964) is a Danish professional football coach and former player. He is considered to be one of the greatest players of all time. He is the older brother of fellow retired footballer Brian Laudrup.
During his pl ...
,
Romário
Romário de Souza Faria Figueiredo (born 29 January 1966), known simply as Romário (), is a Brazilian politician and a former professional footballer. A prolific striker renowned for his clinical finishing, he scored over 750 goals and was ...
,
Gheorghe Hagi
Gheorghe "Gică" Hagi (; born 5 February 1965) is a Romanian professional football manager and former player, who is currently the owner and manager of Liga I club Farul Constanța. Deployed as an attacking midfielder, Hagi was considered one of ...
and
Hristo Stoichkov
Hristo Stoichkov Stoichkov ( bg, Христо Стоичков Стоичков, ; born 8 February 1966) is a Bulgarian former professional Association football, footballer who is a football commentator for TUDN. A prolific Forward (association ...
. 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
The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...
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.
Under Cruyff, Barça's "
Dream Team
Dream Team may refer to:
Sport
Basketball
* Dream Team, the 1992 United States men's Olympic basketball team in Barcelona
* Dream Team II, the 1994 U.S. men's national basketball team at the FIBA World Championship
* Dream Team III, the 1996 ...
" won four La Liga titles in a row (1991–1994), and beat
Sampdoria
Unione Calcio Sampdoria, commonly referred to as Sampdoria (), is an Italian professional football club based in Genoa.
The club was formed in 1946 from the merger of two existing sports clubs whose roots can be traced back to the 1890s, ...
1992 European Cup final
The 1992 European Cup Final was a football match held on 20 May 1992 at Wembley Stadium, London, between Sampdoria of Italy and Barcelona of Spain. Barcelona won the game 1–0 after extra time, thanks to a Ronald Koeman free kick, to record thei ...
at
Wembley Stadium
Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...
.
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"). 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. 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
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...
in the Champions League. Barcelona won a Copa del Rey in
1990
File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...
, the European Super Cup in
1992
File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...
and three
Supercopa de España
The Supercopa de España or the ''Spanish Super Cup'' is a super cup tournament in Spanish football. Founded in 1982 as a two-team competition, the current version has been contested since 2019–20 by four teams: the winners and runners-up of ...
, as well as finishing runner-up to Manchester United and Milan in two European finals.
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.
While still at Barcelona, Cruyff was in negotiations with the KNVB to manage the national team for the
1994 World Cup
The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national association football, soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the countr ...
finals, but talks broke off at the last minute.
Catalonia national team
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
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
in his debut match.
On 2 November 2009, Cruyff was named as manager of the Catalonia national team. It was his first managing job in 13 years. 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
Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...
winning 4–0 at
Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys
Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys (, formerly known as the Estadi Olímpic de Montjuïc and Estadio de Montjuic) is a stadium in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Originally built in 1927 for the 1929 Barcelona International Exposition, 1929 Internation ...
. On 30 December 2011, Catalonia played
Tunisia
)
, image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg
, map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa
, image_map2 =
, capital = Tunis
, largest_city = capital
, ...
in a goalless draw at the Lluís Companys. In their last game under Cruyff, on 2 January 2013, Catalonia drew with Nigeria at the Cornellà-El Prat, 1–1.
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
Joan Laporta Estruch (; born 29 June 1962) is a Spanish politician and current president of FC Barcelona.
Laporta is a lawyer (he graduated from the University of Barcelona) with his own firm, Laporta & Arbós, which has a number of notable Sp ...
to victory in Barcelona's presidential elections. He continued to be an adviser for him, although he held no official post at Barcelona. 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
José Mário dos Santos Mourinho Félix GOIH (; born 26 January 1963), is a Portuguese professional football manager and former player who is the current head coach of Italian Serie A club Roma. Once dubbed "The Special One" by the British ...
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."
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. In July 2010, however, he was stripped of this title by new president
Sandro Rosell
Alexandre "Sandro" Rosell Feliu (; born 6 March 1964) is a Spanish businessman. He earned an MBA degree from ESADE. Rosell ran as senior adviser of Joan Laporta during the 2003 FC Barcelona elections and was the vice-president of sports until Jun ...
.
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
A technical director (TD) is usually a senior technical person within e.g. a software company, engineering firm, film studio, theatre company or television studio. This person usually has the highest level of skill within a specific technical f ...
at his boyhood club Ajax, his fourth stint with the Amsterdam club. 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".
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". 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. On 6 June 2011, he was appointed to the new Ajax board of advisors to implement his reform plans.
The Ajax advisory board made a verbal agreement with
Louis van Gaal
Aloysius Paulus Maria "Louis" van Gaal (; born 8 August 1951) is a Dutch former football player and manager. At club level, he served as manager of Ajax, Barcelona, AZ Alkmaar, Bayern Munich and Manchester United, as well as having three spel ...
to appoint him as the new CEO, without consulting Cruyff. Cruyff, a fellow board member, took Ajax to court in an attempt to block the appointment. The court overturned the appointment, saying that the board had "deliberately put Cruyff offside". 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".
Technical advisor for Chivas Guadalajara
Cruyff became a technical advisor for Mexican club
Guadalajara
Guadalajara ( , ) is a metropolis in western Mexico and the capital of the list of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population of 1,385,629 people, making it the 7th largest city by population in Me ...
in February 2012.
Jorge Vergara
Jorge Carlos Vergara Madrigal (; 3 March 1955 – 15 November 2019) was a Mexican businessman and film producer. He was the founder of the multi-level marketing company Grupo Omnilife. In addition to its health products business, Grupo Omnilif ...
, 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. 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.
Ambassador for Belgium and the Netherlands joint bid to host the World Cup
Eindhoven
Eindhoven () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, located in the southern province of North Brabant of which it is its largest. With a population of 238,326 on 1 January 2022,tiki-taka
Tiki-taka or Tiqui-taca () is a style of play in Spain's football, characterised by short passing and movement, working the ball through various channels, and maintaining possession. The style is primarily associated with the Spain national ...
''—characterised by short passing and movement, working the ball through various channels, and maintaining possession—which was later adopted by the
Euro 2008
The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA (the Union of European ...
,
2010 FIFA World Cup
, image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg
, size = 200px
, caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...
and
Euro 2012
The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2012 or simply Euro 2012, was the 14th European Championship for men's national football teams organised by UEFA. The final tournament, held between 8 June and 1 ...
winning
Spain national football team
The Spain national football team ( es, Selección Española de Fútbol) has represented Spain in international men's football competitions since 1920. It is governed by the Royal Spanish Football Federation, the governing body for football in ...
.
''The total footballer''
Throughout his career, Cruyff became synonymous with the playing style of "Total Football". 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". Space and the creation of it were central to the concept of Total Football. Ajax defender
Barry Hulshoff
Bernardus Adriaan “Barry” Hulshoff (30 September 1946 – 16 February 2020) was a Dutch footballer who played for Ajax Amsterdam and was part of their European Cup victories in 1971, 1972 and 1973. He earned 14 caps for the Netherlands na ...
, 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."Winner, David (2001). '' Brilliant Orange: The Neurotic Genius of Dutch Football''. (Bloomsbury Publishing, )
The team orchestrator, Cruyff was a creative
playmaker
In association football, a playmaker is a player who controls the flow of the team's play, and is often involved in offensively and defensively playing passing moves which lead to goals, through their vision, technique, ball control, creativit ...
with a gift for timing passes. 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. In the 1974 World Cup final between West Germany and the Netherlands, from the kick-off, the Dutch monopolised
ball possession
In sports, possession is physical control of the ball or other implement of play by one team, which typically gives that team the opportunity to score. Sports have different rules governing how possession is kept or lost ("turned over"), which af ...
. 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
RCH may stand for:
* Radio Club de Honduras, an amateur radio organization
* Railway Clearing House, the British financial clearing house and technical standards bureau for railways
* The Royal Canadian Hussars (Montreal), a unit of the Canadian F ...
