Johan Cruyff

Hendrik Johannes Cruijffor better known internationally as Johan Cruyff(Johan Cruijff (?·i), /ıjjjjrœyf/; Amsterdam, April 25, 1947-Barcelona, March 24, 2016), was a Dutch player and football coach.

He is considered by the IFFHS as the best player in Europe in the 20th century and the second best player of the 20th century, behind Pelé. He was also chosen by 30 of the 34 Ballon d'Or winners (from 1956 to 1999) as the third best player of the XX century, behind Pelé and Diego Maradona.

He played ten seasons in the first team of Ajax in Amsterdam. He then signed in 1973 for F. C. Barcelona from which he would leave in 1978 to focus on the North American Soccer League. He spent three seasons there, interspersed with a season at Levante UD, which was a member of the Second Division of Spain. He finally returned to the Dutch league in 1981, playing two seasons at Ajax and his last season as a player at Feyenoord Rotterdam. He won five Cups, eight Leagues, three European Cups, one Intercontinental Cup and one European Super Cup with Ajax, one League and one Cup with Feyenoord, and one League and one Cup with FC Barcelona.

Cruyff led the Netherlands to the 1974 FIFA World Cup final and was awarded the Ballon d'Or as player of the tournament. After finishing third at UEFA Euro 1976, Cruyff refused to play in the 1978 World Cup after a kidnapping attempt on him and his family at their Barcelona home put him off football. After his dismissal in 1996, he ended his coaching career, but remained influential at both Ajax and Barcelona. He founded several socially committed institutions, which focus mainly on youth and sports. He, too, remained involved in soccer, including as an analyst, ambassador, adviser, and columnist. In 2009 he decided to resume coaching when he was proposed to the Catalan national team, he held this position until 2013. In addition, he was a member of the Ajax board of directors from June 2011 to April 2012.

He received the Ballon d'Or three times (1971, 1973 and 1974), a mark he shares with Michel Platini and Marco Van Basten. Cruyff was the most famous exponent of the football philosophy known as "total football", developed by Rinus Michels.

In 1984, after retiring as a player from the pitch, Cruyff became the manager of Ajax and won two Dutch Cups and one European Cup Winners' Cup. Later he would become coach and honorary president of F. C. Barcelona, a club for which he was an influential adviser. He was also a collaborator of the Catalan federation in sports and social projects. He would win a Spanish Cup, four Spanish Leagues, three Spanish Super Cups, a European Cup Winners' Cup, a European Cup and a European Super Cup as Barça coach.

On December 14, 2020, he was included as a center forward in the second historic Ballon d'Or Dream Team.

Considered one of the most influential figures in football history, Cruyff's style of play and football philosophy have influenced both coaches and players. Ajax and Barcelona are among the clubs who have developed youth academies based on Cruyff's training methods. His coaching philosophy helped lay the foundation for the revival of Ajax's international successes in the 1990s, and the successes of Spanish football at both club and international level during the years 2008 to 2012 have been cited as proof of the impact. of Cruyff on contemporary football.

Biography

Hendrik Johannes Cruyff was born on April 25, 1947 on Linnaeusstraat in Amsterdam, and grew up in a neighborhood on the outskirts of Amsterdam, half a kilometer from the Ajax stadium. He is the son of Hermanus Cornelius Cruyff, owner of a fruit and vegetable store, and Petronella Bernarda Draaijer, who helped in the store and at home.

Trajectory as a player

Ajax

Johan Cruyff's childhood, Jopie as his mother affectionately called him, was linked to a soccer ball and Ajax in Amsterdam, because at just ten years old he was chosen among 300 other children to form part of the lower categories of the club. His mother worked as a cleaner at the club and convinced the coach to select Johan to be part of his team.

On July 8, 1959, when he was twelve years old, his father died of a heart attack, for which he was forced to help with the family finances. A year later he would drop out of school to dedicate himself exclusively to soccer and the following year he would find a new father figure in the Ajax field caretaker whom he helped with his work.

