dutch football player and coach
“ Cruyff ” redirects here. For Johan Cruyff ‘s son, see Jordi Cruyff
Hendrik Johannes Cruijff OON ( dutch : [ ˈjoːɦɑn ˈkrœyf ] ( ), internationally spell Cruyff ; 25 April 1947 – 24 March 2016 ) was a dutch professional football musician and coach. As a player, he won the Ballon d’Or three times, in 1971, 1973 and 1974. [ 2 ] Cruyff was a advocate of the football doctrine known as total Football explored by Rinus Michels, and is widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, and one of the best managers ever. [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ] [ 6 ] [ 7 ]

In the former 1960s and early 1970s, Dutch football rose from a semi-professional and obscure level to become a powerhouse in the frolic. [ 8 ] [ 9 ] Cruyff led the Netherlands to the final of the 1974 FIFA World Cup and received the Golden Ball as player of the tournament. [ 10 ] At the 1974 finals, he executed a feint that subsequently was named after him, the “ Cruyff Turn “, a move widely replicated in the modern game. [ 11 ] After finishing third in UEFA Euro 1976, Cruyff refused to play in the 1978 World Cup after a kidnap try targeting him and his kin in their Barcelona base dissuaded him from football. [ 12 ] At club level, Cruyff started his career at Ajax, where he won eight Eredivisie titles, three european Cups and one Intercontinental Cup. [ 13 ] In 1973, he moved to Barcelona for a global commemorate transfer fee, helping the team win La Liga in his beginning season, and was named european Footballer of the Year. After retiring from playing in 1984, Cruyff became highly successful as director of Ajax and former Barcelona ; he remained an influential adviser to both clubs after his coach tenures. His son Jordi besides played football professionally. Wearing the number 14 jersey since 1970, ( except at Barcelona and Feyenoord where he was assigned number 9 and 10 respectively ) Cruyff set a swerve by players to, if allowed, choose a jersey number outside the usual starting line-up of one to eleven. [ 10 ] In 1999, Cruyff was voted European Player of the Century in an election held by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics, and came second behind Pelé in their World Player of the Century poll. [ 14 ] He came one-third in a vote organised by the french magazine France Football consulting their former Ballon d’Or winners to elect their Football Player of the Century. [ 15 ] He was included in the World team of the twentieth hundred in 1998, the FIFA World Cup Dream Team in 2002, and in 2004 was named in the FIFA 100 list of the world ‘s greatest support players. [ 16 ] Considered to be one of the most influential figures in football history, [ 17 ] [ 18 ] Cruyff ‘s style of play and football philosophy has influenced managers and players alike. [ 19 ] Ajax and Barcelona are among the clubs that have developed youth academies based on Cruyff ‘s coach methods. [ 20 ] His coaching philosophy helped lay the foundations for the revival of Ajax ‘s international successes in the 1990s, [ 21 ] and spanish football ‘s successes at both club and external levels during the years 2008 to 2012 have been cited as evidence of Cruyff ‘s impact on contemporary football. [ 22 ] And in Johan Neeskens ‘s own words, “ If you look at the greatest players in history, most of them could n’t coach. If you look at the greatest coaches in history, most of them were not great players. Johan Cruyff did both – and in such an elating manner. ” [ 23 ]

early life [edit ]

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

—Cruyff said in a documentary on TV3 channel ( 2015 ). [ 24 ]
Hendrik Johannes “ Johan ” Cruyff was born on 25 April 1947 in the Burgerziekenhuis hospital in Amsterdam. He grew up on a street five minutes off from Ajax ‘s stadium, his first base football club. Johan was the second son of Hermanus Cornelis Cruijff and Petronella Bernarda Draaijer, from a humble, propertyless background in east Amsterdam. Cruyff, encouraged by his influential football-loving father and his close proximity in Akkerstraat to the De Meer Stadium, played football with his schoolmates and older brother, Henny, whenever he could, and idolised the prolific Dutch dribbler, Faas Wilkes. In 1959, Cruyff ‘s father died from a heart attack. His father ‘s end had a major impact on his brain. As Cruyff recalled, in celebration of his fiftieth birthday, “ My father died when I was just 12 and he was 45. From that sidereal day the feeling crawl hard over me that I would die at the lapp historic period and, when I had serious kernel problems when I reached 45, I thought : ‘This is it. ‘ only aesculapian science, which was not available to help my don, kept me animated. ” [ 25 ] Viewing a potential football career as a room of paying tribute to his beget, the death inspired the strong-minded Cruyff, who besides frequently visited the burial locate at Oosterbegraafplaats. [ 26 ] His mother began working at Ajax as a clean, deciding that she could no longer carry on at the grocer without her husband, and in the future, this made Cruyff near-obsessed with fiscal security system but besides gave him an admiration for player aids. His mother soon met her second husband, Henk Angel, a field hand at Ajax who proved a samara influence in Cruyff ‘s life. [ 27 ]

Club career [edit ]

Cruyff was implemental in Ajax ‘s dominance of european football in the early 1970s. He played for Ajax from 1957 to 1973 and 1981 to 1983 ( seen here in 1967 against Feyenoord ). Cruyff joined the Ajax young person system on his one-tenth birthday. Cruyff and his friends would frequently visit a “ playground ” in their vicinity and Ajax youth coach Jany van five hundred Veen, who lived conclude by, noticed Cruyff ‘s talent and decided to offer him a place at Ajax without a formal trial. [ 26 ] He made his first base team introduction on 15 November 1964 in the Eredivisie, against GVAV, scoring the only goal for Ajax in a 3–1 kill. That class, Ajax finished in their lowest place since the establishment of professional football, in 13th. [ 28 ] Cruyff actually started to make an depression in the 1965–66 season and established himself as a regular first team musician 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 winnings. Four days late, in a cup game against Veendam in a 7–0 succeed, he scored four goals. In total that season, Cruyff scored 25 goals in 23 games, and Ajax won the league championship. [ 10 ]
Cruyff playing for Ajax taking on Liverpool defender Tommy Smith in a european Cup game in December 1966 In the 1966–67 season, Ajax again won the league backing, and besides won the KNVB Cup, for Cruyff ‘s first “ double ”. [ 10 ] Cruyff ended the season as the leading goalscorer in the Eredivisie with 33. Cruyff won the league for the third gear consecutive year in the 1967–68 season. He was besides named Dutch football player of the class for the second consecutive fourth dimension, a feat he repeated in 1969. [ 10 ] On 28 May 1969, Cruyff played in his first european Cup concluding against Milan, but the Italians won 4–1. In the 1969–70 season, Cruyff won his moment league and cup “ double ” ; at the beginning of the 1970–71 season, he suffered a groin injury. He made his rejoinder on 30 October 1970 against PSV, and rather than wear his usual number 9, which was in consumption by Gerrie Mühren, he alternatively used phone number 14. [ 10 ] Ajax won 1–0. Although it was very rare in those days for the starters of a game not to play with numbers 1 to 11, from that consequence onwards, Cruyff wore phone number 14, flush with the Dutch national team. There was a documentary on Cruyff, Nummer 14 Johan Cruyff [ 29 ] and in the Netherlands there is a magazine by Voetbal International, Nummer 14. [ 30 ]

Johan Cruyff ‘s miracles in Amsterdam were many. He and his passenger car Rinus Michels ( a classify of John the Baptist figure ) raised Ajax from obscurity. More crucial, they invented a newfangled manner of playing. Cruyff became the greatest exponent and teacher of ‘totaalvoetbal ‘ [ Total Football ]. His vision of perfect apparent motion and harmony on the field was rooted in the lapp sublime ordering of distance that one sees in the pictures of Vermeer or church cougar Pieter Jansz Saenredam. It was the music of the spheres on grass .

— David Winner, the author of Brilliant Orange: The Neurotic Genius of Dutch Football [ 31 ]
In a league game against AZ ’67 on 29 November 1970, Cruyff scored six goals in an 8–1 victory. After winning a play back KNVB Cup final examination against Sparta Rotterdam by a grade of 2–1, Ajax won in Europe for the first time. On 2 June 1971, in London, Ajax won the european Cup by defeating Panathinaikos 2–0. [ 10 ] He signed a seven-year contract at Ajax. At the end of the temper, he was named the Dutch and European Footballer of the year for 1971. [ 10 ] In 1972, Ajax won a second base european Cup, beating Inter Milan 2–0 in the final examination, with Cruyff scoring both goals. [ 10 ] This victory prompted Dutch newspapers to announce the death of the italian stylus of defensive football in the boldness of sum Football. Soccer: The Ultimate Encyclopaedia says, “ single-handed, Cruyff not only perpetrate Internazionale of Italy apart in the 1972 european Cup Final, but scored both goals in Ajax ‘s 2–0 win. ” [ 32 ] Cruyff besides scored in the 3–2 victory over ADO Den Haag in the KNVB Cup final examination. In the league, Cruyff was the circus tent scorer with 25 goals as Ajax became champions. Ajax won the Intercontinental Cup, beating Argentina ‘s Independiente 1–1 in the first game followed by 3–0, and then in January 1973, they won the european Super Cup by beating Rangers 3–1 aside and 3–2 in Amsterdam. Cruyff ‘s only own finish came on 20 August 1972 against FC Amsterdam. A week later, against Go Ahead Eagles in a 6–0 acquire, Cruyff scored four times for Ajax. The 1972–73 season was concluded with another league championship victory and a third base consecutive european Cup with a 1–0 succeed over Juventus in the final examination, with the Encyclopedia stating Cruyff “ inspired one of the greatest 20-minute spells of football ever seen ”. [ 32 ]

Barcelona and the first La Liga title in 14 years [edit ]

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

— Franz Beckenbauer, in an interview with Bild.de ( September 2014 ) about Cruyff ‘s transfer value in the early 1970s. [ 33 ] [ 34 ]
Cruyff played for Barcelona from 1973 to 1978 In mid-1973, Cruyff was sold to Barcelona for 6 million guilders ( approx. US $ 2 million, c. 1973 ) in a world record transfer fee. [ 35 ] 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 list, Jordi, for his son. He helped the club win La Liga for the beginning prison term since 1960, defeating their fiercest rivals real madrid 5–0 at their home of the Santiago Bernabéu. Thousands of Barcelona fans who watched the match on television receiver poured out of their homes to join in street celebrations. [ 36 ] A New York Times journalist wrote that Cruyff had done more for the heart of the Catalan people in 90 minutes than many politicians in years of struggle. [ 36 ] Football historian Jimmy Burns stated, “ with Cruyff, the team felt they could n’t lose ”. [ 36 ] He gave them speed, flexibility and a sense of themselves. [ 36 ] In 1974 Cruyff was crowned european Footballer of the Year. [ 10 ] During his time at Barcelona, in a game against Atlético Madrid, Cruyff scored a goal in which he leapt into the breeze and kicked the ball past Miguel Reina in the Atlético goal with his properly heel ( the ball was at about neck acme and had already travelled wide-eyed of the far post ). [ 37 ] The goal was featured in the objective En un momento dado, in which fans of Cruyff attempted to recreate that here and now. The goal has been dubbed Le but impossible de Cruyff ( Cruyff ‘s impossible goal ). [ citation needed ] In 1978, Barcelona defeated Las Palmas 3–1, to win the Copa del Rey. [ 10 ] Cruyff played two games with Paris Saint-Germain in 1975 during the Paris tournament. He had only agreed because he was a fan of graphic designer Daniel Hechter, who was then president of PSG. [ 38 ] [ 39 ]

brief retirement and spells in the United States [edit ]

Cruyff concisely 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. [ 40 ] [ 41 ] As he recalled, “ I had lost millions in pig-farming and that was the reason I decided to become a football player again. ” [ 25 ] Cruyff insisted that his decision to resume his playing career in the United States was pivotal in his career. “ It was ill-timed, a error, to quit dally at 31 with the alone 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. ” [ 25 ] At the age of 32, Cruyff signed a lucrative softwood with the Los Angeles Aztecs of the north american english Soccer League ( NASL ). [ 10 ] He had previously been rumoured to be joining the New York Cosmos but the deal did not materialise ; he played a few exhibition games for the Cosmos. He stayed at the Aztecs for only one season, and was voted NASL Player of the Year. After considering an offer to join Dumbarton F.C. in Scotland, the following season, he moved to play for the Washington Diplomats. [ 42 ] He played the unharmed 1980 campaign for the Diplomats, even as the team was facing desperate fiscal disturb. In May 1981, Cruyff played as a guest musician for Milan in a tournament, but was injured. As a consequence, he missed the begin of the 1981 NASL soccer season, which ultimately led to Cruyff choosing to leave the team. Cruyff besides loathed playing on artificial surfaces, which were common in the NASL at the time .