. The first German to thus touch the ball was goalkeeper
Sepp Maier
Sepp may refer to:
*Sepp (given name)
*Sepp (surname)
*Science & Environmental Policy Project
* Sepp (publisher)
*Substantially equal periodic payments, US tax-law provision
*Single Edge Processor Package
*State Enterprise for Pesticide Production ...
picking the ball out of his own net. Due to the way Cruyff played the game, he is still referred to as "the total footballer".
Cruyff was known for his technical ability, speed, acceleration,
dribbling
In sports, dribbling is maneuvering a ball by one player while moving in a given direction, avoiding defenders' attempts to intercept the ball. A successful dribble will bring the ball past defenders legally and create opportunities to score.
A ...
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."
Win-with-style philosophy
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
The Beautiful Game ( pt, o jogo bonito) is a nickname for association football. It was popularised by the Brazilian footballer Pelé, although the exact origin of the phrase is disputed. Stuart Hall, an English football commentator, used it as ...
, 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,". For Cruyff, choosing a ’right’ style of play to win was even more important than winning itself. Cruyff always believed in
simplicity
Simplicity is the state or quality of being simple. Something easy to understand or explain seems simple, in contrast to something complicated. Alternatively, as Herbert A. Simon suggests, something is simple or complex depending on the way we ch ...
, seeing simplicity and
beauty
Beauty is commonly described as a feature of objects that makes these objects pleasurable to perceive. Such objects include landscapes, sunsets, humans and works of art. Beauty, together with art and taste, is the main subject of aesthetics, o ...
as inseparable. "Simple football is the most beautiful. But playing simple football is the hardest thing", as Cruyff once summed up his fundamental philosophy. "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."
Cruyff also perfected a
feint
Feint is a French term that entered English via the discipline of swordsmanship and fencing. Feints are maneuvers designed to distract or mislead, done by giving the impression that a certain maneuver will take place, while in fact another, or e ...
now known as the "
Cruyff Turn
The Cruyff turn (also spelled Cruijff turn in the Netherlands) is an evasive dribbling move used in football, and named after Dutch player Johan Cruyff.
In the 24th minute of the game against Sweden in the group stage of the 1974 World Cup, w ...
"."World Cup: 25 stunning moments … No25: the Cruyff Turn is born in 1974" ''The Guardian''. Retrieved 11 June 2014. 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. 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.""All-time Top 20: No. 3 Johan Cruyff" espnfc.com; retrieved 17 November 2013.
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
Victor Frederick Buckingham (23 October 1915 – 26 January 1995) was an English association football, football player and manager.
He played for the then second division side Tottenham Hotspur F.C., Tottenham Hotspur. As manager he won the 195 ...
.
The mind-body duality always played an important role in his footballing philosophy. In Cruyff's words, quoted in
Dennis Bergkamp
Dennis Nicolaas Maria Bergkamp (; born 10 May 1969) is a Dutch professional football coach and former player. Originally a wide midfielder, Bergkamp was moved to main striker and then to second striker, where he remained throughout his playing ...
'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." 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."
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 ecommended by Van GaalI 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."
Cruyff's favourite world XI
In his posthumously released autobiography ''My Turn: The Autobiography'',Cruyff, Johan (Oct 2016). ''My Turn: The Autobiography'' (Pan Macmillan, ) 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
Lev Ivanovich Yashin (russian: Лев Иванович Яшин; 22 October 1929 – 20 March 1990), nicknamed the "Black Spider" or the "Black Panther", was a Soviet professional footballer regarded by many as the greatest goalkeeper in the hi ...
(goalkeeper);
Ruud Krol
Rudolf ("Ruud" or "Rudi") Jozef Krol (; born 24 March 1949) is a Dutch former professional footballer who was capped 83 times for the Netherlands national team. Most of his career he played for his home town club, Ajax, and he became a coach a ...
Franz Beckenbauer
Franz Anton Beckenbauer (, ; born 11 September 1945) is a German former professional footballer and manager. In his playing career he was nicknamed ''Der Kaiser'' ("The Emperor") because of his elegant style, dominance and leadership on the fi ...
(
central defender
In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring.
Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...
Pep Guardiola
Josep "Pep" Guardiola Sala (; born 18 January 1971) is a Spanish professional football manager and former player, who is the current manager of club Manchester City. He is considered one of the greatest managers of all time and holds the re ...
(
holding midfielder
A midfielder is an outfield position in association football.
Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...
/midfield anchor),
Bobby Charlton
Sir Robert Charlton (born 11 October 1937) is an English former footballer who played either as a midfielder or a forward. Considered one of the greatest players of all time, he was a member of the England team that won the 1966 FIFA World Cu ...
,
Alfredo Di Stéfano
Alfredo (, ) is a cognate of the Anglo-Saxon name Alfred and a common Italian, Galician, Portuguese and Spanish language personal name.
People with the given name include:
*Alfredo (born 1946), Brazilian footballer born as Alfredo Mostarda Filho ...
,
Diego Maradona
Diego Armando Maradona (; 30 October 196025 November 2020) was an Argentine professional football player and manager. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, he was one of the two joint winners of the FI ...
(
playmaker
In association football, a playmaker is a player who controls the flow of the team's play, and is often involved in offensively and defensively playing passing moves which lead to goals, through their vision, technique, ball control, creativit ...
/
attacking midfielder
A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position in association football.
Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As #Cent ...
/
second striker
Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...
);
Piet Keizer
Petrus Johannes "Piet" Keizer (14 June 1943 – 10 February 2017) was a Dutch professional footballer who played as a left winger.
As part of the " Total Football" Ajax Amsterdam team of the 1960s and 1970s, Keizer was particularly notable duri ...
Garrincha
Manuel Francisco dos Santos (28 October 1933 – 20 January 1983), nicknamed Mané Garrincha, best known as simply Garrincha (, "little bird"), was a Brazilian professional footballer who played as a right winger. He is widely regarded as one of ...
(winger), and Pelé (
centre-forward
Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...
/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."
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
A Cruyff Court is a small football field with a surface made of artificial grass, a contemporary version of the ball court. The Courts are a project of the Johan Cruyff Foundation of which Johan Cruijff himself was one of the founders. The first ...
in the world: "I read an article once about the building of the
pyramids
A pyramid (from el, πυραμίς ') is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge to a single step at the top, making the shape roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilate ...
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
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (, ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), usually simply known as Rembrandt, was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker and draughtsman. An innovative and prolific master in three media, he is generally consid ...
and
van Gogh
Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2,100 artworks, inclu ...
: 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."
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.'
Named after Cruyff
*
Cruyff turn
The Cruyff turn (also spelled Cruijff turn in the Netherlands) is an evasive dribbling move used in football, and named after Dutch player Johan Cruyff.
In the 24th minute of the game against Sweden in the group stage of the 1974 World Cup, w ...
(known as "Cruijff turn" in Dutch), a dribbling trick perfected by Cruyff. The trick was famously employed by Cruyff during the 1974 World Cup.
*
Johan Cruyff Shield
The Johan Cruyff Shield (, ) is a football trophy in the Netherlands named after Dutch footballer Johan Cruyff, also often referred to as the Dutch Super Cup. The winner is decided in one match only, played by the winner of the national footbal ...
(''Johan Cruijff Schaal'' in Dutch), a football trophy in the Netherlands, also referred to as the Dutch
Super Cup
A super cup is a competition, usually but not exclusively in association football, which often forms the 'curtain raiser' to a season, and typically involves only two teams who have qualified through success in other competitions during the prev ...
Dutch Football Talent of the Year The title Dutch Footballer of the Year (Dutch: ''Voetballer van het Jaar'') has been awarded in the Netherlands since 1984. The award is determined by a poll of Dutch professional footballers playing in the First (Eredivisie) and Second (Eerste Divi ...
'' (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 The title Dutch Footballer of the Year (Dutch: ''Voetballer van het Jaar'') has been awarded in the Netherlands since 1984. The award is determined by a poll of Dutch professional footballers playing in the First (Eredivisie) and Second (Eerste Divi ...
(''Johan Cruijff Prijs'' in Dutch) in 2003.