Coach Rinus Michels put together a fitness program for Johan, specially designed to develop his slight frame, so that he would be able to withstand the rigors of a professional career. Within the Ajax structure he quickly went through all the lower categories (including jobs such as shoe shine and locker room keeper), until he made it to the first team, on the recommendation of Vic Buckingham, and made his debut in the Dutch First League at the age of 17, scoring the only goal of his team on the day of his debut.

Johan Cruijff (1965).

Johan Cruyff was the driver of the Ajax successes of the mid-60s until the early 1970s.

Their debut match was held on November 15, 1964, against GVAV Groningen. Thus began the career of the considered best European player in history, who would contribute to making Ajax the clear dominator of football on the old continent, winning 6 Leagues and 4 Cups, 3 European Cups, 1 Intercontinental Cup and 1 Super Cup. of Europe.

Cruyff really began to earn a place in the 1965-66 season, establishing himself as a first-team player after scoring twice in the Olympic Tournament against DWS Amsterdam on October 24, 1965 (ending the game in a 2-2 win). -0). In the seven winter games, he scored eight times and in March 1966 he achieved his first hat-trick. in a league match against Telstar (won 6-2). Four days later, in a Cup match against BV Veendam (7-0), he scored 4 of the goals. In total that season, Cruyff scored 25 goals in 23 games as Ajax won the League Championship.

In the 1966-67 season, Ajax won the League Championship again, but also won the Netherlands Cup, Cruyff's first "double". Johan finished the season as the top scorer in the Eredivisie with 33 goals.

In the 1967-68 season, Cruyff won the league for the third consecutive year. He was also named Dutch footballer of the year for the second time in a row, a feat he would repeat in 1969. On May 28, 1969, Cruyff participated in his first European Cup final against AC Milan, but the Italian team ended up winning. 4-1.

In the 1969-70 season, Cruyff won his second League and Cup "double", but at the beginning of the 1970-1971 season he suffered a long groin injury, unable to return to play until October 30, 1970 against PSV. In this game he could not wear his usual number 9 since it was being used by Gerrie Mühren, so he uses number 14, something strange at first, since in the 70s there were no personalized shirts and numbers greater than 11 were reserved to the alternates. The following day it was possible to read in the Dutch press that it seemed that everything was fine with Cruyff, except for the number 14 on his back. The player's superstition, and perhaps his rebellion against the press, made him his favorite number ever since, taking him to international matches and to his future teams.

The figure of Johan Cruyff became a benchmark in the world of football, winning the Ballon d'Or on three occasions, awarded by the French magazine France Football, in the years 1971, 1973 and 1974 (these last two already wearing the Football Club Barcelona shirt).

F. C. Barcelona

The break with Ajax came in the 1973-74 season, when the club from the Dutch capital negotiated the transfer of Cruyff to Real Madrid. When the player found out, he showed a rebelliousness that also characterized him throughout his career, not signing for Real Madrid, but for its greatest rival, Barcelona. Cruyff's transfer to Barcelona became the most expensive in football history up to that moment (60 million pesetas) and he signed a contract of $12,000 per month.

Cruyff was received in Barcelona as a true idol, and the fact is that the Blaugrana fans saw in him the only hope that their team would come out on top, since they were penultimate in the standings of a league that hadn't been for fourteen years won. And Johan did not disappoint anyone: in his debut in the league, on October 28, 1973 against Granada C.F., he assisted with 2 goals, to achieve a 4-0 result. The team took a turn since then, managing not to lose a single match since the arrival of the nickname el Flaco, and finally managing to win the 1973-74 Spanish First Division championship after long 14 years, the ninth league for the club.

Among the most outstanding footballers who accompanied him at Barça were the Peruvian Hugo Sotil, Carles Rexach and Asensi, with them and under their baton, the team achieved a milestone that was difficult to match (until 2010), and is that he won 0-5 in his visit to the Santiago Bernabéu of Real Madrid, on February 17, 1974. He finished the season with 16 goals to his credit, standing out a "spur" goal (with the heel) converted to Atlético for Madrid in a match at the Camp Nou, being one of the goals for which he is best remembered and which earned him the nickname flying Dutchman.

