Johan Jordi Cruijff (anglicised to Cruyff; born 9 February 1974) is a football coach and former player. He is the son of former player and manager

Johan Cruyff Hendrik Johannes Cruijff (, internationally known as Johan Cruyff; 25 April 1947 – 24 March 2016) was a Dutch professional football player and manager. As a player, he won the Ballon d'Or three times, in 1971, 1973 and 1974. Cruyff was a p ...

. As a footballer, Cruyff played from 1992 through to 2010, including periods with Barcelona and

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 Salford to the west. The two ...

. He earned nine caps for the Netherlands national team, playing at UEFA Euro 1996, and he won the Premier League title in 1997 while at Manchester United. Cruyff played mainly as an

attacking 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 boundari ...

, although he could also perform as a

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 ...

. In his later years, notably with Metalurh Donetsk, he also played as a

centre back 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 ...

. After starting his career with Barcelona and playing for the Netherlands aged 22, Cruyff's career stalled while at Manchester United, as he appeared just 36 times in the league over four years largely because of injuries. His most successful period was arguably with Deportivo Alavés, which he led to the

2001 UEFA Cup Final The 2001 UEFA Cup Final was a football match between Liverpool of England and Alavés of Spain on 16 May 2001 at the Westfalenstadion in Dortmund, Germany. The showpiece event was the final match of the 2000–01 edition of Europe's secondary ...

. He also played for

Celta Vigo Real Club Celta de Vigo (; ), commonly known as Celta de Vigo or simply Celta, is a Spanish professional football club based in Vigo, Galicia, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spanish football. Nicknamed ''Os Celestes'' (The Sky Blues) ...

, RCD Espanyol and finished his playing career with

Valletta Valletta (, mt, il-Belt Valletta, ) is an administrative unit and capital of Malta. Located on the main island, between Marsamxett Harbour to the west and the Grand Harbour to the east, its population within administrative limits in 2014 wa ...

in the

Maltese Premier League The Maltese Premier League, known as BOV Premier League for sponsorship reasons with Bank of Valletta (colloquialism, colloquially known as ''Il-Kampjonat Premjer''), is the highest level of professional football in Malta. Managed by the Malta Fo ...

. Under his stewardship as Maccabi Tel Aviv's sporting director, the club regained its dominance in Israeli football. The team won consecutive league titles from 2012 to 2015, as well as regularly qualifying for the Europa League and Champions League.

Club career

Barcelona

In 1992, Cruyff made his debut for

FC Barcelona B FC may refer to: Businesses, organisations, and schools * Fergusson College, a science and arts college in Pune, India * Finncomm Airlines (IATA code) * FranklinCovey company, NYSE stock symbol FC * Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force in Pakis ...

in the Segunda División, becoming the team's top scorer alongside Óscar. Two years later, Cruyff was promoted to the senior team during a pre-season tour in the Netherlands, where he scored

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

s against

Groningen Groningen (; gos, Grunn or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen province in the Netherlands. The ''capital of the north'', Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of the northern part of t ...

and

De Graafschap VBV De Graafschap () is a professional football club from Doetinchem, Netherlands, playing in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football. It was formed on 1 February 1954 and they play their home games at the De Vijverberg stadium. ...

. On 4 September 1994, he made his

top flight Top Flight (April 15, 1929 – 1949) was an American U.S. Hall of Fame Thoroughbred racehorse. She was the leading American filly of her generation at two and three years of age. Background Bred in Kentucky by the very prominent horseman Harry ...

debut in a 2–1 defeat at

Sporting Gijón Sporting may refer to: *Sport, recreational games and play *Sporting (neighborhood), in Alexandria, Egypt Sports clubs *AC Sporting, a football club from Beirut, Lebanon *Alexandria Sporting Club, a sports club from Alexandria, Egypt * Real Sporti ...

. On 2 November, he played against

in the Champions League, setting up the first goal for Hristo Stoichkov, as Barcelona won 4–0. That season, Barcelona finished fourth in La Liga and Cruyff was one of the team's top scorers alongside Stoichkov and Koeman, despite not being a regular starter. Cruyff scored the goal that guaranteed Barcelona played in Europe the following season. Despite a positive start to the following campaign, Barcelona finished 3rd and were runners up in the Copa del Rey. On 19 May 1996, he played his last game for the club against

, 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 Barcel ...