*
14282 Cruijff
Fourteen or 14 may refer to:
* 14 (number), the natural number following 13 and preceding 15
* one of the years 14 BC, AD 14, 1914, 2014
Music
* 14th (band), a British electronic music duo
* ''14'' (David Garrett album), 2013
*''14'', an unrele ...
, the asteroid (minor planet) was named after Cruyff. The
International Astronomical Union
The International Astronomical Union (IAU; french: link=yes, Union astronomique internationale, UAI) is a nongovernmental organisation with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreac ...
(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 management is the field of business dealing with sports and recreation. Sports management involves any combination of skills that correspond with planning, organizing, directing, controlling, budgeting, leading, or evaluating of any organiz ...
,
sport marketing
Sports marketing as a concept has established itself as a branch of marketing over the past few decades, however, a generally accepted definition does not exist.
Academicians Kaser and Oelkers (2005, p. 9) define sports marketing as 'using spor ...
, football business,
sponsorship
Sponsoring something (or someone) is the act of supporting an event, activity, person, or organization financially or through the provision of products or services. The individual or group that provides the support, similar to a benefactor, is k ...
and
coaching
Coaching is a form of development in which an experienced person, called a ''coach'', supports a learner or client in achieving a specific personal or professional goal by providing training and guidance. The learner is sometimes called a ''coa ...
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 Court
A Cruyff Court is a small football field with a surface made of artificial grass, a contemporary version of the ball court. The Courts are a project of the Johan Cruyff Foundation of which Johan Cruijff himself was one of the founders. The first ...
s, 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.
*''
Cruijffiaans
''Cruijffiaans'' is the name given to the way of speaking, or a collection of sayings, made famous by Dutch association football player and coach Johan Cruijff (1947–2016), particularly "one-liners that hover somewhere between the brilliant and ...
'', 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.
*
Johan Cruyff Stadium
Johan Cruyff Stadium (Catalan: ''Estadi Johan Cruyff''; Spanish: ''Estadio Johan Cruyff'') is a football stadium operated by FC Barcelona in Sant Joan Despí, Province of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, located in the Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper, ...
(''Estadi Johan Cruyff'' in Catalan), FC Barcelona's newly constructed stadium is named after Cruyff.
*
Johan Cruyff Arena
The Johan Cruyff Arena ( nl, Johan Cruijff Arena ; officially stylised as Johan Cruijff ArenA) is the main stadium of the Dutch capital city of Amsterdam and the home stadium of football club AFC Ajax since its opening. Built from 1993 to 1996 ...
(''Johan Cruijff Arena'' in Dutch), previously known as the
Amsterdam Arena
The Johan Cruyff Arena ( nl, Johan Cruijff Arena ; officially stylised as Johan Cruijff ArenA) is the main stadium of the Dutch capital city of Amsterdam and the home stadium of football club AFC Ajax since its opening. Built from 1993 to 1996 ...
.
In popular culture
In 2018, Cruyff was added as an icon to the Ultimate Team in
EA Sports
EA Sports is a division of Electronic Arts that develops and publishes sports video games. Formerly a marketing gimmick of Electronic Arts, in which they tried to imitate real-life sports networks by calling themselves the "EA Sports Network" ...
FIFA 19
''FIFA 19'' is a football simulation video game developed by EA Vancouver and released by Electronic Arts on 28 September 2018 for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and Microsoft Windows. It is the 26th installm ...
'', receiving a 94 rating. 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
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
and
Dutch architecture
Dutch architecture has played an important role in the international discourse on architecture in three eras. The first of these was during the 17th century, when the Dutch empire was at the height of its power. The second was in the first half ...
.
In 1976, the Italian-language
documentary film
A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...
''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
Antony Genn (born 1971 in Sheffield, England) is a British musician and composer.
Genn got his start as a 16-year-old playing bass for Pulp for seven months in 1988. He toured with Elastica in 1995-96, playing keyboards. He was one of the origi ...
described his partner as "Better than
Elvis
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...
in his '68 comeback, Better than Cruyff in '74..", In an interview with German daily '' Sueddeutsche Zeitung'' in 2008, when
German Chancellor
The chancellor of Germany, officially the federal chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany,; often shortened to ''Bundeskanzler''/''Bundeskanzlerin'', / is the head of the federal government of Germany and the commander in chief of the Ger ...
Angela Merkel
Angela Dorothea Merkel (; ; born 17 July 1954) is a German former politician and scientist who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. A member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), she previously served as Leader of the Oppo ...
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." Cruyff stood out at the 1974 World Cup in
West Germany
West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
which Merkel watched from her then home country
East Germany
East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
.
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
A paradox is a logically self-contradictory statement or a statement that runs contrary to one's expectation. It is a statement that, despite apparently valid reasoning from true premises, leads to a seemingly self-contradictory or a logically u ...
.Guus Middag and Kees van der Zwan "Utopieën wie nooit gebeuren". De taal van Johan Cruijff ("Utopias who never happen". The language of Johan Cruijff), Genootschap Onze Taal 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
''Cruijffiaans'' is the name given to the way of speaking, or a collection of sayings, made famous by Dutch association football player and coach Johan Cruijff (1947–2016), particularly "one-liners that hover somewhere between the brilliant and ...
". Cruyff rarely limited himself to a single line though, and in a comparison with the equally oracular but reserved football manager Rinus Michels,
Polydor
Polydor Records Ltd. is a German-British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in the United States. ...
decided to release the single in Spain as well, where it was rather popular.
Cruyff suffered a
heart attack
A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...
(like his father who died of a heart attack when he was 12) in his early forties. He used to smoke 20
cigarettes
A cigarette is a narrow cylinder containing a combustible material, typically tobacco, that is rolled into thin paper for smoking. The cigarette is ignited at one end, causing it to smolder; the resulting smoke is orally inhaled via the oppo ...
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
Smoking is a practice in which a substance is burned and the resulting smoke is typically breathed in to be tasted and absorbed into the bloodstream. Most commonly, the substance used is the dried leaves of the tobacco plant, which have bee ...
, and he made an anti-smoking advertisement for the Catalan Department of Health. In the
TV spot
A television advertisement (also called a television commercial, TV commercial, commercial, spot, television spot, TV spot, advert, television advert, TV advert, television ad, TV ad or simply an ad) is a span of television programming produce ...
, Cruyff is dressed like a manager in a long
trench coat
A trench coat or trenchcoat is a variety of coat made of waterproof heavy-duty fabric, originally developed for British Army officers before the First World War, and becoming popular while used in the trenches.
Originally made from gabardine, ...
combined with collared shirt and
necktie
A necktie, or simply a tie, is a piece of cloth worn for decorative purposes around the neck, resting under the shirt collar and knotted at the throat, and often draped down the chest.
Variants include the ascot, bow, bolo, zipper tie, cra ...
juggling
Juggling is a physical skill, performed by a juggler, involving the manipulation of objects for recreation, entertainment, art or sport. The most recognizable form of juggling is toss juggling. Juggling can be the manipulation of one object o ...
it 16 times – using feet,
thighs
In human anatomy, the thigh is the area between the hip ( pelvis) and the knee. Anatomically, it is part of the lower limb.
The single bone in the thigh is called the femur. This bone is very thick and strong (due to the high proportion of b ...
,
knee
In humans and other primates, the knee joins the thigh with the leg and consists of two joints: one between the femur and tibia (tibiofemoral joint), and one between the femur and patella (patellofemoral joint). It is the largest joint in the hu ...
s,
heel
The heel is the prominence at the posterior end of the foot. It is based on the projection of one bone, the calcaneus or heel bone, behind the articulation of the bones of the lower Human leg, leg.
Structure
To distribute the compressive for ...
, chest, shoulder, and head like holding up a
ball
A ball is a round object (usually spherical, but can sometimes be ovoid) with several uses. It is used in ball games, where the play of the game follows the state of the ball as it is hit, kicked or thrown by players. Balls can also be used f ...
– before volleying it away. Throughout the commercial he speaks in Catalan about the dangers of smoking.