In the following two seasons the club failed to win a title, although Johan continued to make a difference as a soccer star. In the 1975-76 season he played 29 league games, in which he scored six goals; He did not play the Cup, (only for national players) and nine European Cup matches, where he did not score. That same season his problems with the coach, Hennes Weisweiler, began as a result of a substitution in the league match against Sevilla F.C., which they lost 2-0. The coach replaced Johan with the young Mir and justified the change by saying that Johan didn't play well outside the Camp Nou. Johan left the field very angry and announced that on June 30 he would leave the club. Finally, since the public was on Johan's side, the coach resigned, being replaced by Laureano Ruiz.In 1975 he received the Bronze Ball that recognized him as the third best player on the continent. The 1976-77 season ended with 30 league games, in which he scored 12 goals; He did not play the Copa del Rey, (only for national players); and 7 in the European Cup, in which he scored 2 goals.

In the 1977-78 season, his last season as a blaugrana, Barça won the Copa del Rey, and Johan scored 11 goals in 3 competitions. His problems with the board make him leave Spanish football. However, his stay in Barcelona left a great mark on his person, as he quickly integrated into Catalan culture, to the point of calling his third son, Jordi. This caused him problems with the Franco regime in Spain at the time, to which he was always opposed, which did not allow the use of names in Catalan.

North American Soccer League

After a brief period of inactivity, in which Ajax played a tribute match for him on November 7, 1978 as a farewell and thanks for all the years as an Ajaceid and that Ajax lost 8-1 against Bayern from Munich, Cruyff decided to join the North American Soccer League (NASL), when he was already 30 years old. At that time, the New York Cosmos, which was directed by Warner Bros. and by the Nesuhi brothers and Ahmed Ertegün, tried to sign Cruyff to its squad in tough negotiations, described as such by the Ertegun brothers themselves in an interview with the documentary “Once in a Lifetime", but these negotiations did not come to fruition and Johan ended up signing for the Los Angeles Aztecs in 1979. He made his debut on May 23 of that year scoring 2 goals and with a final result of 3-0. He converted a total of 16 goals in 27 games and was voted American League Best Player. The following season, in 1980, he signed for the Washington Diplomats, with whom he played 27 games and scored 10 goals. That year he was included in the ideal team of the League.

In 1981 he would start it in the Second Division of Spain, playing for several months with Levante UD, which he arrived in March and where he scored two goals (both against Real Oviedo in a 2-2 draw) in ten games, to later finish it in Washington again, playing five games in which he scored two goals.

Return to the Eredivisie

Cruyff in the summer of 1982.

Cruyff's career seemed to be coming to an end, but surprisingly he signed again for Ajax at the age of 34. During his two seasons at his childhood club, he managed to win the league in both, as well as a Cup. In his last season at Ajax, 1982-83, Cruyff created the indirect penalty: instead After shooting on goal, he served an assist for his teammate Jesper Olsen, who returned the pass so that Cruyff could score. That last season was especially difficult for the player, since the death of who had been his second father., the caretaker of the Ajax field. Cruyff fell into a low state of mind, and the Ajax president even declared that the player lacked the skills to continue playing in the Dutch first division, which is why he did not renew his contract.

Feyenoord

And this is how Cruyff's rebellious spirit came to light again, who decided to sign for Ajax's greatest rival, Feyenoord Rotterdam, at the age of 37. In what was his last season, he managed to do a double, winning the League and the Cup, as well as being named the best player in the Eredivisie. His career as a player could not end more triumphantly.

Cruyff was characterized by his strong temperament, which often brought him problems, such as when he was sent off against the Czechoslovakia team in his second cap and was suspended from the Dutch team for a year or when he lost the armband as Ajax captain in a vote by his teammates in 1973.