Manchester United

In August 1996, Cruyff signed with

for a fee of £1.4 million on a four-year contract. He made his debut on 11 August in a 4–0 win over

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

in the

1996 FA Charity Shield The 1996 FA Charity Shield (also known as the Littlewoods FA Charity Shield for sponsorship reasons) was the 74th FA Charity Shield, an annual football match played between the winners of the previous season's Premier League and FA Cup competition ...

, and then played in a 3–0 win over Wimbledon, the opening league fixture of the

1996–97 FA Premier League The 1996–97 FA Premier League (known as the FA Carling Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the fifth season of the FA Premier League since its formation in 1992. The majority of the season was contested by the reigning champions, Manche ...

. Cruyff then scored on his next two appearances, helping the team to 2–2 draws against Everton and

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

. He was a regular in the first team until the end of November 1996, when he suffered another knee injury. Cruyff's spell at Manchester United was marked by injuries, but he played three games in the group stage of the

1998–99 UEFA Champions League The 1998–99 UEFA Champions League was the 44th season of the UEFA Champions League, Europe's premier club football tournament, and the seventh since it was renamed from the "European Champion Clubs' Cup" or "European Cup". The competition was w ...

. He played eleven times and scored twice in 1998–99 season before a loan deal with

took him back to Spain in January 1999 and thus denying him the chance to win the treble achieved by the club in May 1999. He scored twice in eight games for the Spaniards before returning for United. Cruyff's contract expired on 30 June 2000. In four years he had played a total of 57 games for United and scored eight goals.

Return to La Liga

After an initial agreement with

Harry Redknapp Henry James Redknapp (born 2 March 1947) is an English former football manager and player. He has previously managed AFC Bournemouth, West Ham United, Portsmouth, Southampton, Tottenham Hotspur, Queens Park Rangers and Birmingham City. In his ...

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, ha ...

fell through, Cruyff returned to Spain on a free transfer to Alavés. With the

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

club, he reached the

, against Liverpool: despite being 2–0 and then 3–1 down, Alavés embarked on a spirited comeback and Cruyff's goal in the 89th minute tied the game at 4–4. An

own goal An own goal, also called a self goal, is where a player performs actions that result in them or their team scoring a goal on themselves, often resulting in a point for the opposing team, such as when a football player kicks a ball into their own ...

extra time Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played onl ...

saw Liverpool lift the cup. Cruyff continued to play for Alavés until the club was relegated at the end of 2002–03. The following season, he joined Espanyol, being played regularly in his only season. Cruyff decided against extending his contract with Espanyol and voluntarily left that summer.

Later career

He then trained with

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

, coached by

Sam Allardyce Samuel Allardyce (; born 19 October 1954), colloquially referred to as Big Sam, is an English football manager and former professional player. Allardyce made 578 league and cup appearances in a 21-year career spent mostly in the Football Lea ...

, but failed a medical test. After he temporarily retired in 2004, Cruyff made a return to professional football in 2006, playing two seasons at the Ukrainian side Metalurh Donetsk, where he played mainly as a centre back. At the same time, he entered the fashion business, helping develop the Cruyff clothing brand. In mid-2009, Cruyff signed a three-year deal as a player-cum-assistant-manager of Maltese side

, assisting first team coach

Ton Caanen Ton Caanen (born March 18, 1966 in Geleen, Netherlands) is a Dutch football manager. Managerial career Aside from a few years in the amateur Dutch leagues, Caanen never played professional football. He got his start as a manager in his hometo ...

, a role he admitted he did not take to. He made his debut on 26 July 2009, in a 3–0 win in the Europa League 2009–10 first qualifying round against Icelandic side

Keflavík Keflavík (pronounced , meaning ''Driftwood Bay'') is a town in the Reykjanes region in southwest Iceland. It is included in the municipality of Reykjanesbær whose population as of 2016 is 15,129. In 1995, Keflavik merged with nearby Njarð ...

. His first league appearance came on 21 August 2008, in a 3–1 win over

Birkirkara Birkirkara (abbreviated as B'Kara) is a city in the central region of Malta. It is the second most populous on the island, with 24,356 inhabitants as of 2020. The town consists of five autonomous parishes: Saint Helen, Saint Joseph the Worker, Ou ...