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
A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a type of intellectual property consisting of a recognizable sign, design, or expression that identifies products or services from a particular source and distinguishes them from others ...
and
portrait
A portrait is a portrait painting, painting, portrait photography, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expressions are predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, Personality type ...
rights.
In 2004, a public poll in the Netherlands to determine the greatest Dutchman ("''
De Grootste Nederlander
''De Grootste Nederlander'' ('The Greatest Dutchman') was a public poll held in 2004 by the broadcasting company KRO of the Netherlands Public Broadcasting, ''Publieke Omroep''. The series has the BBC's ''100 Greatest Britons'' TV format. During t ...
''") named Cruyff the 6th-greatest Dutchman of all time, with Cruyff finishing above
Rembrandt
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (, ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), usually simply known as Rembrandt, was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker and draughtsman. An innovative and prolific master in three media, he is generally consid ...
(9th) and
Vincent van Gogh
Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionism, Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2 ...
(10th). In 2010, the
asteroid
An asteroid is a minor planet of the inner Solar System. Sizes and shapes of asteroids vary significantly, ranging from 1-meter rocks to a dwarf planet almost 1000 km in diameter; they are rocky, metallic or icy bodies with no atmosphere.
...
(
minor planet
According to the International Astronomical Union (IAU), a minor planet is an astronomical object in direct orbit around the Sun that is exclusively classified as neither a planet nor a comet. Before 2006, the IAU officially used the term ''minor ...
) ' was named after him. The
International Astronomical Union
The International Astronomical Union (IAU; french: link=yes, Union astronomique internationale, UAI) is a nongovernmental organisation with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreac ...
(IAU) officially ratified the naming of Cruijff on 23 September 2010. After
Josef Bican
Josef "Pepi" Bican (25 September 1913 – 12 December 2001) was an Austrian-Czech professional footballer who played as a striker. He is the second-most prolific goalscorer in official matches in recorded history according to Rec.Sport.Soccer ...
and Ferenc Puskás, Cruyff is the third football player to have an asteroid named after him.
Nicknames
There were many nicknames Cruyff had in the Netherlands and Spain, including "Jopie", "Nummer 14" (Number 14), "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. However, contrary to popular belief, the nickname "El Salvador" is a Dutch rather than Spanish invention.
Outside football
Hobbies
Outside football, Cruyff's favourite sport (and hobby) was
golf
Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible.
Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...
. 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."
Business ventures
In 1979, Cruyff was reaching the twilight of his career in Barcelona. He began to imagine creating a range of
footwear
Footwear refers to garments worn on the feet, which typically serves the purpose of protection against adversities of the environment such as wear from ground textures and temperature. Footwear in the manner of shoes therefore primarily serves th ...
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
Sportswear or activewear is clothing, including footwear, worn for sport or physical exercise. Sport-specific clothing is worn for most sports and physical exercise, for practical, comfort or safety reasons.
Typical sport-specific garments ...
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.
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
''De Telegraaf'' (; en, The Telegraph) is the largest Dutch daily morning newspaper. Haro Kraak,Gaat Paul Jansen de crisis bij De Telegraaf oplossen?, '' de Volkskrant'', 2015. Retrieved 1 August 2015. Paul Jansen has been the editor-in-chief s ...
'' (Amsterdam-based newspaper).
Cruyff was
multilingual
Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all E ...
; British football writer
Brian Glanville
Brian Lester Glanville (born 24 September 1931) is an English football writer and novelist. He was described by ''The Times'' as "the doyen of football writers—arguably the finest football writer of his—or any other—generation," and by Amer ...
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."
Cruyff Court
A Cruyff Court is a small football field with a surface made of artificial grass, a contemporary version of the ball court. The Courts are a project of the Johan Cruyff Foundation of which Johan Cruijff himself was one of the founders. The first ...
s in 22 countries, including Israel, Malaysia, Japan, United States and Mexico, for children of all backgrounds to play street football together.
UEFA
Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...
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. 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.
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
Personality is the characteristic sets of behaviors, cognitions, and emotional patterns that are formed from biological and environmental factors, and which change over time. While there is no generally agreed-upon definition of personality, mos ...
. His character, both in and beyond the footballing world, was much described as the complicated combination of an idealist, individualist, libertarian, collectivist, romantic, purist, pragmatist, rebel, and even despot. Dutch sportswriter
Johan Derksen
Johannes Gerrit "Johan" Derksen (born 31 January 1949) is a Dutch sports journalist and former football player. He played professional football between 1966 and 1978 for six clubs: Go Ahead Eagles, Cambuur, Veendam, HFC Haarlem, SV Meppen and MVV ...
, a close friend of Cruyff, once said of him, "Johan is absolutely religious, though he never goes to church."
In August 1973, Ajax players voted for
Piet Keizer
Petrus Johannes "Piet" Keizer (14 June 1943 – 10 February 2017) was a Dutch professional footballer who played as a left winger.
As part of the " Total Football" Ajax Amsterdam team of the 1960s and 1970s, Keizer was particularly notable duri ...
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
Francisco Franco Bahamonde (; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general who led the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist forces in overthrowing the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War ...
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". 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." 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.
Cruyff's strong personality played a role in the struggle between Puma and
Adidas
Adidas AG (; stylized as adidas since 1949) is a German multinational corporation, founded and headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, that designs and manufactures shoes, clothing and accessories. It is the largest sportswear manufactur ...
, the two rival brands that were born from the divisions between the two Dassler brothers. 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
Adidas AG (; stylized as adidas since 1949) is a German multinational corporation, founded and headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, that designs and manufactures shoes, clothing and accessories. It is the largest sportswear manufactur ...
'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.
Jersey number 14
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.
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 Gerrie may refer to:
* Gerrie (given name), a unisex given name
* Syd Gerrie (born 1927), Scottish footballer
See also
* Garrie (disambiguation)
* Gerri (disambiguation)
* Gerry (disambiguation)
Gerry is both a surname and a given name.
Gerry ...
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. 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. From then on, Cruyff kept using the number 14 for Ajax and Netherlands national team when he was allowed to.
In the
1974 FIFA World Cup
The 1974 FIFA World Cup was the tenth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in West Germany (and West Berlin) between 13 June and 7 July. The tournament marked the first time that the ...
, 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. 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
Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football.
Founded ...
, because the league demanded starting players were numbered 1 to 11, or for Netherlands in the 1976 European Championship. In 2007, Ajax retired Cruyff's number 14.
Relations with others
Cruyff remained a controversial figure throughout his life. His relationships with Ajax, Barça, and
KNVB
The Royal Dutch Football Association (, ; KNVB ) is the governing body of football in the Netherlands. It organises the main Dutch football leagues (Eredivisie and Eerste Divisie), the amateur leagues, the KNVB Cup, and the Dutch Netherlands nati ...
(
Royal Dutch Football Association
The Royal Dutch Football Association (, ; KNVB ) is the governing body of football in the Netherlands. It organises the main Dutch football leagues (Eredivisie and Eerste Divisie), the amateur leagues, the KNVB Cup, and the Dutch men's and women ...
) were turbulent for some time, especially in his later years. In his native Netherlands, there was always a
love–hate relationship
A love–hate relationship is an interpersonal relationship involving simultaneous or alternating emotions of love and hate—something particularly common when emotions are intense.
The term is used frequently in psychology, popular writing and ...
between Cruyff and his fellow countrymen. There was a long-standing feud between Cruyff and Louis van Gaal, though never confirmed publicly by both sides. He also often criticised
José Mourinho
José Mário dos Santos Mourinho Félix GOIH (; born 26 January 1963), is a Portuguese professional football manager and former player who is the current head coach of Italian Serie A club Roma. Once dubbed "The Special One" by the British ...
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." He has been accused of being arrogant, greedy, 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." 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."
Criticism
Cruyff was also well known for his vocal
criticism
Criticism is the construction of a judgement about the negative qualities of someone or something. Criticism can range from impromptu comments to a written detailed response. , ''"the act of giving your opinion or judgment about the good or bad q ...