National team

In September 1966, Johan made his debut as a player for the Dutch national team in a match against the Hungarian national team, scoring the tie at 2 (final result) in the last minute of the game.

Despite being a fixture in the squad for the national team, he only played in the 1974 Soccer World Cup in Federal Germany. The team was drawn in group 2 of the first round along with the teams from Uruguay, Sweden and Bulgaria. The Dutch obtained the first position in the group after reaping 2 victories (2-0 against Uruguay and 4-1 against Bulgaria) and a draw (0-0 against Sweden).

In the second round they were placed in group A, along with the teams from Brazil, Argentina and Democratic Germany. The Dutch team played a game that would go down in posterity as Total Football and that revolved around the figure of Johan Cruyff. This generation would be remembered as the Clockwork Orange, being considered one of the greatest teams in soccer history.

The first game of this second phase was played on June 26 at the Gelsenkirchen stadium and pitted the Dutch team against the Argentine team. The match ended in a resounding 4-0 and Cruyff scored the first and the last goal, putting together a great performance in the match. The next match against the Democratic Germany team was won by 2-0. The last game of this round is played on July 3 and the Dutch team beat the Brazilian team 2-0, one of the goals scored by Johan.

Dutch team at the end of the World Cup in Germany 1974, facing Federal Germany. The end rested on the German side by 2-1. Cruyff is the first player on the right, with the team's captain bracelet.

Moment of the end of the 1974 World Cup, in which Cruyff conducts the ball.

The World Cup final was held on July 7 and features the Netherlands team, led by Cruyff, and the West Germany team, led by Franz Beckenbauer. In the first minute of the final, after 16 passes between the Dutch and without the Germans touching the ball, it ended with Uli Hoeness's penalty on Cruyff and Neeskens would score. Germany managed to tie, and before the end of the first half Gerd Müller scored the second goal. Afterwards, Clockwork Orange displayed its great football, but it was not enough to beat the Germans, who won the title. However, Johan would get the award for Best Footballer of the tournament.^{[citation required]}

After the World Cup, the team had to play the qualifying stage of the 1976 European Championship, in which Cruyff participated. The Dutch team was included in group 5 along with the teams from Italy, Poland and Finland. The first game of the qualifying phase, played on September 25, 1974, pitted Finland against the Dutch team at the Olympiastadion in Helsinki. The final result was 3-1 and Johan scored the first two goals for his team that came from Rahja's opening goal for the Finns and the third was the work of Neeskens. The next game was played at home on November 20 at the De Kuip Stadium in Rotterdam. The final result was 3-1 and Cruyff scored the last two goals for his team, breaking the tie that until then had reigned on the scoreboard due to goals from Boninsegna and Rensenbrink. Johan did not score any goals in the rest of the games in the qualifying phase in which his team finished first in the group with four wins, two losses and a final score of 8 points (wins were worth 2 points).

In 1976, Johan also participated in the Eurocup. The Dutch national team met the Belgium team in the quarterfinals. The first leg was played on April 25 at the De Kuip stadium. The result of that match was 5-0 for the Netherlands team. The return match was played at the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels on May 22, concluding the match with a 2-1 win for the Dutch and in which Cruyff scored the second goal.

In the semifinals they faced the Czechoslovak team, who had just beaten Wales, on June 16 at the Maksimir Stadium in Zagreb. The Czechoslovakians won 3-1 after extra time and the Dutch had to settle for the third-place game against hosts Yugoslavia, who had just lost 4-2 to West Germany.

This match was played on June 19 at the Maksimir Stadium, and ended with a 3-2 score in favor of the Netherlands national team after extra time.

At the end of the 1974 World Cup, Cruyff had already threatened not to play another World Cup again, since he did not agree with the concentrations that the Federation of the Netherlands forced. Added to this was the political situation in Argentina, which at the time of the 1978 World Cup dispute was under an iron military dictatorship, with serious and systematic violations of human rights. As a protest measure, several players, including Cruyff, resigned from participating in the World Cup.