. He scored his first goal on 29 August 2009 in a 6–0 win against Floriana. Valletta won the MFA Trophy in Cruyff's first season beating

Qormi Qormi ( mt, Ħal Qormi ; pronounced in the Qormi dialect), also known by its title Città Pinto, is a city in the Southern Region of Malta, southwest of Valletta in the centre of the island. It has a population of 16,324 (as of March 2018), mak ...

2–1, although Cruyff did not play in the final as he was not fully fit. Despite mostly playing as a defensive player in the latter stages of his career, Cruyff took on a more attacking role with Valletta.

International career

Cruyff was approached by both countries, Spain and the Netherlands, when he was eligible to play for their under-21 teams. He was unsure which country to represent, and in 1996 he declined the possibility to join the Spanish team for the Olympic Games, opting instead to play for the Netherlands at Euro '96. His performances for Barcelona persuaded coach Guus Hiddink to include him in the Netherlands squad for the tournament. He made his debut for the national side in a 2–0 friendly defeat against Germany on 24 April 1996. Cruyff scored his only goal for the Netherlands during a 2–0 win against Switzerland at Villa Park on 13 June, and was one of five Dutch footballers to be selected for the Dutch national team while never having played in the Eredivisie.

Career as sports director

AEK Larnaca

In 2010, Cruyff announced his retirement from professional football and joined

AEK Larnaca AEK Larnaca FC ( el, AEK; for short Αθλητική Έvωση Κίτιον Λάρνακας , translit=''Athletiki Enosi Kition Larnakas'', "Athletic Union Kition of Larnaca") is a Cypriot professional football club based in Larnaca. The club ...

director of football A sporting director, or director of sport, is an executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many types of sports. The sport ...

on a three-year deal.timesofmalta.com
Cruyff to hang up boots at end of season
/ref> He appointed

as head coach, and the pair worked to establish the team as a new football powerhouse in Cyprus. In his first season, the team finished 4th and the team qualified for the UEFA Europa League. In his second season, AEK Larnaca qualified for the groups stage of the Europa League after beating Rosenborg in the play-offs. The participation of the team in the

2011–12 UEFA Europa League The 2011–12 UEFA Europa League was the third season of the UEFA Europa League, Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 41st edition overall including its predecessor, the UEFA Cup. It began on 30 June 2011 with t ...

was historic for both the club and for Cyprus football, as the club became the first Cypriot team to secure qualification to the Europa League (preceded by

Anorthosis Anorthosis Famagusta ( el, Ανόρθωση Αμμοχώστου, translit=Anorthosi Ammochostou), commonly known as Anorthosis in English or Anorthosi in Greek, is a Cypriot football club, part of the Anorthosis Famagusta multi-sport club fo ...

and

APOEL APOEL FC ( el, ΑΠΟΕΛ; short for Αθλητικός Ποδοσφαιρικός Όμιλος Ελλήνων Λευκωσίας, ''Athletikos Podosferikos Omilos Ellinon Lefkosias'', literally "Athletic Football Club of Greeks of Nicosia") ...

in the group stages of the Champions League). The team finished 5th that season in the domestic league.

Maccabi Tel Aviv

In April 2012, Cruyff was appointed by

Mitchell Goldhar Mitchell Goldhar is a Canadian billionaire and businessman. He owned SmartCentres, a firm that developed Walmart-anchored shopping malls in Canada, and retains a significant ownership stake in its successor firm SmartCentres REIT. Since August ...

, owner of Maccabi Tel Aviv, as the Sports Director of the football club paying compensation to AEK Larnaca. His initial work included signing Óscar, then head coach of

FC Barcelona Juvenil A Futbol Club Barcelona Juvenil are the under-19 team of Spanish professional football club Barcelona and the final stage of progression in the club's youth academy commonly referred to as La Masia. The Juvenil team play in the Group III of the Di ...

, as head coach of the club. Cruyff's arrival finally put an end to Maccabi Tel Aviv's bad fortunes in the league as they won their first championship in ten years. Under Cruyff's and Garcia's stewardship, Maccabi dominated the league and claimed the title by thirteen points ahead of their nearest rival. The team finished the season as the league's highest scorers, with 78, whilst only conceding 30 - the fewest in the league. The 2013–14 season saw a change in the club's coach position, when Cruyff appointed the Portuguese coach,

Paulo Sousa Paulo Manuel Carvalho de Sousa, CavIH (; born 30 August 1970) is a Portuguese football manager and former professional player who played as a defensive midfielder. Starting his career at Benfica, he also represented Sporting CP in his coun ...

to replace Garcia, after the Spanish coach was signed by English Championship side

Brighton and Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club (), commonly referred to simply as Brighton, is an English professional football club based in the city of Brighton and Hove. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league ...