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. As an outspoken and critical visionary, he strongly criticized the Netherlands' style of play at the
2010 World Cup
, image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg
, size = 200px
, caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...
. "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.
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
Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development ( ar, مؤسسة قطر) is a state-led non-profit organization in Qatar, founded in 1995 by then-emir Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani and his second wife Moza bint Nasser. Qatar Founda ...
, run by
Sheikha Mozah
Sheikha Moza bint Nasser Al-Missned ( ar, موزا بنت ناصر المسند; born 8 August 1959) is one of the three consorts of Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, former Emir of the State of Qatar. She is co-founder and chairperson of th ...
, became the first shirt sponsor in Barcelona's 111-year history. The club had previously used
UNICEF
UNICEF (), originally called the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in full, now officially United Nations Children's Fund, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Devel ...
's logo on the front of its shirts. In 2011, incoming Barcelona president
Sandro Rosell
Alexandre "Sandro" Rosell Feliu (; born 6 March 1964) is a Spanish businessman. He earned an MBA degree from ESADE. Rosell ran as senior adviser of Joan Laporta during the 2003 FC Barcelona elections and was the vice-president of sports until Jun ...
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. 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."
In an interview with ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
''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."
Personal life
At the wedding of Ajax teammate
Piet Keizer
Petrus Johannes "Piet" Keizer (14 June 1943 – 10 February 2017) was a Dutch professional footballer who played as a left winger.
As part of the " Total Football" Ajax Amsterdam team of the 1960s and 1970s, Keizer was particularly notable duri ...
, 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. Contrary to his well-known strong personality and superstar status, Cruyff led a relatively quiet private life beyond the world of football. 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. He and Danny had three children together: Chantal (16 November 1970), Susila (27 January 1972), and
Jordi
Jordi () is the Catalan form of the ancient Greek name Georgios. Jordi is a popular name in Catalonia and is also given in the Netherlands and in Spanish-, English- and German-speaking countries.
Jordi may also refer to:
*Sant Jordi – patron sa ...
(9 February 1974). The family has lived in
Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
since 1973, with a six-year interruption from December 1981 to January 1988 when they lived in
Vinkeveen
Vinkeveen is a village in the Dutch province of Utrecht. It is a part of the municipality of De Ronde Venen, and lies about 18 km south of Amsterdam.
Vinkeveen used to be a separate municipality. It merged with Waverveen in 1841, to form the ...
, the Netherlands.
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
The 1978 FIFA World Cup was the 11th edition of the FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial international football world championship tournament among the men's senior national teams. It was held in Argentina between 1 and 25 June.
The Cup was won by ...
. 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
''Catalunya Ràdio'' () is Catalonia's public radio network. With headquarters in Barcelona, it is part of the Corporació Catalana de Mitjans Audiovisuals (CCMA), owned by the Generalitat de Catalunya.
Catalunya Ràdio broadcasts exclusively i ...
''. 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. 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 uta 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."
Cruyff named his third child after the patron saint of
Catalonia
Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy.
Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the north ...
, St Jordi, commonly known in English as
Saint George
Saint George (Greek: Γεώργιος (Geórgios), Latin: Georgius, Arabic: القديس جرجس; died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was a Christian who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to tradition he was a soldier ...
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.
Jordi Cruyff has played for teams such as Barcelona (while father Johan was manager), Manchester United, Alavés and
Espanyol
Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as Espanyol, is a professional sports club based in Barcelona, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish football league sy ...
Dayton Dutch Lions
Dayton Dutch Lions is an American association football, soccer team based in Dayton, Ohio, United States. Founded in 2009, the team plays in USL League Two, the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid. From 2011 to 2014, the team played in the ...
. The younger Cruyff wears "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. Pep Guardiola, Ronald Koeman, and Joan Laporta were among Cruyff's closest friends. Estelle Cruijff, a niece of Cruyff, was married to
Ruud Gullit
Ruud Gullit (; born Rudi Dil; 1 September 1962) is a Dutch footballer and subsequent manager who played professionally in the 1980s and 1990s as a defender, midfielder or forward. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all t ...
for 12 years (2000–2012), and their son
Maxim Gullit
Maxim Gullit (born 20 May 2001) is a Dutch professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Defender (association football), defender for SC Cambuur, Cambuur.
His father is former professional footballer Ruud Gullit and his mother is ...
plays for
Cambuur
SC Cambuur, also known as Cambuur Leeuwarden, or simply Cambuur, () is a Dutch Association football, football club from the city of Leeuwarden formed on 19 June 1964. They currently play in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football league sy ...
.
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
Making the sign of the cross ( la, signum crucis), or blessing oneself or crossing oneself, is a ritual blessing made by members of some branches of Christianity. This blessing is made by the tracing of an upright cross or + across the body with ...
before a game; if it worked, every game would be a tie." That widely quoted statement earned him a place on lists of the world's top
atheist
Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...
athletes. But in the 1990s, Cruyff told the Dutch Catholic radio station RKK/KRO that as a child he attended
Sunday school
A Sunday school is an educational institution, usually (but not always) Christian in character. Other religions including Buddhism, Islam, and Judaism have also organised Sunday schools in their temples and mosques, particularly in the West.
Su ...
, 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." The Dutch evangelical broadcaster EO posted an interview conducted before Cruyff's death with his friend
Johan Derksen
Johannes Gerrit "Johan" Derksen (born 31 January 1949) is a Dutch sports journalist and former football player. He played professional football between 1966 and 1978 for six clubs: Go Ahead Eagles, Cambuur, Veendam, HFC Haarlem, SV Meppen and MVV ...
, the editor-in-chief of ''
Voetbal International
''Voetbal International'' (VI) is a Dutch football magazine. It is the oldest Dutch football magazine that is still running.
History and Profile
''Voetbal International'' was established in 1965. VI was one of the founding members of ESM but l ...
'' 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."
Cruyff also expressed his faith in God in an interview with Hanneke Groenteman on Sterren op het Doek.
Quotes
* "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."
* "In my teams, the goalie is the first attacker, and the striker the first defender."
* "Every disadvantage has its advantage."
* "If you can't win, make sure you don't lose."
* "Quality without results is pointless. Results without quality is boring."
* "Winning is an important thing, but to have your own style, to have people copy you, to admire you, that is the greatest gift."
*"Playing football is very simple but playing simple football is the hardest thing there i
Illness, death and tributes
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. He featured in a Catalan health department advertisement, saying, "Football has given me everything in life, tobacco almost took it all away." After more heart trouble in 1997, he vowed never to coach again (until 2009), though he remained a vocal football critic and analyst.
In October 2015 he was diagnosed with
lung cancer
Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissue (biology), tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from tran ...
. After the news broke, tributes poured in for Cruyff, with all
Eredivisie
The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...
games featuring a round of applause on 14 minutes, Cruyff's former shirt number. Ahead of their league game against
Eibar
Eibar ( eu, Eibar, es, Éibar) is a city and municipality within the province of Gipuzkoa, in the Basque Country of Spain. It is the head town of Debabarrena, one of the '' eskualde / comarca'' of Gipuzkoa.
Eibar has 27,138 inhabitants ( Eustat ...
at the
Camp Nou
Camp Nou (, meaning ''new field'', often referred to in English as the Nou Camp), officially branded as Spotify Camp Nou for sponsorship and financial reasons, is a football stadium in Barcelona, Spain. It has been the home stadium of FC Barcelo ...
(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
''De Telegraaf'' (; en, The Telegraph) is the largest Dutch daily morning newspaper. Haro Kraak,Gaat Paul Jansen de crisis bij De Telegraaf oplossen?, '' de Volkskrant'', 2015. Retrieved 1 August 2015. Paul Jansen has been the editor-in-chief s ...
'' 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."