The three reasons why Cruyff decided not to participate in the World Cup in Argentina were: the aforementioned massive violation of human rights committed by the prevailing dictatorship, for fear of a possible kidnapping and for not reaching an economic agreement with the sports firm Adidas to wear the brand's three stripes on the National Team's shirt. In the previous World Cup he already had problems and wore a shirt with two stripes from the brand that sponsored him, Puma, unlike the rest of the team. teammates who wore the three Adidas stripes.

In April 2008, Cruyff revealed that at the end of 1977, when he was playing with FC Barcelona, he was the victim of an attempted kidnapping along with his family. Some criminals entered his home and tied Cruyff and his wife to a chair and pointed a rifle at their heads in the presence of their children. Although the truth is that it was never a secret, since the news came out everywhere the newspapers the day after the said kidnapping attempt took place.

When they showed their intentions to leave the national team, after qualifying for the World Cup, after the match they won against the neighboring Belgian team on October 26, 1977, a great party was organized by the sports newspapers De Telegraaf and Avro's Sportpanorama. The celebration lasted until well into the morning and numerous celebrities from the Netherlands attended, but as a background was the intention to change Cruyff's mind about his retirement. The Tros television channel had collected 14,000 signatures supporting the player's participation in the World Cup, under the slogan Trek Cruijff over de streep (Convince Cruyff), which could also be read on stickers and t-shirts.

Despite all the efforts, Cruyff confirmed his decision: «I don't feel like explaining all these things because they will only cause more discussions and I don't like this at all. I made a decision and I stick with it."

With this episode, his participation with the national team of his country came to an end, after playing 48 games and scoring a total of 33 goals, participating in 33 of them as captain.

Cruyff also played two matches with the Catalonian national team in 1973 and 1976, both of a friendly nature, due to the unofficial nature of the team under international organizations.

Participations in the World Cup

World	Headquarters	Outcome	Parties	Goles
1974 World Cup Soccer	Western Germany	Subfield	7	3

Participations in Eurocopa

Euro	Headquarters	Outcome	Parties	Goles
Euro 1976	Yugoslavia	Third place	2	0

Trajectory as a coach

It wasn't long after he retired as a professional player until his return to the pitch. In the 1984-85 season he entered the sports organization chart as Ajax's sports director, with Leo Beenhakker on the team's bench. From the first moment Cruyff had very clear ideas of the type of sports policy that he wanted for the team. Thus, he began a long-term project, remodeling the entire sports structure to adapt it to the most offensive game philosophy possible, and based on the meticulous care of the quarry. If Cruyff was characterized by a game system on the field, it was the 3-4-3, a system in which great risks were taken by playing with three defenders, but which provided great offensive power. He imposed this system on all of Ajax's lower categories, and the result of this work with the quarry was the generation of youngsters made up of Ronald de Boer, his brother Frank, Edgar Davids and Clarence Seedorf, who would make Ajax win the Champions League in nineteen ninety five.

And if Cruyff started the sports project, he should be in charge of carrying it out, signing as the team's coach on June 6, 1985, even without having a card and without having taken the relevant course. Later, through trickery, he obtained the card, and he still had not taken the course. Sitting on the Ajax bench he remained for two and a half seasons, in which the team's innovative game dazzled football Europe, to the point of being named the best coach. of the world by World Soccer Magazine. At this stage, Ajax won two Dutch Cups and one European Cup Winners' Cup, although they failed to prevail in the league and did not finish their third season.

Despite not having completed the coaching course, but with Villar's approval, he was hired by F. C. Barcelona on May 4, 1988, with the club plunged into a sporting crisis similar to the one when he arrived as player, even with the players asking for the dismissal of the president, José Luis Núñez, in what was called "the Hesperia riot", because it was in said hotel where the statement by the squad took place. Cruyff began working at a new long-term project, doing without a large part of the squad and making signings such as Txiki Begiristain or José Mari Bakero.