recurrence to Spain with Levante [edit ]

In January 1981, Cruyff played three friendly matches for FC Dordrecht. besides in January 1981, director Jock Wallace of English club Leicester City made an attack to sign Cruyff, and despite negotiations lasting three weeks, in which Cruyff expressed his desire to play for the club, a deal could not be reached. Cruyff rather chose to sign with spanish Segunda División side Levante. [ 43 ] In March 1981, Cruyff took the field for the first time for Levante. Injuries and disagreements with the administration of the club, however, blighted his spell in the Segunda División, and he merely made ten appearances, scoring two goals. Having failed to secure promotion to the first division, a abridge with Levante fell through. [ 44 ]

moment spell at Ajax [edit ]

Johan Cruyff with japanese fans in 1982 After his spell in the U.S. and his ephemeral persist in Spain, Cruyff returned to playing for Ajax from the begin of the 1981–82 season. He had rejoined Ajax on 30 November 1980, before his fourth dimension as a player with Levante, as “ technical adviser ” to trainer Leo Beenhakker, Ajax being eighth in the league table at the prison term after 13 games played. After 34 games, however, Ajax finished the 1980–81 season in second. In December 1981, Cruyff signed a narrow elongation with Ajax until the summer of 1983. [ 44 ] 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 celebrated finish against Helmond Sport. While playing for Ajax, Cruyff scored a penalty the lapp way Rik Coppens had done it 25 years earlier. [ 45 ] [ 46 ] He put the ball down deoxyadenosine monophosphate for a routine penalty complain, but rather of shooting at goal, Cruyff nudged the musket ball sideways to teammate Jesper Olsen, who in reappearance passed it back to Cruyff to tap the musket ball into the empty net income, as Otto Versfeld, the Helmond goalkeeper, looked on. [ 10 ]
Cruyff ‘s farewell at Feyenoord

Final season at Feyenoord and retirement [edit ]

At the end of the 1982–83 season, Ajax decided not to offer Cruyff a new contract. This anger Cruyff, who responded by signing for Ajax ‘s archrivals Feyenoord. [ 47 ] Cruyff ‘s season at Feyenoord was a successful one in which the club won the Eredivisie for the beginning prison term in a decade, part of a league and KNVB Cup double over. The team ‘s success was due to the performances of Cruyff along with Ruud Gullit and Peter Houtman. [ 48 ] Despite his relatively promote historic period, Cruyff played all league matches that season except for one. Because of his operation on the plain, he was voted as Dutch Footballer of the year for the fifth meter. At the end of the season, the seasoned announced his final retirement. He ended his Eredivisie playing career on 13 May 1984 with a goal against PEC Zwolle. Cruyff played his last game in Saudi Arabia against Al-Ahli, bringing Feyenoord binding into the game with a finish and an assist. [ 49 ]

International career [edit ]

Cruyff as captain of the Netherlands prior to a bet on at the 1974 World Cup As a dutch external, Cruyff played 48 matches, scoring 33 goals. [ 10 ] [ 50 ] 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 modifier against Hungary, scoring in the 2–2 attract. In his moment match, a friendly against Czechoslovakia, Cruyff was the first Dutch international to receive a loss batting order. The Royal Dutch Football Association ( KNVB ) banned him from Internationals games but not Eredivise or KNVB Cup games. [ 51 ] Accusations of Cruyff ‘s “ distance ” were not rebuffed by his habit of wearing a shirt with only two black stripes along the sleeves, as opposed to Adidas ‘ usual design have of three, worn by all the other dutch players. Cruyff had a separate sponsorship deal with Puma. [ 52 ] From 1970 onwards, he wore the number 14 jersey for the Netherlands, setting a tendency for wearing shirt numbers outside the common starting line-up numbers of 1 to 11. [ 10 ]

The Clockwork Orange of the early 1970s [edit ]

Cruyff led the Netherlands to a runner-up decoration in the 1974 World Cup and was named actor of the tournament. [ 10 ] Thanks to his team ‘s command of Total Football, they coasted all the means to the concluding, knocking out Argentina ( 4–0 ), East Germany ( 2–0 ) and Brazil ( 2–0 ) along the way. [ 10 ] Cruyff scored twice against Argentina in one of his team ‘s most dominate performances, then he scored the moment finish against Brazil to knock out the defending champions. [ 10 ]
The Netherlands confront hosts West Germany in the final. Cruyff kicked off and the musket ball was passed around the Oranje team 15 times earlier returning to Cruyff, who then went on a run past Berti Vogts and ended when he was fouled by Uli Hoeneß inside the box. Teammate Johan Neeskens scored from the descry kick to give the Netherlands a 1–0 lead and the Germans had not so far touched the ball. [ 10 ] During the latter half of the final, his influence was stifled by the effective mark of Vogts, while Franz Beckenbauer, Uli Hoeneß and Wolfgang Overath dominated the midfield as West Germany came back to win 2–1. [ 53 ] In an consultation published in the fiftieth anniversary emergence of World Soccer magazine, the captain of the brazilian team that won the 1970 World Cup, Carlos Alberto, went on to say, “ The only team I ‘ve seen that did things differently was Holland at the 1974 World Cup in Germany. Since then everything looks more or less the same to me …. Their ‘carousel ‘ style of play was amazing to watch and marvellous for the game. ” [ 54 ] With regards to character models, brazilian football director and former musician Telê Santana has mentioned in one consultation that he had no idols, though, “ My greatest satisfaction would be to manage a team such as 1974 Holland. It was a team where you could pick [ Johan ] Cruyff and place him on the right flank. If I had to put him in the leftist, he would calm play [ the lapp ]. I could choose Neeskens, who played both to the right and to the leftover of the midfield. thus, everyone played in any position. ” [ 55 ]

After 1976 [edit ]

Cruyff retired from external football in October 1977, having helped the national team modify for the approaching World Cup. [ 10 ] Without him, the Netherlands finished runner-up in the World Cup again. initially, there were two rumours as to his reason for missing the 1978 World Cup : either he missed it for political reasons ( a military dictatorship was in power in Argentina at that fourth dimension ), or that his wife dissuaded him from playing. [ 56 ] In 2008, Cruyff stated to the diarist Antoni Bassas in Catalunya Ràdio that he and his family were submit to a kidnap attack in Barcelona a year before the tournament, and that this had caused his retirement. “ To play a World Cup you have to be 200 % all right, there are moments when there are early values in life. ” [ 57 ]

Coaching career [edit ]

entrance into management with Ajax [edit ]

Two images of Cruyff as Ajax coach : ( left ) : with Van Basten and Rijkaard in 1986 ; ( right ) : during a press conference in November 1987 After retiring from playing, Cruyff followed in the footsteps of his mentor Rinus Michels, coaching a young Ajax side to victory in the european Cup Winners ‘ Cup in 1987 ( 1–0 ). In May and June 1985, Cruyff returned to Ajax again. In the 1985–86 temper, the league style was lost to Jan Reker ‘s PSV, despite Ajax having a goal difference of +85 ( 120 goals for, 35 goals against ). In the 1985–86 and 1986–87 seasons, Ajax won the KNVB Cup. It was during this period as director that Cruyff was able to implement his prefer team formation—three mobile defenders ; plus one more covering space – becoming, in effect, a defensive midfielder ( from Rijkaard, Blind, Silooy, Verlaat, Larsson, Spelbos ), two “ controlling ” midfielders ( from Rijkaard, Scholten, Winter, Wouters, Mühren, Witschge ) with responsibilities to feed the attack-minded players, one moment striker ( Bosman, Scholten ), two touchline-hugging wingers ( from Bergkamp, va n’t Schip, De Wit, Witschge ) and one versatile center fore ( from Van Basten, Meijer, Bosman ). thus successful was this system that Ajax won the Champions League in 1995 playing Cruyff ‘s system – a tribute to Cruyff ‘s bequest as Ajax bus. [ 21 ]

return to Barcelona as coach and build the Dream Team [edit ]

After having appeared for the club as a actor, Cruyff returned to Barcelona for the 1988–89 temper, this time to take up his new function as coach of the first team. Before returning to Barcelona, however, Cruyff had already built up enough of experience as a coach/manager. In the Netherlands, he was powerfully praised for the attacking dash he imposed on his sides and besides for his applaudable influence as endowment spotter. With Barça, Cruyff started work with a wholly remodelled side after the former season ‘s scandal, known as the “ Hesperia Mutiny “ ( “ El Motí de l’Hespèria “ in Catalan ). His moment in command was Carles Rexach, who had already been at the baseball club for a year. Cruyff immediately had his Barça charges playing his attractive sword of football and the results did not take long in coming. But, this did not just happen with the first team, the youth teams besides displayed that like attacking style, something that made it easier for reserve players to make the switch to first team football. [ 58 ] As Sid Lowe noted, when Cruyff took over as coach, Barcelona of the deep 1980s “ were a club in debt and in crisis. Results were bad, performances were worse, the atmosphere frightful and attendances down, while even the relationship between the president of the club Josep Lluís Núñez and the president of the spanish autonomous community they represented, Jordi Pujol, had deteriorated. It did not work immediately but he [ Cruyff ] recovered the identity he had embodied as a actor. He took risks, and rewards followed. ” [ 59 ]
At Barça, Cruyff brought in players such as Pep Guardiola, José Mari Bakero, Txiki Begiristain, Andoni Goikoetxea, Ronald Koeman, Michael Laudrup, Romário, Gheorghe Hagi and Hristo Stoichkov. With Cruyff, Barça experienced a glorious era. In the space of five years ( 1989–1994 ), he led the baseball club to four european finals ( two european Cup Winners ‘ Cup finals and two european Cup/UEFA Champions League finals ). Cruyff ‘s lead record includes one european Cup, four Liga championships, one Cup Winners ‘ Cup, one Copa del Rey and four Supercopa de España. [ 60 ] Under Cruyff, Barça ‘s “ Dream Team “ won four La Liga titles in a row ( 1991–1994 ), and beat Sampdoria in both the 1989 european Cup Winners ‘ Cup final and the 1992 european Cup concluding at Wembley Stadium. [ 61 ] 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 cant was “ Salid y disfrutad “ ( spanish for “ Go knocked out and enjoy it ” or “ Go out there and enjoy yourselves ” ). [ 62 ] [ 63 ] The match went to extra time after a scoreless draw. In the 111th minute, Ronald Koeman ‘s bright 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. [ 62 ] Victories under Cruyff include a 5–0 La Liga win over real Madrid in El Clásico at the Camp Nou, adenine well as a 4–0 gain against Manchester United in the Champions League. [ 64 ] [ 65 ] Barcelona won a Copa del Rey in 1990, the European Super Cup in 1992 and three Supercopa de España, adenine well as finishing runner-up to Manchester United and Milan in two european finals. [ 61 ] The bequest that Cruyff gave Barcelona, however, was about more than just trophies and records, as he gave Barça a gain brain and footballing identity/ideology that runs through the cabaret till this day. As Barcelona director, he laid systemic foundations for a outstanding educate of football : “ Barçajax school ” or “ Barça–Ajax school ”, as it has been termed by many. The prevailing dash of play, nowadays known as tiki-taka or tiqui-taca, had been transferred and improved from Ajax to Barça. It was that which has sustained Barcelona since the days of Vic Buckingham, Rinus Michels and Cruyff ( as player ) in the early on 1970s : they were the ideas of Ajax ; Total Football, a overriding impression in possession-oriented football with an attack-minded 3–4–3 / 4–3–3 team constitution, rooted in a high offside line, pressing and the interchange of players on the plain. When Cruyff became Barcelona ‘s director in 1988, he reinforced this footballing philosophy. [ 66 ] He was besides responsible for introducing “ rondo ” ( a circle of players pass the testis to each other, while one in the kernel tries to catch it ) into the team ‘s train sessions. About Cruyff ‘s persistent influence on Barça ‘s young academy La Masia, Guillem Balagué noted, “ Cruyff demanded changes at the academy and La Masía began regularly producing the players he wanted american samoa well as providing the kids with a legal education, double ambitions of the Dutch coach and the clubhouse. “ The musician who has come through La Masía has something different from the respite, it ‘s a summation that entirely comes from having competed in a Barcelona shirt from the time you were a child ”, says Guardiola. He is talking not only about the sympathy of the game and their ability, but about human qualities. The players who go through La Masía are taught to behave with politeness and humility. The theory being that, not merely is it pleasant to be retiring, but besides if you are humble, you are capable of learning – and the capacity to learn is the capacity to improve. If you are n’t able of learning you wo n’t improve. Since his arrival, Johan had tried and succeeded in convincing the golf club to train all the junior teams in the lapp way as the first eleven – and to favour talent over human body. ” [ 67 ] Cruyff used to smoke 20 cigarettes a sidereal day anterior to undergoing double heart beltway operating room in 1991 while he was the coach of Barcelona, after which he gave up smoke. He besides led the anti-smoking political campaign developed by the Health Department of the Catalan autonomous government. Cruyff performed keepy-uppies with a pack of cigarettes by juggling it 16 times – using feet, thighs, knees, heel, chest, shoulder, and head like holding up a musket ball – in an anti-tobacco video sponsored by the Catalan Department of Health. [ 68 ] With 11 trophies, Cruyff was Barcelona ‘s most successful director, but has since been surpassed by his early actor Pep Guardiola, who achieved 15. Cruyff was besides the clubhouse ‘s longest-serving director. In his final two seasons, however, he failed to win any trophies, falling-out with president Josep Lluís Núñez, who ultimately sacked him as Barcelona coach. [ 69 ] While distillery at Barcelona, Cruyff was in negotiations with the KNVB to manage the national team for the 1994 World Cup finals, but talks broke off at the last minute. [ 70 ]