In mid-February 2016, he stated that he had been responding well to
chemotherapy
Chemotherapy (often abbreviated to chemo and sometimes CTX or CTx) is a type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) as part of a standardized chemotherapy regimen. Chemotherap ...
and was "winning" his cancer battle. On 2 March 2016, he was in attendance on the second day of winter testing at the
Circuit de Catalunya
The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya () is a motorsport race track in Montmeló, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. With long straights and a variety of corners, the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is seen as an all-rounder circuit. The track has stands ...
just outside Barcelona and visited Dutch
Formula One
Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
driver
Max Verstappen
Max Emilian Verstappen (; born 30 September 1997) is a Belgian-Dutch Auto racing, racing driver and the 2021 Formula One World Championship, 2021 and 2022 Formula One World Championship, 2022 Formula One World Champion. He Formula One drivers ...
. Cruyff appeared to be in good spirits and it is believed this was the last time he was seen in public. 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. His lung cancer had
metastasized
Metastasis is a pathogenic agent's spread from an initial or primary site to a different or secondary site within the host's body; the term is typically used when referring to metastasis by a cancerous tumor. The newly pathological sites, then, ...
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
Cremation is a method of final disposition of a dead body through burning.
Cremation may serve as a funeral or post-funeral rite and as an alternative to burial. In some countries, including India and Nepal, cremation on an open-air pyre i ...
in Barcelona within 24 hours of his death. A private ceremony was held, attended only by his wife, children and grandchildren.
Within a week of his death, several people (including players and managers) and organisations (including clubs) paid tribute to him, especially via
social media
Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...
. Thousands of Barcelona fans passed through the memorial to Cruyff, opened inside the
Camp Nou
Camp Nou (, meaning ''new field'', often referred to in English as the Nou Camp), officially branded as Spotify Camp Nou for sponsorship and financial reasons, is a football stadium in Barcelona, Spain. It has been the home stadium of FC Barcelo ...
stadium, to pay tribute. Former Barcelona president
Sandro Rosell
Alexandre "Sandro" Rosell Feliu (; born 6 March 1964) is a Spanish businessman. He earned an MBA degree from ESADE. Rosell ran as senior adviser of Joan Laporta during the 2003 FC Barcelona elections and was the vice-president of sports until Jun ...
, who did not have a good relationship with Cruyff, was among the early visitors to the memorial.Real Madrid president
Florentino Pérez
Florentino Pérez Rodríguez (; born 8 March 1947) is a Spanish businessman, civil engineer, former politician, and the current president of Real Madrid as well as Chairman and CEO of Grupo ACS, a civil engineering company. He was also the first ...
led a
Real Madrid
Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid.
Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...
delegation to the memorial, including former players
Emilio Butragueño
Emilio Butragueño Santos (; born 22 July 1963) is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a striker.
He was best known for his spell with Real Madrid. Nicknamed ''El Buitre'' (The Vulture), he was a member of the ''La Quinta del Buitre'' a ...
and
Amancio Amaro
Amancio Amaro Varela, (born 16 October 1939), commonly known simply as Amancio, is a Spanish former football player. Nicknamed ''El Brujo'' (The Magician) he played outside right for Deportivo de La Coruña, Real Madrid, and the Spain nationa ...
.
A friendly match between the Netherlands and France was held on the day after Cruyff's death. The play (at the
Amsterdam Arena
The Johan Cruyff Arena ( nl, Johan Cruijff Arena ; officially stylised as Johan Cruijff ArenA) is the main stadium of the Dutch capital city of Amsterdam and the home stadium of football club AFC Ajax since its opening. Built from 1993 to 1996 ...
) 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
A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name. Mascots are also used as fic ...
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").
Ahead of the
El Clásico
El Clásico or el clásico (; ca, El Clàssic, ; ) is the name given to any football match between rival clubs FC Barcelona and Real Madrid. Originally referring to competitions held in the Spanish championship, the term now includes every m ...
against Real Madrid (2 April 2016), Barcelona announced plans for five special tributes to Cruyff:
*1.) A
mosaic
A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...
formed by the 90,000 fans inside Camp Nou carrying the words 'Gràcies Johan' (
Catalan
Catalan may refer to:
Catalonia
From, or related to Catalonia:
* Catalan language, a Romance language
* Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia
Places
* 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...
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
Raimon Carrasco Azemar (17 February 1924 – 20 March 2022) was a Spanish businessman who served as president of FC Barcelona.
Biography
Carrasco was born in Barcelona, Restoration (Spain), Spain, son of Manuel Carrasco Formiguera and wife Mar ...
,
Josep Lluís Núñez
José Luis Núñez Clemente (7 September 1931 – 3 December 2018), often known by the Catalanized form of his name used by the Catalan press, Josep Lluís Núñez i Clemente, was president of FC Barcelona between 1978 and 2000. He was elected ...
,
Joan Gaspart
Joan Gaspart i Solves (; born 11 October 1944) is a Spanish businessman and a former FC Barcelona president between July 2000 and February 2003. He was born in Barcelona. He was vice president of the club during the presidency of Josep Lluís Nu ...
,
Enric Reyna
Enric Reyna i Martínez (Barcelona, 1940) is a builder from Barcelona, who was the 37th president of FC Barcelona on 12 February 2003, following the resignation of Joan Gaspart.
Career at FC Barcelona
Enric Reyna joined the Catalan club's man ...
, Joan Laporta,
Sandro Rosell
Alexandre "Sandro" Rosell Feliu (; born 6 March 1964) is a Spanish businessman. He earned an MBA degree from ESADE. Rosell ran as senior adviser of Joan Laporta during the 2003 FC Barcelona elections and was the vice-president of sports until Jun ...
and
Josep Maria Bartomeu
Josep Maria Bartomeu Floreta (born 6 February 1963) is a Spanish entrepreneur, and a former president of football club FC Barcelona. He started his presidency in 2014, following the resignation of Sandro Rosell; he held the post until his resign ...
*5.) A commemorative video honouring Cruyff's life would be shown on the big screens at Camp Nou stadium. 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."
Career statistics
Club
International
:''Scores and results list the Netherlands' goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Cruyff goal.''
Managerial statistics
Honours
Player
Ajax
*
Eredivisie
The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...
KNVB Cup
The KNVB Beker (; en, KNVB Cup), branded as the TOTO KNVB Beker for sponsorship reasons, is a competition in the Netherlands organized by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. Ou ...
European Cup
The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...
European Super Cup
The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions; the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's official name was originall ...
:
1972
Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...
1972
Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...
Barcelona
*
La Liga
The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...
Copa del Rey
The Campeonato de España–Copa de Su Majestad el Rey, commonly known as Copa del Rey or simply La Copa and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–36) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–76), is an annual knockout footbal ...
FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...
Runner-up:
1974
Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...
*
UEFA European Championship
The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition is contes ...
Third place:
1976
Events January
* January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force.
* January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea.
* January 11 – The 1976 Phila ...
Manager
;Ajax
*
KNVB Cup
The KNVB Beker (; en, KNVB Cup), branded as the TOTO KNVB Beker for sponsorship reasons, is a competition in the Netherlands organized by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. Ou ...
European Cup Winners' Cup
The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...
La Liga
The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...
Copa del Rey
The Campeonato de España–Copa de Su Majestad el Rey, commonly known as Copa del Rey or simply La Copa and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–36) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–76), is an annual knockout footbal ...
Supercopa de España
The Supercopa de España or the ''Spanish Super Cup'' is a super cup tournament in Spanish football. Founded in 1982 as a two-team competition, the current version has been contested since 2019–20 by four teams: the winners and runners-up of ...
:
1991
File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...
,
1992
File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...
,
1994
File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...
*
European Cup
The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...
European Cup Winners' Cup
The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...
European Super Cup
The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions; the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's official name was originall ...
:
1992
File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...
Individual
Player
*
Ballon d'Or
The Ballon d'Or (; ) is an annual football award presented by French news magazine ''France Football'' since 1956. Between 2010 and 2015, in an agreement with FIFA, the award was temporarily merged with the FIFA World Player of the Year (fo ...
:
1971 *
The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses ( February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 10, and August 6).
The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history.
Events
Ja ...
,
1973
Events January
* January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union.
* January 15 – Vietnam War: Citing progress in peace negotiations, U.S. ...
,
1974
Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...