But his first two seasons in Barcelona were not easy. Despite having won the European Cup Winners' Cup in his first season, Cruyff tried to make people understand that the important thing was for the team to adopt his playing philosophy. The second year (1989-90 season) Cruyff decided to sign Michael Laudrup, who had not been very successful in his time in the Italian League and for whom very few bet. In the summer of 1990, his position on the Barça bench I was not at all sure, although they managed to win the Copa del Rey.

But Cruyff continued and great joys came for him and for the club. With the help of Hristo Stoitchkov, he managed to win the 1990-91 league, thus beginning a winning cycle for Barça and ending Real Madrid's previous hegemony. In the 1991-92 season he won the league on the last day, thanks to the defeat of Real Madrid at the CD Tenerife stadium in his last game. But this year would be remembered for the final of the European Cup at Wembley, in which the team led by Cruyff, since then remembered by the nickname Dream Team, met they beat Sampdoria in the 111th minute of extra time, thanks to a direct free kick executed by Koeman. It was Barça's first victory in a European Cup final and Cruyff's team would go down in history for it. The words that Johan addressed to his players before going out on the field will be remembered: "You are at Wembley, and you are going to play a European Cup final: so go out there and enjoy."

He would still get two more leagues (four in a row). That of 1992-93 took place just like the previous one, Real Madrid played its last game again in Tenerife, which they won again and the league went to Barça once again. And in the 1993-94 league there was no lack of emotion either, Deportivo de la Coruña reached the last matchday with an advantage and had a penalty at the last minute to be champion, but Miroslav Djukic failed and Barça celebrated its fourth consecutive league championship. This season, with the signing of Romário, was also remembered for a 5-0 defeat of Real Madrid.

Barça also reached the final of what was then called the Champions League, played in Athens against AC Milan. However, Milan endorsed him a clear 4-0. Cruyff's Dream Team came to an end in this way, requiring a renewal of its squad.

Cruyff then began working on a new generation of homegrown players, who would emulate their predecessors Josep Guardiola, Albert Ferrer or Guillermo Amor and found it in the so-called Quinta del Mini, a consignment of homegrown players with great qualities headed by Iván de la Peña, together with Albert Celades, the brothers Óscar and Roger García or his own son Jordi Cruyff. But these young footballers needed time to settle in and comparisons with established figures didn't help them. Barça failed to win any title and Real Madrid returned the 5-0 of the previous season.

The 1995-96 season presented itself as a tough test for the coach, since he needed to achieve immediate results, and for that, Luís Figo was signed. But the results did not arrive, because Barça had lost any mathematical possibility of winning the League with two games to go, and they were already eliminated from the UEFA Cup by Bayern Munich in the semifinals, as in the Copa del Rey, where Atlético de Madrid won the final. In addition, Cruyff's relations with President Núñez, which were always strictly professional, were at that time very frayed. Finally, with two games to go before the end of the 1995-96 season, Cruyff was dismissed after a very angry discussion that maintained with Joan Gaspart (then vice-president of the club) in the changing rooms of the Camp Nou because of the rumors about the possible signing of Bobby Robson as possible coach of FC Barcelona for the following season, as a result of the bad results that the club was reaping then. Dream Team. Thus, Cruyff was dismissed by the club's board of directors and Rexach took charge of the team for the remaining days. In the first game of the post-Cruyff era, the Camp Nou was filled with banners in support of the Dutch coach and also in gratitude for the successes achieved.

But Cruyff was not just any coach in Barcelona, and it is that he left a great mark, to the point that with his departure Barcelona fans were divided into cruyffistas and nuñistas. From the presidency, the squad was cleaned of any trace of the Dutchman, starting with his son and continuing with the rest of the Mini Quinta. Cruyff became part of the opposition to Núñez, supporting a motion of no confidence against the president by the group L'elefant blau (an opposition group to President Núñez led by Joan Laporta) and also showed his rejection of the next meeting, chaired by the former vice president of Núñez, Joan Gaspart.