Catalonia national team [edit ]

deoxyadenosine monophosphate well as representing Catalonia on the pitch in 1976, Cruyff besides managed the Catalonia home team from 2009 to 2013, leading the team to a victory over Argentina in his debut match. [ 71 ] On 2 November 2009, Cruyff was named as coach of the Catalonia national team. It was his first managing job in 13 years. [ 72 ] On 22 December 2009, they played a friendly game against Argentina, which ended in a Catalonia win, 4–2 at Camp Nou. On 28 December 2010, Catalonia played a friendly against Honduras winning 4–0 at Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys. [ 73 ] On 30 December 2011, Catalonia played Tunisia in a scoreless draw at the Lluís Companys. [ 74 ] In their last game under Cruyff, on 2 January 2013, Catalonia drew with Nigeria at the Cornellà-El Prat, 1–1. [ 75 ]

As a technical adviser [edit ]

unofficial adviser to Barcelona president Joan Laporta [edit ]

I chose Frank Rijkaard, Txiki Begiristain and Pep Guardiola because Johan told me to .Joan Laporta, in an interview (March 2017)[76]

subsequently in his reign as Barcelona director, Cruyff suffered a heart attack and was advised to quit coach by his doctors. He left in 1996, and never took another crown job, but his charm did not end there. Though he vowed never to coach again, he remained a song football critic and analyst. Cruyff ‘s exposed support helped candidate Joan Laporta to victory in Barcelona ‘s presidential elections. He continued to be an adviser for him, although he held no official post at Barcelona. [ 77 ] [ 78 ] 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 disappoint campaigns, Laporta survived a reprimand apparent motion and an overhaul was needed. In summer 2008, Rijkaard left the clubhouse and even though José Mourinho was pushing for the subcontract 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 passenger car at a team like Barça is the persuasiveness to make decisions and the ability to talk to the weigh, because they do n’t help and you have to manage that. After that, it ‘s easy for those who know football. But there are n’t many who know. ” [ 79 ] On 26 March 2010, Cruyff was named honorary president of Barcelona in recognition of his contributions to the golf club as both a musician and coach. [ 80 ] In July 2010, however, he was stripped of this title by new president Sandro Rosell. [ 81 ] [ 82 ]

render to Ajax as technical director [edit ]

On 20 February 2008, in the wake of a major inquiry on the ten-year-mismanagement, it was announced that Cruyff would be the new technical director at his boyhood club Ajax, his one-fourth stint with the Amsterdam club. [ 83 ] Cruyff announced in March that he was pulling out of his planned recurrence to Ajax because of “ professional deviation of impression ” between him and Ajax ‘s new director, Marco avant-garde Basten. Van Basten said that Cruyff ‘s plans were “ going excessively fast ”, because he was “ not therefore disgruntled with how things are going now ”. [ 84 ] On 11 February 2011, Cruyff returned to Ajax on an advisory basis after agreeing to become a member of one of three “ sounding dining table groups ”. [ 85 ] After presenting his plans to reform the club, in particular to rejuvenate the youth academy, the Ajax circuit board of advisors and the CEO resigned on 30 March 2011. [ 86 ] On 6 June 2011, he was appointed to the new Ajax board of advisors to implement his reform plans. [ 87 ] [ 88 ] The Ajax advisory dining table made a verbal agreement with Louis vanguard Gaal to appoint him as the fresh CEO, without consulting Cruyff. [ 89 ] Cruyff, a fellow board member, took Ajax to court in an undertake to block the appointment. [ 90 ] The court overturned the appointment, saying that the board had “ intentionally put Cruyff offside ”. [ 91 ] due to the ongoing quarrel within the advisory board, Cruyff resigned on 10 April 2012, with Ajax stating that Cruyff will “ remain involve with the implementation of his football sight within the club ”. [ 92 ]

technical adviser for Chivas Guadalajara [edit ]

Cruyff became a technical adviser for Mexican cabaret Guadalajara in February 2012. Jorge Vergara, the owner of the golf club, made him the team ‘s sport adviser in response to the lose record Guadalajara sustained in the last few months of 2011. [ 93 ] Although signed to a three-year sign, Cruyff ‘s contract was terminated December 2012 after fair nine months with the club. Guadalajara said that other members of the team ‘s coaching staff would likely not be terminated. [ 94 ]

Ambassador for Belgium and the Netherlands roast bid to host the World Cup [edit ]

In September 2009, Cruyff and Ruud Gullit were unveiled as ambassadors for the Belgium–Netherlands joint offer for the World Cup finals in 2018 or 2022 at the official plunge in Eindhoven. [ 95 ]

vogue of play and views on the game [edit ]

I loved the Dutch in the ’70s, they excited me and Cruyff was the best. He was my childhood hero ; I had a bill poster of him on my bedroom wall. He was a godhead. He was at the center of a revolution with his football. Ajax changed football and he was the leader of it all. If he wanted he could be the best player in any position on the pitch .Eric Cantona, FourFourTwo, April 2006[96]

An on-field director : the Dutch team was largely his [ Cruyff ‘s ] creation. It was Cruyff, the captain, who told midfielder Arie Haan that he would play as libero. ( “ Are you crazy ? ” Haan replied. It proved to be a brilliant theme. ) It was Cruyff who had groomed hitter Johnny Rep as a child at Ajax, sometimes screaming at the judiciary during games, “ Rep must warm up ! ” It was n’t Cruyff ‘s best calendar month in football, but it was the month that most people saw him and the stylus he had invented. For many, the Cruyff they know is the Cruyff of his only World Cup. He notionally spent the tournament at centre-forward, but he was everywhere. He ‘d sprint down the leave wing and cross with the external of his right foot. He ‘d drop into midfield and leave centre-backs marking air. He ‘d drop back equitable to scream instructions. Arsene Wenger tells the report of Cruyff telling two midfielders to swap positions, and returning 15 minutes later to tell them to swap again. To Wenger, this showed how arduous it was to replicate the fluidity of “ full football ” if you did n’t have Cruyff himself .Simon Kuper, FourFourTwo, July 2009[97]

[98] Cruyff playing with Ajax in 1971. In mod football, Cruyff was one of the bright pioneers of the “ fake 9 “ position. Throughout his career, Cruyff became synonymous with the playing expressive style of “ total football ”. [ 99 ] [ 100 ] [ 101 ] It is a system where a actor who moves out of his stead is replaced by another from his team, therefore allowing the team to retain their intended organizational structure. In this fluid system, no football player is fixed in their intend outfield role. The expressive style was honed by Ajax coach Rinus Michels, with Cruyff serving as the on-field “ conductor ”. [ 102 ] [ 103 ] Space and the creation of it were central to the concept of Total Football. Ajax defender Barry Hulshoff, who played with Cruyff, explained how the team that won the european Cup in 1971, 1972 and 1973 worked it to their advantage : “ We discussed space the whole clock. 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 rush 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 wholly geometry of the hale lurch and the system as a wholly. ” [ 104 ] The team orchestrator, Cruyff was a creative playmaker with a endow for timing passes. [ 105 ] nominally, he played centre-forward in this system and was a fecund goalscorer, but dropped deep to confuse his markers or moved to the wing to big effect. [ 106 ] In the 1974 World Cup final between West Germany and the Netherlands, from the kick-off, the Dutch monopolised ball self-control. At the begin of the go that led to the open finish, Cruyff picked up the ball in his own half. The Dutch captain, who was nominally a centre-forward, was the deepest dutch outfield actor, and after a series of passes, he set off on a run from the center traffic circle into the west german corner. unable to stop Cruyff by fair means, Uli Hoeness brought Cruyff down, conceding a penalty scored by Johan Neeskens. The foremost german to frankincense touch the ball was goalkeeper Sepp Maier picking the ball out of his own net. [ 107 ] due to the direction Cruyff played the game, he is inactive referred to as “ the total football player ”. [ 108 ] Former French player Eric Cantona states, “ If he wanted he could be the best actor in any position on the pitch. ” [ 96 ] Cruyff was known for his technical ability, accelerate, acceleration, dribbling and vision, possessing an awareness of his teammates ‘ positions as an attack unfolded. Despite his relatively unimpressive stature and potency, Cruyff ‘s tactical brain and reading of the crippled were exceptional. “ football consists of different elements : proficiency, tactics and stamen ”, he told the journalists Henk vanguard Dorp and Frits Barend, in one of the interviews collected in their record Ajax, Barcelona, Cruyff. “ There are some people who might have better proficiency 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, faith and audacious. In the tactical area, I think I fair 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. proficiency is passing the ball with one touch, with the right rush, at the right infantry of your team checkmate. ” [ 109 ] As Van Basten noted, “ Johan is so technically perfect that even as a son he stopped being matter to in that aspect of the game. He could do everything when he was 20. That ‘s why he ‘s been very interest in tactics since he was very young. He sees football situations so intelligibly that he was always the one to decide how the game should be played. ” [ 110 ] In 1997, Dutch diarist Hubert Smeets wrote, “ Cruyff was the first player who understood that he was an artist, and the first who was able and willing to collectivise the art of sports. ” [ 101 ] [ 111 ] Sports writer David Miller believed that Cruyff was superior to any former player in his ability to extract the most from others. He dubbed him “ Pythagoras in boots ” for the complexity and preciseness of his passes and wrote, “ few have been able to exact, both physically and mentally, such hypnotic master on a match from one penalty area to another. ” [ 112 ] According to England ‘s 1966 World Cup -winning hitter Bobby Charlton, “ He [ Cruyff ] was pretty intelligent, besides ! A real football brain. He had superb dominance, he was imaginative and he could perform charming with a testis to get himself out of fuss instinctively. He got a lot of goals, and although he was so adept, he did n’t show off – he played to the strengths of the players around him. This side would very keep halt of the testis. ” [ 113 ]

Winning is just one sidereal day, a reputation can last a life. Winning is an significant matter, but to have your own style, to have people copy you, to admire you, that is the greatest endow .Johan Cruyff[114]

He [ Cruyff ] did n’t have planning methods and he trusted others to take decide how to train, but he did have a play method. He did n’t move onto plan B, as he rather made design A strong .Pep Guardiola spoke to Jorge Valdano, September 2018[115]

We do n’t want to win in just any way. This is the dutch school of Michels, Cruyff, Van Gaal and Rijkaard. At the concentrate of every decision is the ball ; if you treat it well, you will be rewarded. We are a global club, respected and admired, with the mission to entertain. When I am abroad people say to me : ‘I ‘m not a Barcelona fan, but they captivate me. ‘FC Barcelona’s 40th president Josep Maria Bartomeu said in an interview with the Italian newspaper La Repubblica, January 2016[116][117]