; Third place:
1975
It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe.
Events
January
* January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...
Dutch Footballer of the Year The title Dutch Footballer of the Year (Dutch: ''Voetballer van het Jaar'') has been awarded in the Netherlands since 1984. The award is determined by a poll of Dutch professional footballers playing in the First (Eredivisie) and Second (Eerste Divi ...
: 1968, 1972, 1984
*
Dutch Sportsman of the Year
The Dutch Sportsman and Sportswoman of the Year are chosen annually by Dutch athletes from a shortlist compiled by sports journalists. The elections are organized by the Dutch Olympic Committee. All the winners receive a Jaap Eden Award to rememb ...
: 1973, 1974
*
FIFA World Cup Golden Ball
At the end of each FIFA World Cup final tournament, several awards are presented to the players and teams who have distinguished themselves in various aspects of the game.
Awards
*There are currently five post-tournament awards from the FIFA ...
:
1974
Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...
*
FIFA World Cup All-Star Team
At the end of each FIFA World Cup final tournament, several awards are presented to the players and teams who have distinguished themselves in various aspects of the game.
Awards
*There are currently five post-tournament awards from the FIFA ...
:
1974
Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...
*
IOC
The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...
European Footballer of the Season: 1970–71, 1972–73
* Onze de Onze: 1977
*
Don Balón Award
From 1976 until 2010, the Spanish sports magazine ''Don Balón'' conferred the Don Balón Award (''Premio Don Balón'') to the best Spanish player, the best foreign player, the best referee and the breakthrough player in La Liga. These awards cease ...
1979
Events
January
* January 1
** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...
*
FIFA World Cup All-Time Team
The FIFA All-Time Team is a fictive all-time association football team published by FIFA in 1994. It is an eleven-member side divided as one goalkeeper, four defenders, three midfielders, and three forwards.
__NOTOC__
See also
*FIFA 100
...
: 1994
*
FIFA World Cup Dream Team The FIFA World Cup Dream Team is an all-time FIFA World Cup all-star team published by FIFA in 2002 after conducting an internet poll of fans to select a World Cup dream team.World Team of the 20th Century
The World Team of the 20th Century was chosen in 1998 to comprise the best association football players of the 20th century CE. The team comprises an eleven-member side, with one goalkeeper, four defenders, three midfielders, and three forwards.
...
*
FIFA 100
The FIFA 100 is a list of Brazilian footballer Pelé's choice of the "greatest living footballers". Unveiled on 4 March 2004 at a gala ceremony in London, England, the FIFA 100 marked part of the celebrations of the 100th anniversary of the fo ...
UEFA Golden Jubilee Poll The UEFA Golden Jubilee Poll is the popular name for an online poll conducted in 2004 by UEFA as part of their Golden Jubilee celebrations, celebrating the best European footballers from the fifty previous years. The poll, available on UEFA's websi ...
FourFourTwo
''FourFourTwo'' is a football magazine published by Future. Issued monthly, it published its 300th edition in May 2019. It takes its name from the football formation of the same name, 4-4-2.
In 2008, it was announced that ''FourFourTwo'' had e ...
100 greatest footballers ever: # *
IFFHS
The International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) is an organisation that chronicles the history and records of association football. It was founded in 1984 by Alfredo Pöge in Leipzig. The IFFHS was based in Abu Dhabi for so ...
Legends
*
Ballon d'Or Dream Team
The Ballon d'Or Dream Team is an all-time all-star team published by ''France Football'' on 14 December 2020 after conducting an internet poll of fans to select a football dream team starting from October 2020. The final team was selected by 140 ...
FourFourTwo
''FourFourTwo'' is a football magazine published by Future. Issued monthly, it published its 300th edition in May 2019. It takes its name from the football formation of the same name, 4-4-2.
In 2008, it was announced that ''FourFourTwo'' had e ...
3rd Greatest Manager of All Time: 2020
*
France Football
''France Football'' is a French weekly magazine containing football news from all over the world. It is considered to be one of the most reputable sports publications in Europe, mostly because of its photographic reports, in-depth and exclusiv ...
Knight of the Order of Orange-Nassau
The Order of Orange-Nassau ( nl, Orde van Oranje-Nassau, links=no) is a civil and military Dutch honours system, Dutch order of chivalry founded on 4 April 1892 by the queen regent, Emma of the Netherlands.
The order is a chivalric order open ...
UEFA
Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...
's Jubilee, he was selected as the Golden Player of the Netherlands by the
KNVB
The Royal Dutch Football Association (, ; KNVB ) is the governing body of football in the Netherlands. It organises the main Dutch football leagues (Eredivisie and Eerste Divisie), the amateur leagues, the KNVB Cup, and the Dutch Netherlands nati ...
as their most outstanding player of the past 50 years.
* On 22 May 2006, Cruyff was presented a Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution to football by Laureus in their annual World Sports Awards.
* In April 2016, Cruyff was posthumously awarded the Laureus Spirit of Sport Award, which was accepted by his son Jordi.
* Cruyff received a lifetime achievement award from the KNVB in August 2006.
* In 2006, Cruyff played in Dennis Bergkamp's Testimonial as a second-half substitute with Ajax.
* On 18 April 2007, Ajax decided to retire the number 14 shirt in honour of Cruyff and in celebration of his birthday.
* In 2010, Cruyff was presented the
FIFA Order of Merit
The FIFA Order of Merit is the highest honour awarded by FIFA. The award is presented at the annual FIFA congress. It is normally awarded to people who are considered to have made a significant contribution to :association football.
At FIFA's ce ...
(highest honour awarded by
FIFA
FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...
) for his significant contribution to football.
* In 2010, Cruyff entered in the FICTS "Hall of Fame" and was awarded with " Excellence Guirlande D'Honneur".
* In 2013, Cruyff was recognised with the
UEFA President's Award The UEFA President's Award recognises outstanding achievements, professional excellence and exemplary personal qualities. The accolade, first introduced by UEFA in 1998, is usually awarded annually to a football personality who is deemed to have adv ...
* On 29 March 2016, the
Prime Minister of Spain
The prime minister of Spain, officially president of the Government ( es, link=no, Presidente del Gobierno), is the head of government of Spain. The office was established in its current form by the Constitution of 1978 and it was first regula ...
Amsterdam Arena
The Johan Cruyff Arena ( nl, Johan Cruijff Arena ; officially stylised as Johan Cruijff ArenA) is the main stadium of the Dutch capital city of Amsterdam and the home stadium of football club AFC Ajax since its opening. Built from 1993 to 1996 ...
* Barend, Frits; Van Dorp, Henk: ''Ajax, Barcelona, Cruijff: Het ABC van een eigenzinnige maestro''. (Amsterdam: Uitgeverij Vassallucci, 1997)
n Dutch
N, or n, is the fourteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''.
History
...
* Barend, Frits; Van Dorp, Henk: ''Ajax, Barcelona, Cruyff: The ABC of an Obstinate Maestro''. Translated from the Dutch by David Winner and Lex Van Dam. (London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 1999)
* Burns, Jimmy: ''Barça: A People's Passion''. (London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2011)
* Burns, Jimmy: ''La Roja: How Soccer Conquered Spain and How Spanish Soccer Conquered the World''. (New York: Nation Books, 2012)
* Butter, Jan-Cees; van der Vlies, Ferenc: ''Cruijff & Johan: Herinneringen aan nummer 14''. (Amsterdam: Uitgeverij Water, 2019)
n Dutch
N, or n, is the fourteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''.
History
...
* Casanovas, Josep María: ''Cruyff, una vida por el Barça''. (Barcelona:
Ediciones B
Ediciones B is a Spanish publisher, which currently operates as a division of Penguin Random House. Ediciones B is headquartered in Madrid and Barcelona, Spain; with branches throughout Latin America. It was established in 1986, but has its origin ...
, 1973)
n Spanish
N, or n, is the fourteenth Letter (alphabet), letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is English alphabet# ...