On November 2, 2009, his hiring as coach of the Catalan soccer team was made public. On Tuesday, December 22, 2009, he made his debut as the Catalan coach against Argentina, which ended with a 4-game victory -2 for the Catalan team (match played at the Camp Nou). In November 2012, Cruyff announced his retirement as coach, considering that at 65 he had already given everything to repay the support received from the citizens of Catalonia as regional coach. In October 2013, he was succeeded by Gerard López.

Public life after retirement

Cruyff practicing golf, one of his favorite activities outside the world of football.

In February 1991, a heart attack forced him to stay away from the Barça bench for a while. Cruyff smoked several cigarettes a day from a young age, and since then, as an aid to overcome the habit of smoking, the image of the coach with a Chupa Chups in his mouth became famous. He also starred in various anti-smoking campaigns of the Generalitat of Catalonia.

After leaving F. C. Barcelona as coach, Cruyff became a benchmark of opinion in European football and especially in the environment of the Barcelona team. In fact, he was very close to the club's board of directors, chaired by Joan Laporta, who was his personal lawyer. Although he had assured that he would not form part of any football club again, in 2008 the Ajax board announced his incorporation into the organization chart of the club, assuming the role of sports advisor, in order to design a new team and put an end to the bad results that the club had accumulated for several years; however, in just over two weeks he announced his resignation due to discrepancies professionals.

In 2004, director Ramón Gieling shot the documentary Johan Cruijff - At a given moment. The documentary shows the impact of the figure of Johan Cruyff on Catalan society, both due to his successes as a player and as a coach, as well as his particular way of speaking. The title of the documentary refers to an expression constantly repeated by Cruyff in press conferences. On the tape you can see comments about Cruyff from characters like Emilio Butragueño or Joan Laporta, and even from Cruyff about himself.

Johan Cruyff was a forerunner of the Johan Cruyff Foundation, a foundation that helps disabled children through sport, and of Cruyff Academics International, which through the Johan Cruyff Institute, Johan Cruyff Academy and Johan Cruyff College, offer academic programs related to sports administration in Spain, the Netherlands, Sweden, Peru and Mexico, with the aim of professionalizing sport. On March 26, 2010, Cruyff became honorary president of F. C. Barcelona. However, months later, with the entry of the new president, Sandro Rosell, that position was withdrawn, submitting his final appointment to a vote before the members of the club, a fact that Cruyff refused, returning the badge of Honorary President.

On February 25, 2012, Johan Cruyff was presented at the Omnilife Stadium to direct the Club Deportivo Guadalajara project as a football advisor in the first team and the basic forces for three years.

Tribute of the F. C. Barcelona during the duel for the death of Cruyff.

In October 2015, Cruyff, a chain smoker who underwent open-heart surgery in 1991, was diagnosed with lung cancer. After quitting smoking in 1991 following surgery, he took up the habit of eating lollipops during matches. He appeared in an advertisement for the Catalan Health Department, saying: "football has given me everything in life, tobacco almost took everything".

Game system

As a player

Throughout his sporting career, Cruyff became synonymous with the total football style of play. Total football is a system in which a player who moves out of position is substituted by another from his team, which allows the team to retain its tactical structure. In this fluid system no footballer has an assigned role; successively anyone can be a striker, midfielder and defender. This style of play was perfected by Rinus Michels during his time at Ajax and reached its peak during Cruyff's tenure as a player at the club.