Cruyff constantly considered aesthetic and moral aspects of the game ; it is not just about winning, but about winning with “ right ” style/way. He besides always spoke highly of entertaining value of the bet on. The beautiful game, for him, is about a a lot the entertainment and joy as the results. In think of Cruyff, the victory is in truth meaningful when it can fully capture the minds and hearts of competitors and spectators. As he once noted, “ quality without results is otiose. Results without quality is drilling, ”. For Cruyff and the Cruyffistas ( Cruyff ‘s dear followers ), to choose a “ good ” style of play to win is evening more important than winning itself. [ 119 ] [ 120 ] Cruyff always believed in ease. He sees simplicity and smasher as inseparable. “ dim-witted football is the most beautiful. But playing simpleton football is the hardest thing ”, as Cruyff once summed up his fundamental doctrine. [ 121 ] “ How frequently do you see a pass of forty meters when twenty meters is adequate ? … To play well, you need good players, but a beneficial player about always has the problem of a miss of efficiency. He constantly wants to do things prettier than strictly necessary. ” [ 122 ] Cruyff besides perfected a feint now known as the “ Cruyff Turn “. [ 106 ] The feint is an example of the chasteness in Cruyff ‘s football doctrine. It was neither carried out to embarrass the opponent nor to excite the watch crowd, but because Cruyff estimated that it was the simplest method ( in terms of campaign and risk versus expected consequence ) to beat his opposition. Cruyff looked to pass or cross the ball, then, rather of kicking it, he dragged the ball behind his planted foot with the inside of his early foot, turned through 180 degrees, and accelerated away. [ 123 ] As swedish defender Jan Olsson ( a “ victim ” of the Cruyff Turn at the 1974 World Cup ) recalled, “ I played 18 years in exceed football and seventeen times for Sweden but that moment against Cruyff was the proudest consequence of my career. I thought I ‘d win the ball for sure, but he tricked me. I was not humiliated. I had no opportunity. Cruyff was a brilliance. ” [ 124 ] With its eminent potency and volatility, the Cruyff Turn remains one of the most normally used dribbling moves in modern football. [ 125 ] Like Dutch football in general until the mid-1960s, Cruyff ‘s early play career was well influenced by coaching philosophy of British/English coaches such as Vic Buckingham. [ 126 ] [ 127 ] however, his footballing doctrine besides shares aspects with the free-flowing style of south american football ( brazilian football in particular ) [ 128 ] [ 129 ] than traditional British/Anglo-Saxon school of football ( with distinctively direct, aggressive, heavily acrobatic, brawny, physical elements in coach and playing style ). [ 130 ] [ 131 ] [ 132 ] however, as Tim Vickery has pointed out, at the 1974 World Cup Cruyff ‘s Netherlands side “ rendered south american football disused ”, with the dutch comfortably defeating Uruguay, Argentina and Brazil on their direction to the final : their willingness to press their opponents denied the south american nations ‘ playmakers the time on the ball they were used to having. The effect of this brush with Total Football on Argentinian and Brazilian football was meaning : in Argentina, César Luis Menotti, who became coach of the home team after the 1974 World Cup die, sought to combine the traditional Argentine spend game with a faster tempo of play, emphasising relatively small but hard-working players like Osvaldo Ardiles in leading the national team to victory on home soil in the 1978 World Cup. Whilst Brazil attempted to implement a sum Football doctrine without success in 1978 under coach Cláudio Coutinho before reverting to their traditional style in 1982, brazilian coaches finally came to believe that they needed to catch up to the Europeans in terms of their physical exploitation, with the gap in physical size being closed by the turn of the millennium : the nature of Brazil ‘s pass game besides changed, coming to emphasise agile counter-attacks down the flanks preferably than long happen sequences. [ 133 ] The mind-body duality constantly plays an significant function in his footballing doctrine. In Cruyff ‘s words, quoted in Dennis Bergkamp ‘s autobiography Stillness and Speed: My Story, “ … Because you play football with your oral sex, and your legs are there to help you. If you do n’t use your head, using your feet wo n’t be sufficient. Why does a actor have to chase the ball ? Because he started running excessively belated. You have to pay attention, use your mind and find the right field placement. If you get to the ball late, it means you chose the wrong position. Bergkamp was never late. ” [ 134 ] For Cruyff, football ( the alleged beautiful bet on ) is much an artistic-oriented mind-body game rather of an athletic-oriented physical competition. As he put it, “ Every trainer talks about movement, about running a lot. I say do n’t run thus much. football is a crippled you play with your brain. You have to be in the right stead at the right consequence, not besides early, not excessively late. ” [ 104 ] The creativity is always the identify element in his footballing doctrine, both as a musician and as a coach. Cruyff once compared his more intuitive and individualist approach with Louis vanguard Gaal ‘s more mechanize and rigid coach style, “ Van Gaal has a good imagination on football. But it ‘s not mine. He wants to gel winning teams and has a militaristic way of working with his tactics. I do n’t. I want individuals to think for themselves and take the decision on the gear that is best for the situation … I do n’t have anything against computers, but you judge football players intuitively and with your kernel. On the basis of the criteria which are now in use at Ajax [ recommended by Van Gaal ] I would have failed the examination. When I was 15, I could scantily kick the ball 15 metres with my left and with the right possibly 20 metres. I would not have been able to take a corner. Besides, I was physically watery and relatively slow. My two qualities were great technique and insight, which happen to be two things you ca n’t measure with a calculator. ” [ 135 ]

Cruyff ‘s favorite world eleven [edit ]

In his posthumously released autobiography My Turn: The Autobiography, [ 136 ] Cruyff reveals his dream all-time XI in his favorite 3–4–3/4–3–3 constitution. Cruyff ‘s side ( in the 3–4–3 diamond formation ) reads as follows : Lev Yashin ( goalkeeper ) ; Ruud Krol ( full back / wing-back ), Franz Beckenbauer ( central defender / libero ), Carlos Alberto ( full-back/wing-back ) ; Pep Guardiola ( holding midfielder /midfield anchor ), Bobby Charlton, Alfredo Di Stéfano, Diego Maradona ( playmaker / attacking midfielder / irregular striker ) ; Piet Keizer ( winger ), Garrincha ( winger ), and Pelé ( centre-forward /striker ). For humility, Cruyff did n’t put himself in there, but there is a spot for his schoolchild, Pep Guardiola and his former teammates, Ruud Krol and Piet Keizer. It ‘s a typically attack line-up but Cruyff explains the choice in detail. “ For the ideal squad, I besides try and find a formula in which talent is used to the maximum in every lawsuit ”, notes Cruyff. “ The qualities of one musician have to complement the qualities of another. ” [ 137 ] [ 138 ]

Cruyff ‘s 14 rules [edit ]

In his autobiography, Cruyff explained why he made a set of 14 basic rules, which are displayed at every Cruyff Court in the world, “ I read an article once about the building of the pyramids in Egypt. It turns out that some of the numbers coincide wholly with natural laws – the position of the moon at certain times and sol 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 do n’t, even though we always think that we ‘re a lot more advanced than they were. Take Rembrandt and vanguard Gogh : who can match them nowadays ? When I think that way, I ‘m increasingly convinced that everything is actually possible. If they managed to do the impossible about five thousand years ago, why ca n’t we do it today ? That applies evenly to football, but besides 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 youthful people that sports and games can besides be translated into everyday life. ” [ 136 ] And he listed his 14 basic rules that include :

  1. Team player – ‘To accomplish things, you have to do them together.’;
  2. Responsibility – ‘Take care of things as if they were your own.’;
  3. Respect – ‘Respect one another.’;
  4. Integration – ‘Involve others in your activities.’;
  5. Initiative – ‘Dare to try something new.’;
  6. Coaching – ‘Always help each other within a team.’;
  7. Personality – ‘Be yourself.’;
  8. Social involvement – ‘Interaction is crucial, both in sport and in life.’;
  9. Technique – ‘Know the basics.’;
  10. Tactics – ‘Know what to do.’;
  11. Development – ‘Sport strengthens body and soul.’;
  12. Learning – ‘Try to learn something new every day.’;
  13. Play together – ‘An essential part of any game.’;
  14. Creativity – ‘Bring beauty to the sport.'[136]

influence and bequest [edit ]

There may have been better players in the history of the game, though I doubt you can count them on more than one hand. And there may have been better managers, excessively, if only because his coaching career only lasted 10 and a half years ( during which he won 14 trophies, not a bad hark back ). But it ‘s bad to argue that any man has exerted a greater influence – on the pitch and on the bench – on the game as we know it nowadays .Gabriele Marcotti, ESPN FC, 2016[18]

[139] Spain ‘s players celebrating their euro 2012 victory. It did n’t come as a coincidence as Barcelona and Spain ruled the earth of football in the like period. Cruyff ‘s football philosophy helped lay the systemic foundations for spanish period of authority ( 2008–2012 ) in world football at both club and external level. Cruyff is wide seen as an iconic and revolutionist design in history of Ajax, Barça, [ 116 ] [ 140 ] [ 141 ] and the Oranje. David Winner, the author of Brilliant Orange, wrote about Cruyff ‘s influential career in the football earth, “ There have been lots of bright football figures down the years, but none has been vitamin a significant as Johan Cruyff. As a actor with Ajax, Barcelona and the Netherlands, he put himself in the pantheon along with greats such as Pelé, Diego Maradona, Ferenc Puskás, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Zinedine Zidane. As coach at Ajax and Barcelona, he built thrilling sides, nurtured a remarkable phone number of flair players and influenced many of the most crucial teams in the world. The all-conquering Spain and Barcelona of Xavi and Andrés Iniesta, brilliant Bayern Munich and Germany of nowadays, AC Milan of the late 1980s and many early memorable champions would have been unthinkable without Cruyff. Once revolutionary and revolutionary, Cruyffian principles have become standard throughout the modern game. His blueprint for developing unseasoned players has been copied all over the populace. ” [ 142 ]

As a player, he turned football into an artwork form. Johan came along and revolutionised everything. The contemporary Barça started with him, he is the saying of our identity, he brought us a style of football we love .

—Barcelona ‘s ex- president Joan Laporta, 2010 [ 143 ]

Barcelona was not born in the last pair of years. It was born, the style of bring now, in the early 90s through Johan Cruyff .

— Head coach of the United States national team Jürgen Klinsmann, 2011. [ 144 ]
Referring to the influence of his style of toy at Ajax, Barcelona ( “ Dream Team ” ), and with the Netherlands ( “ sum Football ” ), in accession to the 200 Cruyff Courts he set up around the worldly concern for kids to hone their skills, football journalist Graham Hunter states, “ Johan Cruyff is, lebanese pound for pound, the most significant world in the history of football. ” [ 145 ] In his 2011 ledger, Barça: The Making of the Greatest Team in the World, Hunter writes ,

If the 175,000 FC Barcelona members queued up in an orderly lineage, night after night, to massage his tired feet, cook his dinner and tuck him into bed ; if they carried his golf clubs round Montanyá ‘s cragged 18 holes ; if they devoted 50 percentage of their annual wage to him … it hush would n’t be approach enough to repay the debt those who love this club owe Johan Cruyff. If he had not installed a polish, a doctrine at the Nou Camp, then Lionel Messi would have been rejected and sent home as an underdevelop 13-year-old child. Andrés Iniesta would n’t have been selected. [ 145 ]

Dietrich Schulze-Marmeling, writer of the german biography of Cruyff ( “ Der König und sein Spiel : Johan Cruyff und five hundred Weltfußball ” or “ The King and His game : Johan Cruyff and the World Football ” in English ), concluded that the Dutchman was the most influential calculate in football history, stating no one made a bigger impact both as a musician and as a coach. [ 146 ] Cruyff is sometimes described as a distinctive kind of ‘artist-footballer ‘ [ 147 ] [ 148 ] [ 149 ] or ‘footballer-thinker ‘ who considers football, the alleged ‘beautiful game ‘, not a strictly athletic/physical rival but an artistic-oriented mind-body crippled. Because of his distinctive footballing views, Cruyff was called ‘the Spinoza of football ‘ by some. [ 150 ] [ 151 ] [ 152 ] He believed in a certain style of play, which has the baron to put a smile on the people ‘s faces as he described it. [ 153 ] When Cruyff, both as a player and as a director, spoke about football he often mentioned the entertainment respect of the game, that there is more to it than winning. [ 116 ] [ 154 ] In a 2009 interview with Sportmail’ sulfur Martin Samuel, Arsène Wenger, as a devout follower of Cruyff ‘s footballing political orientation, [ 155 ] once shared his impression about football ‘s artistic value ,

I believe the aim of anything in life should be to do it so well that it becomes an art. When you read some books they are fantastic, the writer touches something in you that you know you would not have brought out of yourself. He makes you discover something interesting in your liveliness. If you are living like an animal, what is the point of surviving ? What makes daily life matter to is that we try to transform it to something that is close to art. And football is like that. When I watch Barcelona, it is art. [ 156 ]

Chérif Ghemmour, the generator of Cruyff ‘s french biography, [ 157 ] called him ‘the greatest actor in the history of football ‘ [ 158 ] because Cruyff was an exception ( possibly the only matchless ) being the man who ‘played ‘ outstandingly well multiple roles in the global of football : musician, director, and thinker. [ 159 ] [ 160 ] For many people, more than merely a great football player or sport, Cruyff is besides a remarkable cultural figure. [ 161 ] [ 162 ] [ 163 ] Outside football, there were many articles about the applicability of Cruyff ‘s principles and views in the football populace into other fields, such as business management and education. [ 164 ] [ 165 ] [ 166 ]

As a player [edit ]

There was besides no rational reason why dutch football should produce person like Cruyff at the time that he began kicking around a ball in the East Amsterdam planned vicinity of Betondorp … Until he pulled on the Oranje jersey, the Dutch national team had failed to qualify for a major tournament since before World War II. No Dutch side had won european silverware. It was very much a footballing backwater, as likely to spawn a guy who would change the mutant forever as Jamaica is to produce the world ‘s greatest downhill skier .Gabriele Marcotti, ESPN FC, 2016[18]

We showed the populace you could enjoy being a football player ; you could laugh and have a fantastic time. I represent the era which proved that attractive football was enjoyable and successful, and good playfulness to play besides .