. During this period, many players left the club whilst several others were recruited. The team continued its success in the league competition by claiming another league title by a margin of 16 points. The club also enjoyed success in the Europa League as they advanced to the round of 32 following a difficult group stage, where they beat

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture ...

(twice) and Eintracht Frankfurt before eventually exiting the competition following a loss to FC Basel. The 2014–15 season was characterized by a difficult start.

Operation Protective Edge The 2014 Gaza War, also known as Operation Protective Edge ( he, מִבְצָע צוּק אֵיתָן, translit=Miv'tza Tzuk Eitan, ), was a military operation launched by Israel on 8 July 2014 in the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian territory that ha ...

meant that the qualifying games to the UEFA Champions League were held away from Israel, leading Maccabi to be ousted from both the Champions League and the Europa League. There was also a change in club manager following Paulo Sousa's appointment at FC Basel. Oscar Garcia briefly returned but left before the beginning of the season when Cruyff appointed Pako Ayestarán, former assistant to Rafael Benítez at Liverpool. Maccabi Tel Aviv became the first Israeli team to win all three local trophies: the Israeli Premier League, the Israel State Cup and the Toto Cup. In April 2015, Cruyff renewed his contract for a further two years despite interest from English Championship and Bundesliga sides. In the 2015–16 season, Cruyff appointed

Slaviša Jokanović Slaviša Jokanović ( sr-Cyrl, Славиша Јокановић, ; born 16 August 1968) is a Serbian professional football manager and former player. He is the manager of Russian club Dynamo Moscow. A physical player considered strong in the ai ...

as head coach after the Serbian had promoted Watford to the Premier League. The team qualified for the UEFA Champions League group stages for the first time in 11 years, playing against

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament const ...

Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...

and Dynamo Kyiv in Group G before exiting the competition. Cruyff appointed Vitesse's

Peter Bosz Peter Sylvester Bosz (, born 21 November 1963) is a Dutch professional football manager and former player. Playing career Club A midfielder, Bosz started his professional career played with Vitesse in 1981; after a loan season with then ama ...

after Jokanovic signed as the new Fulham's head coach at the end of December.

Managerial career

In his first full season as head coach in season 2017–18, Cruyff led Maccabi Tel Aviv to Toto Cup glory, oversaw a second-place league finish and secured European qualification for a sixth successive year since he joined the club in 2012. At the start of that campaign, he successfully guided the team through four qualifying rounds to reach the UEFA Europa League group stage. At the end of the season, he announced his intention to leave the club to begin new experiences. On 8 August 2018, Cruyff was appointed as the manager of

Chinese Super League The Chinese Football Association Super League, commonly known as Chinese Super League or CSL, currently known as the China Ping An Chinese Football Association Super League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest tier of professional football in ...

side Chongqing Dangdai Lifan. In 2019, he led the club to their best start in Super League history but decided to not renew his contract, and left the club at the end of the season. On 3 January 2020, Cruyff reached an agreement to become manager of the

Ecuador national football team The Ecuador national football team ( es, Selección de fútbol de Ecuador) represents Ecuador in men's international football and is controlled by the Ecuadorian Football Federation (FEF). They joined FIFA in 1926 and CONMEBOL a year later. Di ...

. On 23 July 2020 Cruyff resigned from his position. This came after several major leadership changes in the Ecuadorian Football Federation. Ecuador did not play any matches or hold any training camps in his time as head coach, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On 14 August 2020, Cruyff was appointed as the manager of

club Shenzhen FC. On 2 June 2021, Barcelona announced his appointment on the role of sporting advisor.

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

Barcelona *

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 ...

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 sank in the Baltic Sea; Nels ...

Manchester United * Premier League: 1996–97 * FA Charity Shield:

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic (1997 film), Titanic'', the List of highest-grossing films, highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; ...

* UEFA Champions League: 1998–99

Manager

Maccabi Tel Aviv * Toto Cup: 2017–18

Sources

*''Barça: A People's Passion'' (1998), Jimmy Burns.

References

External links

* * *
SportingHeroes profile
* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cruyff, Jordi

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 ...