* Colmena, Daniel: ''De Cruyff a Guardiola, les claus d'un canvi triomfant al Barça''. (Barcelona: Deu i Onze Edicions, 2011)
n Catalan
N, or n, is the fourteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''.
History
...
* Cruijff, Johan; de Boer, Sytze: ''Johan Cruijff uitspraken. Een biografie in citaten''. (Haarlem: Uitgeverij Schuyt & Co., 2013)
n Dutch
N, or n, is the fourteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''.
History
...
* Cruijff, Johan; de Groot, Jaap: ''Johan Cruijff – Mijn voetbal: Handboek voor winnaars''. (Amsterdam: Uitgeverij Nieuw Amsterdam, 2017)
n Dutch
N, or n, is the fourteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''.
History
...
* Cruijff, Johan; de Groot, Jaap: ''Johan Cruijff – Mijn verhaal: De autobiografie''. (Amsterdam: Uitgeverij Nieuw Amsterdam, 2018)
n Dutch
N, or n, is the fourteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''.
History
...
n Spanish
N, or n, is the fourteenth Letter (alphabet), letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is English alphabet# ...
n Spanish
N, or n, is the fourteenth Letter (alphabet), letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is English alphabet# ...
* Cruyff, Johan: ''Fútbol: Mi filosofía''. (Barcelona: Ediciones B, 2012)
n Spanish
N, or n, is the fourteenth Letter (alphabet), letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is English alphabet# ...
* Cruyff, Johan; de Groot, Jaap: ''My Turn: The Autobiography''. (London: Macmillan, October 2016)
* : ''Johan Cruyff, génie pop et despote''. Préface par
Michel Platini
Michel François Platini (born 21 June 1955) is a French football administrator and former player and manager. Regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all time, Platini won the Ballon d'Or three times in a row, in 1983, 1984 and 1985, ...
. (Paris: Éditions Hugo Sport, Septembre 2015) [in French]
* De Boer, Sytze: ''Het Amsterdam van Johan Cruijff''. (Amsterdam: Uitgeverij Nieuw Amsterdam, 2018)
n Dutch
N, or n, is the fourteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''.
History
...
* Hiddema, Bert: ''Cruijff! Van Jopie tot Johan''. (Amsterdam: Uitgeverij Luitingh-Sijthoff, 1996)
n Dutch
N, or n, is the fourteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''.
History
...
n Dutch
N, or n, is the fourteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''.
History
...
n Dutch
N, or n, is the fourteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''.
History
...
* Hiddema, Bert: ''Cruijff! De magere jaren 1973–1982''. (Amsterdam: Xander Uitgevers B.V., 2018)
n Dutch
N, or n, is the fourteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''.
History
...
* Hiddema, Bert: ''Cruijff! De gouden jaren 1982–1996''. (Amsterdam: Xander Uitgevers B.V., 2019)
n Dutch
N, or n, is the fourteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''.
History
...
* Hilvoorde, I. van; Stokvis, R. (2013 'Pythagoras in boots': Johan Cruijff and the Construction of Dutch National Identity Sport in History, 33(4), 427–444
* Hunter, Graham: ''Barça: The Making of the Greatest Team in the World''. (Glasgow: Backpage Press, 2012)
* Jensen, Ric (2014). ''Looking at the Extraordinary Success of the 'Clockwork Orange': Examining the Brilliance of Total Football Played by the Netherlands''. [Special Issue: ''Heroes, Icons, Legends: Legacies of Great Men in World Soccer''] (''Soccer & Society'', Volume 15, Issue 5, 2014)
* Simon Kuper, Kuper, Simon: ''Football Against the Enemy''. (London: Orion Publishing Group, 1994)
* Kuper, Simon: ''Ajax, the Dutch, the War: Football in Europe during the Second World War''. (London: Orion Publishing Group, 2003)
* Prieto, Javier Aranda: ''Hijos de Cruyff''. (Sevilla: Editorial Samarcanda, 2019)
n Spanish
N, or n, is the fourteenth Letter (alphabet), letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is English alphabet# ...
* Richards, Ted: ''Soccer and Philosophy: Beautiful Thoughts on the Beautiful Game (Popular Culture and Philosophy)''. (Chicago & La Salle, IL: Open Court Publishing, 2010)
* Riera, Josep; Roca, Miquel: ''Van Barça: El Futbol Club Barcelona i Holanda, més que una relació''. (Valls, Tarragona: Cossetània Edicions, 2007)
n Catalan
N, or n, is the fourteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''.
History
...
* Schots, Mik; Luitzen, Jan: ''Wie is Johan Cruijff. Insiders duiden het Orakel. Maar Cruijff heeft zelf het laatste Woord''. (Amsterdam: Uitgeverij De Arbeiderspers, 2007)
n Dutch
N, or n, is the fourteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''.
History
...
* : ''Der König und sein Spiel: Johan Cruyff und der Weltfußball''. (Göttingen: Verlag Die Werkstatt, 2012) [in German]
* Tanzilli, Fabrizio: ''Lo spazio della libertà. Da Rinus Michels, Michels a Pep Guardiola, Guardiola, il viaggio dell'idea che ha rivoluzionato il calcio''. (Roma: Ultra Edizioni, 2015) [in Italian]
* Van den Boogaard, A.: ''Het laatste seizoen: Het andere gezicht van Johan Cruijff''. (Amsterdam: Uitgeverij Thomas Rap, 2018)
n Dutch
N, or n, is the fourteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''.
History
...
n Dutch
N, or n, is the fourteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''.
History
...
* Jonathan Wilson (writer), Wilson, Jonathan: ''Inverting the Pyramid: The History of Football Tactics''. (London: Orion Books, 2010)
* Wilson, Jonathan: ''The Barcelona Inheritance: The Evolution of Winning Soccer Tactics from Cruyff to Guardiola''. (New York: Nation Books, 2018)
* Winkels, Edwin: ''Johan Cruijff in Barcelona: De mythe van de verlosser''. (Amsterdam: Uitgeverij Brandt, 2016)
n Dutch
N, or n, is the fourteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''.
History
...
n Dutch
N, or n, is the fourteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''.
History
...
Filmography
* ''Nummer 14 Johan Cruijff'', 1973 Dutch
documentary film
A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...
by Cor Coster on the professional career of Johan Cruyff (90 min)
* ', 1976 Italian-language documentary film directed by Sandro Ciotti (110 min)
* ''Johan Cruijff – En un momento dado'', 2004 documentary by Ramon Gieling on the life of Johan Cruyff (90 min)
* ''Recorda, Míster: Johan Cruyff'' (''Remember, Boss: Johan Cruyff'' in English), 2009 documentary by ''Barça TV''
* ''Conexión Vintage – Johan Cruyff'', 2013 documentary by ''RTVE''
* ', 2014 Catalan-language documentary directed by Jordi Marcos (70 min)
* ''Gràcies, Johan'', 2016 documentary by ''TV3 (Catalonia), TV3''
See also
* List of UEFA club competition winning managers
* List of European Cup and UEFA Champions League winning managers
* History of AFC Ajax
* History of FC Barcelona
* History of the Netherlands national football team
* FIFA Player of the Century
*
FIFA World Cup Dream Team The FIFA World Cup Dream Team is an all-time FIFA World Cup all-star team published by FIFA in 2002 after conducting an internet poll of fans to select a World Cup dream team.FIFA World Cup All-Time Team
The FIFA All-Time Team is a fictive all-time association football team published by FIFA in 1994. It is an eleven-member side divided as one goalkeeper, four defenders, three midfielders, and three forwards.
__NOTOC__
See also
*FIFA 100
...
*
World Team of the 20th Century
The World Team of the 20th Century was chosen in 1998 to comprise the best association football players of the 20th century CE. The team comprises an eleven-member side, with one goalkeeper, four defenders, three midfielders, and three forwards.
...
References
External links
The World of Johan Cruyff – Explore the World of Johan Cruyff.
Johan Cruyff Foundation – Johan Cruyff Foundation
– UEFA.com
*
*
*
*
International Football Hall of Fame: Johan Cruyff – ifhof.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cruyff, Johan
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1947 births
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