—Johan Cruyff [ 167 ]
Regarded by many as Europe ‘s first true football ace, [ 168 ] Cruyff is frequently mentioned alongside the pair wide considered the finest to have played the game, Pele and Maradona. [ 169 ] [ 170 ] As a musician, he greatly helped turn the previously backward and obscure Dutch football ( at both cabaret and external degree ) into a first powerhouse in the 1970s. [ 171 ] [ 172 ] In Simon Kuper ‘s words, “ without Cruyff, Holland [ Netherlands ] would n’t have had a footballing tradition. ” [ 97 ] Cruyff is constantly considered to be an indisputable icon in Ajax ‘s history, particularly in the club ‘s aureate earned run average ( 1966–1973 ). He was implemental in Ajax ‘s transformation from a semi-professional club into a dominant force in european club football. [ 173 ] [ 174 ] [ 175 ] Cruyff inspired Ajax to win the european Cup three times in sequence at the begin of the 1970s before moving to Barcelona in 1973 and helping the clubhouse win their inaugural La Liga style in 14 years. In 1974, he led the Netherlands to their first FIFA World Cup final and received the Golden Ball as player of the tournament .
Cruyff was the most celebrated exponent of the school of football known as Total Football ( Totaalvoetbal in Dutch ) pionereed by Jack Reynolds and former explored by his protégé Rinus Michels. Being known as “ the total football player ”, he was besides one of the bright pioneers of the “ delusive nine “ position/role in advanced football. [ 98 ] [ 177 ] [ 178 ] [ 179 ] In Total Football ‘s flower ( in the early 1970s ), Cruyff was truly an ‘on-field tactician ‘, an ‘on-field coach ‘, [ 40 ] or a ‘coach-player ‘ at the lapp time, before the concept of player-coach was at the height of its popularity in professional football during the 1980s and 1990s. As argentine World Cup winner Jorge Valdano said of Cruyff, in an interview with Thomas Goubin of SoFoot.com ,

never in my animation have I seen a player like Cruyff dominion matches. He was the owner of the express. much more than his team, the referee or the fans. His grapple on what was happening on the field was amazing. He was a actor, coach and referee at the same time. [ 180 ]

Chris McMullan ( of FootballFanCast.com ) writes that “ he [ Cruyff ] was an anomaly. A man who played football like no one else. He did n’t physically play football after all, he played it with his mind. An esoteric pursuit that completely changed the game. A visionary, a deviation, a flight of fancy – Cruyff is the ultimate because his contribution to the game was n’t merely personal. He did n’t break records, he did n’t win aureate boots, and alone occasionally dazzled with skills. The reason he is a capital is because he understood the game like no one else ever did and probably always will. … His vision, his ability to see the crippled in a room that no matchless else could have was his endowment. It showcases his talent, the way he formulated the game in his principal and then was able to execute it perfectly with his legs. ” And he concludes, “ There is no matchless finish, no one clip of football that can encapsulate Johan Cruyff ‘s contribution to football. No one piece of video could ever do that. That ‘s not surprise. Cruyff was n’t a Pele or a Maradona whose careers can be summed up with a series of vines and clips, mountains of goals and skills after another. With Cruyff, you have to think in order to be able to understand it. It does n’t plainly happen before your eyes, but it ‘s something raw more thoughtful, and ultimately more rewarding. ” [ 181 ] One of very few players who actually have a drivel travel named after them, Cruyff besides perfected and popularized a feint now known as the Cruyff Turn ( or Cruijff Turn ). With its simplicity, effectiveness and volatility, the Cruyff Turn remains one of the most normally used dribbling moves in modern football. [ 182 ] He was the foremost musician to win the Ballon d’Or three times, in 1971, 1973 and 1974. His worldly concern record motion from Ajax to Barcelona in 1973 made him the inaugural player to cost more than two million US dollars. In 1999, Cruyff was voted European Player of the Century in an election held by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics ( IFFHS ), and came second behind Pelé in their World Player of the Century poll. He came one-third in a vote organised by the french cartridge holder France Football consulting their former Ballon d’Or winners to elect their Football Player of the Century. He was elected the third-best football player of the twentieth century in a poll by the World Soccer cartridge holder. Cruyff was besides chosen on the World team of the twentieth hundred in 1998, the FIFA World Cup Dream Team in 2002, and in 2004 was named in the FIFA 100 list of the worldly concern ‘s greatest living players. In an interview in 2011, when Argentina ‘s 1978 World Cup-winning coach César Luis Menotti was discussing Lionel Messi ‘s place in the pantheon of footballing enormousness, he mentioned Cruyff in the same hint as Pelé and Maradona : “ There have been four kings of football – Di Stéfano, Pelé, Cruyff and Maradona – and the fifth has not yet appeared. We are awaiting the fifth, and it is certain to be Messi, but sol army for the liberation of rwanda he is not among the kings. You ca n’t give him the crown after five years. ” [ 183 ] [ 184 ] [ 185 ] Several luminary figures in the world of football such as Arsène Wenger, Michel Platini, [ 186 ] Eric Cantona, [ 187 ] Marco avant-garde Basten, [ 188 ] Michael Laudrup, [ 189 ] Emilio Butragueño, [ 190 ] Rafael Benítez, [ 191 ] and Joan Laporta [ 192 ] once revealed that they considered Cruyff their “ childhood hero ”, “ idol ”, or “ inspiration ”. [ 193 ] Arrigo Sacchi, [ 114 ] Arsène Wenger, Carlos Alberto Torres, [ 194 ] Telê Santana, and Marcelo Bielsa were among the bang-up admirers of Cruyff-inspired Dutch educate of Total Football. Over the past years, respective footballing starlets were dubbed the ‘new Johan Cruyff ‘, including Kaká, [ 195 ] [ 196 ] Luka Modrić, [ 197 ] [ 198 ] Shinji Kagawa, [ 199 ] and Adnan Januzaj. [ 200 ]

As a coach/manager [edit ]

France Football magazine (2019).[201][202] In 2020, FourFourTwo magazine has named Cruyff as the third-greatest coach/manager in history of the game.[203] Cruyff is ranked as the fourth-best coach director in football history bymagazine ( 2019 ) .In 2020, magazine has named Cruyff as the third-greatest coach/manager in history of the game .

If you look at the greatest players in history, most of them could n’t coach. If you look at the greatest coaches in history, most of them were not bang-up players. Johan Cruyff did both – and in such an elating style.

Former Dutch international Johan Neeskens, FIFA.com, 2016[23]

You can separate Barça ‘s history into BCE ( Before Cruyff Era ) and CE ( Cruyff Era ). And, yes, Barça are distillery, about 20 years after he coached his concluding plot for the club, placid very much in the Cruyff Era .Gabriele Marcotti, ESPN FC, 2016[18]

Cruyff was regarded by many as one of the few truly bang-up players who made the transition to being a great coach ampere well. [ 40 ] [ 207 ] [ 208 ] [ 209 ] His greatness was summed up by the former Dutch international Johan Neeskens, “ If you look at the greatest players in history, most of them could n’t coach. If you look at the greatest coaches in history, most of them were not bang-up players. Johan Cruyff did both – and in such an exhilarate manner. ” [ 210 ] Cruyff is unarguably regarded as one of the greatest and most influential managers in history of the game, despite his top-level coach career only lasted 11 years with two clubs. In July 2011, web site Football Pantheon included him on its tilt of the top 50 greatest managers of all time. [ 211 ] however, Cruyff ‘s coaching bequest was about not precisely trophies and records but besides the expressive style and identity. [ 212 ] As the coach of AFC Ajax, Cruyff was able to implement his privilege team formation ( 3–4–3 ) : with three mobile defenders ; plus one more covering space – becoming, in effect, a defensive midfielder, two “ controlling ” midfielders with responsibilities to feed the attack-minded players, one second striker, two touchline-hugging wingers and one versatile center ahead. indeed successful was this system that Ajax won the Champions League in 1995 playing Cruyff ‘s system. The starting point of his arrangement was always the entire Football doctrine of dominating the game with ball self-control. When Manchester United lost against Barcelona in the european Cup in 1994 with 4–0, Sir Alex Ferguson remarked about the system Cruyff was using :

That was a large lesson for me. They showed us how crucial it is to possess the ball. I had n’t understand it until then. I learned how important it is to have control condition of the ball in european matches .Sir Alex Ferguson[213]

As Barcelona ‘s director for closely a decade, he helped create one of the greatest dynasties in the history of the club and continental football, both in terms of trophies and playing stylus. [ 59 ] [ 214 ] When Cruyff took over as coach in 1988, Barcelona were in a situation of severe crisis ( the alleged ‘ Hesperia Mutiny ‘ ) and debt. [ 59 ] [ 114 ] In the space of just six years ( 1988–1994 ), Cruyff the coach, with his leadership and management skills, [ 215 ] turned Barça from the domestic strugglers and perennial underachievers into a truly permanent powerhouse of La Liga and european club football in general. [ 59 ] [ 114 ] Between 1960 and 1990 the golf club won barely two La Liga titles. [ 216 ] In the early 1990s, the rise of Cruyff ‘s Barça besides formally marked the end of Real Madrid ‘s era of overwhelming authority ( 1960s–1980s ) in La Liga history. Jonathan Wilson wrote that “ He [ Cruyff ] was a beautiful, brilliant and inspirational player and that entirely would have placed him hard in the pantheon, but what he did as a passenger car is alone. When he took over Barcelona in 1988, they had won two league titles in 28 years. crisis had followed crisis. In the 27 years since, they have won 13 league titles and five Champions Leagues … All with the football of Cruyff. ” [ 114 ] At Barcelona, he assembled the alleged Dream Team with brilliant graduates from La Masia equally well as first extraneous players. He used a mix of spanish players like Pep Guardiola, José Mari Bakero and Txiki Begiristain while signing international players such as Ronald Koeman, Michael Laudrup, Romário and Hristo Stoichkov. Under Cruyff ‘s guidance, Barcelona won four consecutive La Liga titles from 1991 to 1994 and the baseball club ‘s first european Cup in particular. They beat Sampdoria in both the 1989 UEFA Cup Winners ‘ Cup final and the 1992 european Cup final at Wembley, with a exempt recoil goal from Dutch external Ronald Koeman. They besides won a Copa del Rey in 1990, the European Super Cup in 1992 and three Supercopa de España trophies. With 11 trophies, Cruyff became the baseball club ‘s most successful coach at that compass point. He besides became the club ‘s longest consecutive helping coach, serving eight years .
The original La Masia build was the symbolic home of Barça ‘s young person academy La Masia ‘s coaching organization is frequently considered the foremost bastion of Cruyff ‘s footballing ideology and Cruyffian ( Barçajax ) school. La Masia, Barça ‘s youth academy and endowment factory, was among Cruyff ‘s last bequest. It was the inspiration of Cruyff. In 1979, he wanted to establish a transcript of the Ajax Youth Academy in Barcelona. His proposal was accepted by president Josep Núñez. It was ten years after the origin of the young person course of study, La Masia, when the young players began to graduate and play for their first team. One of the first base graduates, who would late earn external acclaim, was previous Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola. On 11 July 2010, Spain won the World Cup final with eight players from Barcelona ; seven were from La Masia, and six of them were in the starting line-up : Gerard Piqué, Carles Puyol, Andrés Iniesta, Xavi, Sergio Busquets, and Pedro. This set a criminal record for the most players to be provided by a club side for a team in a World Cup final examination. On 10 January 2011, La Masia achieved a criminal record breaking honour becoming the first youth academy to have trained all three finalists for the Ballon d’Or in a single year, with Andrés Iniesta, Lionel Messi and Xavi. On 25 November 2012, for the first time in the club ‘s history, away at Levante ‘s Estadi Ciutat de València, Barcelona played with eleven players formed at La Masia. In an english biography of Pep Guardiola, Guillem Balagué writes, “ Cruyff introduced some pass drills into Barça ‘s ‘arterial ‘ system. And since then, the rondos have been not just a method but a symbol of the golf club ‘s bring vogue : of dominating and never losing the ball. Cruyff blended respective ideas and concepts and converted them into a doctrine – the seeds of which were planted throughout a clubhouse in pressing necessitate of a footballing identity. Until then, the first team of Barcelona had been comfortably living in a world of excuses and enemies, contented with their function as victims when faced with Real Madrid, an initiation seen from Catalonia as the club of the Establishment ”, and adding, “ Xavi Hernández describes the stylus in its purest form : ‘I pass the testis and move, or I pass the ball and stay where I am. I make myself available to help you ; I look at you. I stop, I keep my head up and look, and, above all, I open up the lurch. Whoever has the ball is running play. That comes from the school of Johan Cruyff and Pep Guardiola. This is Barça. ‘ ” [ 67 ] On the bequest of Cruyff ‘s football doctrine and the pass style of play he introduced to the club, former Barcelona coach Guardiola stated, “ Cruyff built the cathedral, our job is to maintain and renovate it. ” [ 217 ] One of the most celebrated La Masia graduates, Xavi, said, “ He [ Cruyff ] changed the idiosyncrasy of the club. He introduced the doctrine to keep the ball, to play in triangles, to attack. That doctrine remains on-key to this sidereal day. We ‘re all students of Cruyff and his school of remember. ” [ 218 ]

As an ideologist [edit ]

Johan Cruyff painted the chapel, and Barcelona coaches since merely restore or improve it .

— Pep Guardiola, 2012 [ 31 ] [ 219 ]
Cruyffista.[220] In many respects, early Barça president of the united states Joan Laporta is a fervent

Cruyff established a identical clear doctrine at Barcelona, he gave birth to that doctrine, he created Barça ‘s deoxyribonucleic acid .Xavi, May 2016[224]

The overriding stylus was that which has sustained Barcelona since the arrival of the Ajax coach Rinus Michels in 1971. He brought with him Total Football, a belief in possession football, rooted in a high offside line, pressing and the counterchange of players on the field and, in 1973, the great Dutch ahead Johan Cruyff. When Cruyff became Barcelona ‘s coach in 1988, he reinforced this doctrine and, although he saw the translation of the game practised by his successor as director, Louis van Gaal, as excessively mechanised, the starting point was the lapp. This was possibly the greatest coach seminar in history, and the philosophy it taught was that which had been flowing from Ajax to Barcelona, which believed the lapp things but had more money, for three decades : what we might possibly term the Barçajax school .Jonathan Wilson, December 2015[225]

More than merely a great player or big coach, Cruyff is besides regarded as a brainy thinker who founded and represented a distinctive school of think in football and a style/way of playing that is overriding today. [ 40 ] [ 159 ] [ 160 ] He is officially considered the founding beget of now celebrated Barça–Ajax school of football ( besides known as ‘Barçajax school ‘ ), with a classifiable footballing doctrine and overriding style of maneuver, that was born in Barcelona but has roots in the 1970s Dutch ( Amsterdam ) school of Total Football. [ 226 ] [ 227 ] Generally seen as a highly influential ideological figure in the football populace, [ 228 ] [ 229 ] [ 230 ] Cruyff was besides a brilliant tactical pioneer in history of the crippled. Writing in his hebdomadally web log for Kicca.com, spanish international midfielder Juan Mata, a graduate of Real Madrid ‘s youth academy, hails Cruyff ‘s overall footballing sight, “ I consider him [ Cruyff ] the ideological don of the football ; the one I try to play like and the one I look to learn from as a spectator whenever I watch a game. The healthy use of the ball and the spaces, the importance of endowment over the forcible condition and the understanding of football as a team sport are concepts that I decidedly endorse. ” [ 231 ] His charm at Ajax and Barcelona went beyond his play and managerial spells as he helped shape the footballing philosophy/identity of both clubs. [ 232 ] [ 21 ] [ 233 ] La Masia, Barça ‘s youth academy, was the inspiration of Cruyff. As a outstanding graduate from the celebrated Ajax Youth Academy, he constantly believed using regularly unseasoned home-grown players in first-team police squad. He established a unique model at La Masia where the youth players could grow up and have a better gamble to be separate of the elder team, as they would already be accustomed to the manner of maneuver. As former La Masia technical director Pep Segura said of Cruyff : “ It is about creating one doctrine, one mentality, from the penetrate of the club to the top. Cruyff is the matchless who started it all. He has been the cabaret ‘s most influential figure. We all have the ability to do certain things, but I would not have been able to build something from scratch like Cruyff did. I learned a set of things from him. I can not imagine the stream Barcelona without Cruyff ‘s work. ” [ 234 ] The style of play Cruyff introduced at Barcelona came to be known as tiki-taka [ 219 ] — characterised by short pass and movement, working the ball through versatile channels, and maintaining possession — which was adopted by UEFA Euro 2008 -, 2010 World Cup – and Euro 2012 -winning Spain national team. [ 235 ] After decades of being known as the perennial underachievers on the international stage, Spain created one of the most prevailing dynasties in external football history between 2008 and 2012. [ 236 ] [ 237 ] [ 238 ] By winning Euro 2012, Spain became the first national team to win three straight worldly concern and continental championships and the first to win consecutive Euro titles. [ 239 ] [ 240 ] According to Xavi, the Barcelona and Spain midfielder at the heart of tiki-taka dash of toy, “ Our exemplary was imposed by [ Johan ] Cruyff ; it ‘s an Ajax exemplary. It ‘s all about rondos [ hoggish in the center ]. Rondo, rondo, rondo. ” [ 241 ]
[220][242] As Guardiola ( 2016 ) and Laporta ( 2017 ) mentioned, Messi – with all his qualities – is considered the best alumnus of Cruyffian Barçajax school .

I ‘m a footballing amatory just like Cruyff. We like football that is attractive, attacking and easy on the eye. When you win playing like this it ‘s twice as satisfy. ( … ) I ‘ve constantly played attacking football : my footballing ideals are very well-defined and well-defined. I ‘ve grown up at Barcelona with that style and that ‘s the one I like. I think it ‘s good to win like that, by taking the enterprise right from the off .Xavi, FIFA.com, June 2010[243]

I met him, I played against him and we had some exchanges. We shared many ideas and I personally have been influenced by Johan Cruyff and this dutch generation of football. ( … ) I have a big esteem in general for the dutch school, and Johan Cruyff specially, because get ‘s not forget he is the product of a school in Holland which was around before him. People like Rinus Michels, who influenced his players besides, because this is not an isolate way of think. Johan Cruyff had it excessively – that personality, the character to say ‘yes, I believe in this game, and I ‘m potent and brave enough to apply it on the pitch. ‘ That ‘s what I admired .Arsène Wenger, Arsenal Magazine, May 2016[155]

Cruyff ‘s footballing principles have importantly influenced the football career of many players and managers, [ 244 ] including Frank Rijkaard and Pep Guardiola, [ 245 ] [ 246 ] two give disciples and successors of the Cruyffian ( Barça–Ajax ) school of football. Without Cruyff operating behind the scenes as the spiritual father of Barça, [ 247 ] there could be no Joan Laporta presidency, and Rijkaard and Guardiola, two largely unproved managers, could never have been appointed. [ 248 ] Guardiola, a typical product ( alumnus ) of Cruyffian school, [ 246 ] who was the director of Barcelona between 2008 and 2012, stated : “ Throughout my career I ‘ve merely tried to instil what I learned from Johan Cruyff. He has had the biggest charm on football out of anyone in the world, first as a actor and then as a coach. He taught me a lot and you can see that in the fact that sol many of his former players are now coaches ”. [ 249 ] Guardiola added, “ Johan Cruyff built the cathedral, our job is to maintain and renovate it. ” [ 250 ] In regards to how the football world will remember Cruyff ‘s posthumous bequest, he said, “ As a player and as a director he won a batch of titles, but that ‘s not his bequest. The titles alone help. Johan has changed two clubs. not only did he change Ajax, but besides Barcelona – and then the dutch and spanish national teams, besides. Forget the titles. I ‘ve won more titles than him. Messi, for exemplar, is person runs less and in that he ‘s the best of Cruyff ‘s alumni. … I would not have been capable of doing what he did at Barcelona. He changed everything. He did it all. What Cruyff ‘s done for football can not be compared. The statue thing is superficial. He has made us love this sport so openly that there ‘s no way we can forget him. ” [ 242 ]
ball-playing goalkeeper or sweeper-keeper of Cruyff’s Barçajax school.[251] At Barcelona, Víctor Valdés was a typicalorof Cruyff ‘s Barçajax school. Jürgen Klinsmann, early head coach of the United States national team, said about Cruyff ‘s overall impact on contemporary football, “ More than an athlete, Cruyff was besides a bang-up thinker, person who reinvented the sport … Cruyff has left us now, but his sight and doctrine will hopefully live everlastingly. You can see it in the way Barcelona—one of two clubs Cruyff revolutionized, along with Ajax—still plays every workweek. It ‘s a manner that has admirers around the worldly concern. I think a lot of people share that [ doctrine ] with him. You want to see this character of bet on, where you set the tone, you control the crippled, you make it fast, you make it attractive and attacking. He ‘s always been celebrated for his version of the 4–3–3 with the wide wingers, all technically highly gifted and fast. This is his crisscross. ” [ 252 ] The Germany national team that won the 2014 World Cup had deep Cruyffian ( via Pep Guardiola ) influences. After leaving Barcelona, Guardiola implanted the Cruyffian vision at Bayern Munich. Germany and Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, who completed more passes at the 2014 World Cup than Argentina ‘s Lionel Messi did, incarnates the goalkeeper whom Cruyff dreamt up in the 1960s and 1970s : A football player in gloves. [ 253 ] [ 254 ] It had always bothered Cruyff that goalkeepers just stopped shots. He thought it was a waste of a player. As Cruyff once said, “ In my teams, the goalkeeper ( goalkeeper ) is the first gear attacker and the striker the first defender. ” [ 255 ] He wanted a goalkeeper who could besides get involved in the excrete. therefore, the goalkeeper effectively becomes the 11th player, like Edwin van five hundred Sar at Ajax or Víctor Valdés at Barcelona. [ 256 ] Cruyff ‘s footballing ideas besides influenced well Belgian football ‘s coach revolution leading by the erstwhile national technical foul director Michel Sablon in the early 2000s, [ 257 ] [ 258 ] with the introduction of the Barçajax-inspired youth system that developed the talents of Belgium ‘s fresh aureate generation. [ 259 ] [ 260 ] [ 261 ] apart from his tactical philosophy of football, Cruyff advocated for an elegant and respectful type of football, which contrasted old-school English football and other aggressive play styles that encouraged the function of foul play. In 2010, Cruyff criticized the tactics of his own nation in the World Cup Final, claiming that “ they [ had ] played very dirty ” and described their manner of play as “ anti-football “. Cruyff even went vitamin a far as claiming the dutch should have been reduced to 8 men had the referee been more authoritative. [ 262 ]

Named after Cruyff/Cruijff [edit ]

In democratic culture [edit ]

Bronze statue of Johan Cruyff and Berti Vogts ( depicting harness of Vogts versus Cruyff in World Cup final examination 1974 ) in battlefront of the Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam, by Ek van Zanten. In 2018, Cruyff was added as an picture to the Ultimate Team in EA Sports ‘ FIFA video recording game FIFA 19, receiving a 94 military rank. [ 268 ] british sports writer David Winner ‘s 2000 book on Dutch football, Brilliant Orange, mentions Cruyff frequently. In the koran, Dutch football ‘s ideas ( in particular Cruyff ‘s ) effectively related to the use of outer space in Dutch paint and Dutch computer architecture. In 1976, the Italian-language documentary film Il profeta del gol was directed by Sandro Ciotti. The documentary narrates the successes of Johan Cruyff ‘s football career in the 1970s. In 2004, the documentary film Johan Cruijff – En un momento dado ( “ Johan Cruijff – At Any Given Moment “ ) was made by Ramon Gieling and charts the years Cruyff spent at Barcelona, the club where he had the most profound effect in both a footballing and cultural sense. In 2014, the Catalan-language documentary film L’últim partit: 40 anys de Johan Cruyff a Catalunya was directed by Jordi Marcos, celebrating 40 years since Johan Cruyff signed for Barcelona in August 1973. british rock band The Hours recorded a song called “ Love You More ” in 2007. In it run singer Antony Genn described his partner as “ Better than Elvis in his ’68 comeback, Better than Cruyff in ’74.. ”, In an interview with german casual Sueddeutsche Zeitung in 2008, when german Chancellor Angela Merkel was discussing the approaching Euro 2008, she praised Cruyff ‘s performance at the 1974 World Cup : “ Cruyff in truth impressed me. I think I was n’t the alone one in Europe. ” [ 269 ] Cruyff stood out at the 1974 World Cup in West Germany which Merkel watched from her then home state East Germany. [ 270 ] In February 2014, President of Israel Shimon Peres, at his residence in Jerusalem, welcomed Cruyff and praising his foundation garment ‘s commitment to peace, “ People remember identical well that not only were you an outstanding football player but that you gave football a social content, you made it an educational action. You are a role model. Football is one of the bang-up ways to make peace among people. When a actor like you arrives in our nation the eyes of the children light up—Jewish, Arab or Muslim. ” [ 271 ] In the Netherlands, and to some extent Spain, Cruyff is celebrated for his one-liners that normally hover between bright insight and the blatantly obvious. They are celebrated for their Amsterdam dialect and incorrect grammar, and often feature tautologies and paradoxes. [ 272 ] In Spain, his most celebrated argument is “En un momento dado” ( “ In any given consequence ” ). The quote has been used for the championship of a 2004 documentary about Cruyff ‘s life : Johan Cruijff – En un momento dado. In the Netherlands, his most celebrated one-liner is “Ieder nadeel heb z’n voordeel “ ( “ Every disadvantage has its advantage ” ) and his room of expressing himself has been dubbed “ Cruijffiaans “. Cruyff rarely limited himself to a single course though, and in a comparison with the equally oracular but reserved football director Rinus Michels, Kees Fens equated Cruyff ‘s monologues to experimental prose, “ without a subject, lone an attempt to drop words in a sea of doubt … there is no full intercept ”. [ 272 ] He had a small hit ( number 21 in the charts ) in the Netherlands with “ Oei Oei Oei ( Dat Was Me Weer Een Loei ) “. Upon arriving in Barcelona, the spanish outgrowth of Polydor decided to release the single in Spain adenine well, where it was quite popular. [ 273 ] Cruyff suffered a heart attack ( like his church father who died of a heart fire when he was 12 ) in his early forties. He used to smoke 20 cigarettes a day prior to undergoing double heart bypass surgery in 1991 while he was the coach of Barcelona. Cruyff was forced to immediately give up smoke, and he made an anti-smoking ad for the Catalan Department of Health. In the television receiver touch, Cruyff is dressed like a coach in a long trench coat combined with collar shirt and necktie. He performed keepy-uppies with a pack of cigarettes by juggling it 16 times – using feet, thighs, knees, heel, thorax, shoulder, and head like holding up a ball – before volleying it away. Throughout the commercial he speaks in Catalan about the dangers of smoke. [ 274 ] In November 2003, Cruyff invoked legal proceedings against the publisher Tirion Uitgevers, over its photograph book Johan Cruyff de Ajacied ( “ Johan Cruijff the Ajax player “ ), which used photographs by Guus de Jong. Cruyff was working on another book, besides using De Jong ‘s photograph, and claimed unsuccessfully that Tirion ‘s record violated his brand and portrayal rights. In 2004, a public poll in the Netherlands to determine the greatest Dutchman ( “ De Grootste Nederlander “ ) named Cruyff the 6th-greatest Dutchman of all time, with Cruyff finishing above Rembrandt ( 9th ) and Vincent vanguard Gogh ( 10th ). [ 275 ] In 2010, the asteroid ( minor planet ) 14282 Cruijff (2097 P-L) was named after him. The International Astronomical Union ( IAU ) officially ratified the naming of Cruijff on 23 September 2010. After Josef Bican and Ferenc Puskás, Cruyff is the third gear football player to have an asteroid named after him. [ 276 ] [ 277 ]

Nicknames [edit ]

There were many nicknames Cruyff had in the Netherlands and Spain, including “ Jopie ”, “ Nummer 14 ” ( Number 14 ), [ 278 ] “ 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 dub he received during the 1973–74 season and again in 1988, when he helped terminate crisis eras in Barça ‘s history. [ 59 ] [ 114 ] [ 279 ] however, contrary to popular impression, the nickname “ El Salvador ” is a dutch preferably than spanish invention. [ 280 ]

Hobbies [edit ]

Outside football, Cruyff ‘s favorite sport ( and hobby ) was golf. [ 281 ] [ 282 ] 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 coach camp from my house, it relaxes me. I love the cars. ” [ 283 ]

clientele ventures [edit ]

In 1979, Cruyff was reaching the twilight of his career in Barcelona. He began to imagine creating a range of footwear himself to challenge the technical and luxury qualities of those on the commercialize advance. After a few years of trying and failing to encourage big sportswear brands to take his idea badly, after all this was quite an unusual ambition of a professional sport at the time. finally he combined with his close supporter, italian architect Emilio Lazzarini, and using his cognition he set out to create a technical shoe which managed to balance functionality with elegance. initially the compass was filled with “ luxury ” indoor football shoes, but they promptly became used as a fashion shoe due to their attractive appearance. And sol Cruyff Classics brand was born. [ 284 ] [ 285 ]

Writing [edit ]

Cruyff is the author/co-author of respective books ( in Dutch and Spanish ) about his football career, in particular his principles and view about the football world. He besides wrote his weekly column for El Periódico ( Barcelona-based newspaper ) and De Telegraaf ( Amsterdam-based newspaper ). [ 286 ] Cruyff was multilingual ; british football writer Brian Glanville wrote : “ his intelligence off the sphere a 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 about casually in a numerousness of languages. not only Dutch, but English, French, Spanish and German. ” [ 287 ]

philanthropy [edit ]

The Johan Cruyff Foundation [ 288 ] has provided over 200 Cruyff Courts in 22 countries, including Israel, Malaysia, Japan, United States and Mexico, for children of all backgrounds to play street football together. UEFA praised the basis for its positive effect on young people, and Cruyff received the UEFA Grassroots Award on the opening of the hundredth court in late 2009. [ 289 ] In 1999, he founded the Johan Cruyff Institute with a plan for 35 athletes as part of the Johan Cruyff University of Amsterdam and has since become a ball-shaped network. [ 290 ]

personality [edit ]

I have n’t always been understand. As a football player, as coach and besides for what I did after all that. But OK, Rembrandt and Van Gogh were n’t understand either. That ‘s what you learn : people go on bothering you until you ‘re a genius .

—Johan Cruyff in his My Turn: The Autobiography [ 136 ]
Born in the heavily damaged post–World War II Netherlands, Cruyff came from a humble background and lost his church father as a child. This had a great influence on his future career and character. He was renowned for his potent personality. His fictional character, both in and beyond the footballing world, was much described as the complicated combination of an idealist, [ 291 ] individualist, libertarian, collectivist, romantic, purist, pragmatist, rebel, [ 292 ] and even despot. [ 293 ] Dutch sports writer Johan Derksen, a cheeseparing acquaintance of Cruyff, once said of him, “ Johan is absolutely religious, though he never goes to church. ” [ 294 ] In August 1973, Ajax players voted for Piet Keizer to be the team ‘s captain in a secret vote, ahead of Cruyff. And Cruyff decided his fourth dimension in Amsterdam had come to an end. He joined Barcelona just weeks later, two years before the spanish dictator Francisco Franco died, maintaining to the european press corps en route that he chose Barcelona over rivals real Madrid because he could never join a club “ associated with Franco “. [ 295 ] As he recalled in a objective on TV3 channel, “ I remember my act to Spain was quite controversial. … The president of the united states of Ajax wanted to sell me to Real Madrid, … Barcelona were n’t at the lapp degree as Madrid football fresh, but it was a challenge to play for a Catalan club. Barcelona was more than a cabaret. ” [ 296 ] At the end of the 1982–83 season, Ajax decided not to offer Cruyff a new contract. This anger Cruyff and he responded by signing for Ajax ‘s archrivals Feyenoord. Cruyff ‘s season at Feyenoord was a successful one in which the clubhouse won the Eredivisie for the first base time in a decade, part of a league and KNVB Cup double. [ 48 ] Cruyff ‘s hard personality played a function in the struggle between Puma and Adidas, the two rival brands that were born from the divisions between the two Dassler brothers. [ 283 ] Cruyff was a fan of Puma ‘s King boots and by 1974 had signed a sponsorship cover 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 early sports brands. As the tournament approached, Cruyff flatly refused to wear Adidas ‘s trademark three black stripes on his No. 14 new jersey. The Netherlands home football association had little option but to honour the wishes of their best player, and Dutch officials finally persuaded Adidas to design a freestanding new jersey fair for Cruyff, with precisely two stripes running along the sleeves. [ 297 ] [ 298 ]

Jersey number 14 [edit ]

[299] Cruyff wearing count 14, the number most identified with him. Until the 1990s, players did not have fixed numbering — except in some curtly competitions like the World Cup or european Championship where players were given a indicate numeral. The starting players normally wore jerseys from 1 to 11 and the substitutes from 12 to 16. Cruyff ‘s common number was 9. [ 299 ] On 30 October 1970, Cruyff was coming back from a long-run injury to play Ajax ‘s bitter rivals PSV. however, in the cabinet room before the match, teammate Gerrie Muhren could not find his phone 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. [ 299 ] Ajax won 1–0 and Cruyff suggested they keep the like numbers to the following bet on — according to Muhren, in an interview to Voetbal International, it was a shape to challenge the Dutch Football Association. [ 299 ] From then on, Cruyff kept using the number 14 for Ajax and Netherlands home team when he was allowed to. [ 10 ] [ 299 ]
The iconic No. 14 worn by Cruyff in Ajax was retired in 2007 In the 1974 FIFA World Cup, Netherlands ‘ head coach Rinus Michels wanted his police squad to wear numbers alphabetically. As Cruyff was the first player on the roll, he would be number 1, but he refused and insisted on wearing his golden act 14. [ 299 ] Forward Ruud Geels ended up with the phone 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 honest-to-god number 9 on other occasions, like during most of his career for FC Barcelona, because the league demanded starting players were number 1 to 11, [ 300 ] or for Netherlands in the 1976 european Championship. In 2007, Ajax retired Cruyff ‘s number 14. [ 299 ]

Relations with others [edit ]

Cruyff remained a controversial figure throughout his life. His relationships with Ajax, Barça, and KNVB ( Royal Dutch Football Association ) were churning for some time, specially in his former years. In his native Netherlands, there was always a love–hate relationship between Cruyff and his chap countrymen. [ 97 ] There was a long-standing feud between Cruyff and Louis van Gaal, though never confirmed publicly by both sides. [ 301 ] He besides often criticised José Mourinho for his defensive-based coaching philosophy, stated, “ José Mourinho is a damaging bus. He only cares about the result and does n’t care much for good football. ” As David Winner notes, “ Cruyff has had many enemies and critics over the years. ” [ 142 ] He has been accused of being arrogant, avaricious, [ 97 ] intolerant, despotic, “ besides exalted, besides stubborn, insufficiently interest in defending and just excessively difficult a personality. He loves an argument, and his conflict-model method acting of working can be bruising. ” [ 142 ] And Winner concludes that, “ With his impression in the “ conflict model ” – the mind that you got the best out of people by provoking fights and thereby raising levels of exhilaration and epinephrine – Cruyff made enemies about american samoa well as he generated enchant. Battles with club presidents and teammates led to ruptures, specially at Ajax and Barcelona, the two clubs that defined his career. ” [ 161 ]

criticism [edit ]

Cruyff was besides well known for his vocal music criticism and uncompromising attitude. A perfectionist, he always had a strong opinion about things and was loyal to his principles even more than anything else in the football world. [ 302 ] As an outspoken and critical visionary, he strongly criticized the Netherlands ‘ style of act at the 2010 World Cup. “ Who am I supporting ? I am dutch but I support the football that Spain is playing. Spain ‘s style is the style of Barcelona … Spain, a replica of Barça, is the best publicity for football ”, Cruyff wrote in his hebdomadally column for the Barcelona-based newspaper El Periodico, prior to the final match. [ 303 ] Until the early 2010s, Barcelona had mounting debts, built up over the previous few seasons, a situation that forced the clubhouse to push through an hand brake bailout lend of €150 million. The Qatar Foundation, run by Sheikha Mozah, became the first base shirt sponsor in Barcelona ‘s 111-year history. The club had previously used UNICEF ‘s logo on the front of its shirts. [ 304 ] In 2011, incoming Barcelona president Sandro Rosell agreed the deal for a menstruation of five seasons, with the club receiving €30 million each class, starting on 1 July 2011 and running until 30 June 2016, plus bonuses for trophies won that could total €5m. [ 305 ] Writing in his El Periodico column, Cruyff slammed the cope, “ We are a singular club in the global, no one has kept their jersey intact throughout their history, yet have remained equally competitive as they come … We have sold this singularity for about six percentage of our budget. I understand that we are presently 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 crude. ” [ 306 ] In an interview with The Guardian ‘s Donald McRae in 2014, Cruyff spoke about football ‘s lost values and how money had eroded the game ‘s honor, “ football is now all about money. There are problems with the values within the game. This is deplorable 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 improbable or small, fat or thin. But those values are being lost. We have to bring them back. ” [ 307 ]

personal life [edit ]

Cruyff and Danny Coster getting married on 2 December 1968 At the wedding of Ajax teammate Piet Keizer, on 13 June 1967, Cruyff met his future wife, Diana Margaretha “ Danny ” Coster ( behave 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 besides happened to be Cruyff ‘s agent. He was besides credited with mastermind Cruyff ‘s move to FC Barcelona in 1973. The marriage is said to have been glad for about 50 years. [ 308 ] Contrary to his well-known strong personality and ace status, Cruyff led a relatively calm private life beyond the global of football. [ 309 ] A highly principled, strong-minded and devoted syndicate valet, Cruyff ‘s football career, both as a player and as a coach, was well influenced by his family, in particular his wife Danny. [ 310 ] [ 311 ] He and Danny had three children together : Chantal ( 16 November 1970 ), Susila ( 27 January 1972 ), and Jordi ( 9 February 1974 ). The kin has lived in Barcelona since 1973, with a six-year pause from December 1981 to January 1988 when they lived in Vinkeveen, the Netherlands. [ 312 ] In 1977, Cruyff announced his decision to retire from international football at the historic period of 30, despite distillery being lean and wiry, after helping the area qualify for the 1978 World Cup. [ 313 ] This move, shrouded in mystery and met with unbelief spinal column in late 1977, was only finally stripped of its mystique in 2008, when Cruyff explained his decision in an interview with Catalunya Radio. It was while calm living in Barcelona as a player in late 1977, Cruyff and his class became the victims of an armed attacker who forced his room into his compressed in Barcelona. [ 314 ] And the man who was then the ultimate football ace was confronted with the choice between family values and a highly promising World Cup glory at the end of his external career. But for Cruyff, syndicate comes first gear. In the interview with Catalunya Radio, he said that the try 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 musician here and I do n’t know if you know that person [ put ] a rifle at my head and tied me up and tied up my wife in front man of the children at our flat in Barcelona. The children were going to school accompanied by the patrol. The police slept in our house for three or four months. I was going to matches with a bodyguard. All these things change your degree 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 could n’t play in the World Cup after this. ” [ 315 ] Cruyff named his third child after the patron enshrine of Catalonia, St Jordi, normally known in English as Saint George of Lydda. This was seen as a provocative gesture towards the then spanish dictator General Franco, who had made all symbols of Catalan nationalism illegal. Cruyff had to fly his son second to the Netherlands to register his birth as the name “ Jordi ” had been banned by the spanish authorities. Cruyff ‘s decisiveness to go to such bang-up lengths to support Catalan nationalism is separate of the reason he is a champion to Barcelona supporters and Catalan nationalists. [ 316 ] Jordi Cruyff has played for teams such as Barcelona ( while church father Johan was director ), Manchester United, Alavés and Espanyol. His grandson, Jesjua Angoy, plays at Dayton Dutch Lions. The younger Cruyff wears “ Jordi ” on his shirt to distinguish himself from his celebrated father, which besides reflects the common spanish rehearse of referring to players by given names entirely or by nicknames. Pep Guardiola, Ronald Koeman, and Joan Laporta were among Cruyff ‘s closest friends. [ 265 ] Estelle Cruijff, a niece of Cruyff, was married to Ruud Gullit for 12 years ( 2000–2012 ), [ 317 ] [ 318 ] and their son Maxim Gullit plays for Jong AZ. [ 319 ]

religious views [edit ]

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 hybridization before a plot ; if it worked, every game would be a link. ” [ 320 ] That widely quoted instruction earned him a plaza on lists of the world ‘s top atheist athletes. But in the 1990s, Cruyff told the Dutch Catholic radio receiver station RKK/KRO that as a child he attended Sunday school, where he was taught about the Bible, and that while he did n’t go to church as an adult, he believed “ there ‘s something there. ” [ 321 ] The Dutch evangelical broadcaster EO posted an interview conducted before Cruyff ‘s death with his friend Johan Derksen, the editor-in-chief of Voetbal International cartridge holder. “ People do n’t know the substantial Johan Cruyff ”, Derksen said. “ I have on occasion had beautiful conversations with him about religion, because we both went to the like kind of schools and learned about the Bible. And it stays with you. ” [ 322 ] [ 323 ] Cruyff besides expressed his faith in God in an interview with Hanneke Groenteman on Sterren op het Doek. [ 324 ]

Quotes [edit ]

  • “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.”[104]
  • “In my teams, the goalie is the first attacker, and the striker the first defender.”[255]
  • “Every disadvantage has its advantage.”[142]
  • “If you can’t win, make sure you don’t lose.”[142]
  • “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.”[114]
  • “Playing football is very simple but playing simple football is the hardest thing there is”[1]

Illness, death and tributes [edit ]

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

—King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands pays protection following Cruyff ‘s death. [ 325 ]

football has lost a world who did more to make the beautiful game beautiful than anyone in history .BBC broadcaster and former England striker Gary Lineker, who said he regarded Cruyff as Europe’s best ever player.[326][327]

Cruyff had constantly been a heavy smoker from his boyhood until he underwent an emergency shunt operation in 1991. After giving up smoking following the operating room, he took to sucking lollipops when watching games. [ 328 ] He featured in a Catalan health department attend, saying, “ football has given me everything in animation, tobacco about took it all away. ” [ 328 ] [ 329 ] After more center trouble in 1997, he vowed never to coach again ( until 2009 ), though he remained a outspoken football critic and analyst. [ 330 ] In October 2015 he was diagnosed with lung cancer. [ 331 ] After the news program broke, tributes poured in for Cruyff, with all Eredivisie games featuring a round of applause on 14 minutes, Cruyff ‘s former shirt number. Ahead of their league game against Eibar at the Camp Nou ( 25 October 2015 ), Barcelona players showed their support for Cruyff by wearing orange T-shirts bearing the words “ Ànims Johan ” ( Catalan for “ Get well soon Johan ” ). Writing in his hebdomadally De Telegraaf column, Cruyff admitted, “ Often the media are an extra tax, but the death week that has been different. The way in which a reply is posted via a variety show of media in my situation, was emotional and heartwarming. I am highly proud of the appreciation shown by all responses. ” On his condition, Cruyff added, “ interim, we have to wait. It ‘s actually annoying that it has been leaked so cursorily, because the only thing I know now is that I have lung cancer. No more. Because the probe is ongoing. ” [ 332 ] In mid February 2016, he stated that he had been responding well to chemotherapy and was “ winning ” his cancer battle. [ 333 ] [ 334 ] On 2 March 2016, he was in attendance on the second day of winter test at the Circuit de Catalunya just outside Barcelona and visited Dutch Formula One driver Max Verstappen. Cruyff appeared to be in good spirits and it is believed this was the end meter he was seen in populace. [ 335 ] [ 336 ] [ 337 ] On the dawn of 24 March 2016, in a clinic in Barcelona, Cruyff died at the age of 68, surrounded by his wife, children, and grandchildren. [ 338 ] His lung cancer had metastasized to his brain and a week before his death he had begun to lose his ability to speak equally well as movement on his left side. He was cremated in Barcelona within 24 hours [ 339 ] following his death. A private ceremony was held, attended entirely by his wife ( Danny ), children ( Chantal, Susila, and Jordi ), and grandchildren. [ 340 ] [ 341 ] [ 342 ]

today football has lost one of its best ever players and ambassadors. I am very deplorable because Johan was my childhood hero, my idol and my acquaintance .Former UEFA president Michel Platini pays tribute to Cruyff.[343]

Cruyff ‘s death shocked the football world. [ 344 ] [ 345 ] [ 346 ] Within a workweek after his death, there were numerous individuals ( including players and managers ) and organisations ( including clubs ) paying tribute to him, specially via social media. [ 168 ] [ 347 ] [ 348 ] [ 349 ] Thousands of Barcelona fans passed through the memorial to Cruyff, opened inside the Camp Nou stadium, to pay tribute. Cruyff ‘s greatness was flush respected by his rivals. [ 350 ] [ 351 ] [ 352 ] Former Barcelona president Sandro Rosell, who did not have a dependable relationship with Cruyff, was among the early visitors to the memorial. [ 353 ] Real Madrid president of the united states Florentino Pérez led a real madrid delegating to the memorial, including early players Emilio Butragueño and Amancio Amaro. [ 354 ] Former Real Madrid president of the united states Ramón Calderón said of Cruyff : “ He can be seen as a revolutionary, a dreamer, a visionary, and an pioneer who changed the theme of a crippled in which potency was the primary consideration to another one based, and focused, on ability and technique, giving birth to what has been called “ tiki-taka. ” He used to say that football should be played with the brain … I met him a few times after he left football, constantly playing golf, a frolic he loved. He would constantly talk about football in the lapp way he did when he was playing and coaching—with enough of rage and exhilaration. A caption has gone but he has left an important bequest. ” [ 255 ] [ 355 ] A friendly match between the Netherlands and France was held on the day after Cruyff ‘s death. The play ( at the Amsterdam Arena ) was stopped in the fourteenth moment as players, staff, and supporters gave a minute ‘s applause for Cruyff, who wore the number 14 shirt for his country. Mascots from both teams took to the pitch wearing Netherlands national team shirts adorned with Cruyff ‘s act 14 on the front, while there were numerous banners in the spectators ‘ stands bearing the simple message, “ Johan Bedankt “ ( “ Thank you Johan ” ). [ 356 ] ahead of the El Clásico against Real Madrid ( 2 April 2016 ), Barcelona announced plans for five special tributes to the late club caption :

career statistics [edit ]

baseball club [edit ]

International [edit ]

Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team Year Apps Goals
Netherlands 1966 2 1
1967 3 1
1968 1 0
1969 3 1
1970 2 2
1971 4 6
1972 5 5
1973 6 6
1974 12 8
1975 2 0
1976 4 2
1977 4 1
Total 48 33
Scores and results list the Netherlands’ goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Cruyff goal.

managerial statistics [edit ]

Team From To Record
G W D L Win %
Ajax 6 June 1985 4 January 1988 117 86 10 21 0 73.50
Barcelona 4 May 1988 18 May 1996 430 250 97 83 0 58.14
Catalonia 2 November 2009 2 January 2013 4 2 2 0 0 50.00
Total 551 338 109 104 0 61.34

Honours [edit ]

musician [edit ]

Ajax [ 10 ]
Barcelona [ 10 ]
Feyenoord
International

coach [edit ]

individual [edit ]

Player [ 10 ]
Cruyff receiving the 1971 Ballon d’Or
Manager

Orders and farther honours [edit ]

bibliography [edit ]

Filmography [edit ]

See besides [edit ]

References [edit ]