Strictly speaking, Cruyff played center forward in this system, but he would take advantage of his depth to mislead his markers or suddenly fall wide to devastating effect, something never seen in a striker until that time. Due to the way he plays his game, Cruyff is still called "the total footballer". He was, and until now has been, the only player who played every position on the field of play except goalkeeper. He was a relentless striker, capable of playing in the center of the area, heading and defining, playing second striker or "false nine", taking advantage of his height and mobility to receive from behind and face the goal, as well to connect with the midfielder. As a wing he took advantage of his speed and his excellent reference when getting unmarked, to put diagonals in speed or receive them. In the center of the field, he pulled the strings of the team, as a typical midfielder or 10, he assisted their forwards, he was lethal on the wings playing as winger or 8, he correctly fulfilled the functions of mixed midfielder, recovery or the traditional "box-to-box" (central midfielder through which the flow of the game passes, ordering the defense and helping the attack), and in defense, he replaced the functions of his teammates when they went up to attack in such a case, like Krol, Rijsbergen or Suurbier when they were teammates in the National Team. It is said that he could have been an excellent libero since his skills to start plays from defense were immaculate, and as a central defender he never made mistakes when clearing balls. He preferred to play going out with the ball at his feet rather than slam it down, and as a striker he knew how to counter the opposing team's wingers. Practically, beyond being considered the total footballer, he could have been called the "ideal footballer".

Cruyff was known for his technical ability, speed and acceleration, but his greatest quality was his vision of the game, based on a keen sense of his teammates' positions to deploy the attack. Sports journalist David Miller claimed that Cruyff was superior to any previous player in his ability to extract the most from others. He dubbed Cruyff "Pythagoras in boots" due to the complexity and precision of his angled passes and wrote:

Few have been able, both physically and mentally, of such fascinating control over one game from one area to another.

Cruyff also perfected a move now known as the Cruyff Dribble. To make this move, Cruyff would look to pass or cross the ball, however, instead of hitting the ball, he would drag the ball behind his planted foot with the inside of his other foot and do a 180 degree turn and it would accelerate. away from the defender's reach.

As a coach

The football that Cruyff liked his teams to play was based on two main concepts: offensive and control play and innovations on the pitch. Influenced by his former coach and coach Rinus Michels, he was of the opinion that a team was built from midfield, with players capable of moving the ball quickly, offering assists to forwards and knowing how to reach attacking positions from behind..

At F. C. Barcelona he took this idea to the extreme, playing with three defenders (with his famous 3-4-3) and doing without a center forward to be able to populate the midfield with players like Josep Guardiola, José Mari Bakero, Guillermo Amor or Michael Laudrup, which may seem like a contradiction with the attacking game, but for Cruyff the forwards had to play on the wing (Hristo Stoichkov on the right and Txiki Begiristain on the left) so that attacking midfielders could reach their goals. centers and in this way distract the rival center-backs, leaving them without knowing who to score. Another technique that he liked to use to avoid marking by opposing defenses was exchanging positions between wingers.

In Barcelona's training camps, rondos became fashionable, where the players formed circles and passed the ball to each other at the first touch, trying to prevent one of them from stealing it, in order to to train the fast game, as a resource to attack the iron defenses that the rival teams prepared. This defensive game of the rivals was greatly accentuated in the matches at the Camp Nou, where the width of the field gave Barcelona more offensive power, so they took advantage of it to play with only three defenders, Ronald Koeman playing more forward. This type of decision caused a lot of criticism, as the team took risks and conceded several goals, although they almost always counteracted it with their offensive capacity.

As time passed, Cruyff's game was transcendental because Guardiola, his pupil at the time, took up Johan's main concepts in Barcelona in 2009.

Private life

Cruyff married Danny Coster, daughter of businessman Cor Coster, on December 2, 1968. She had three children from that marriage: Chantal (born November 16, 1970), Susila (born January 27, 1972) and Jordi (born February 9, 1974). The family lived in Barcelona from 1973, with a period of interruption of six years from December 1981 to January 1988, during which they lived in Vinkeveen, the Netherlands. In 1993 her first grandchild was born, Jessua Andrea, the son of Chantal and former Barça goalkeeper Jesús Mariano Angoy. Later, Gianluca, the couple's second child, would be born.

Cruyff chose the name Jordi for his third son after the patron saint of Catalonia, Sant Jordi. This event was seen as a provocation against the Spanish dictator Francisco Franco, who had banned any Catalan nationalist symbology, making it illegal^{[citation required]}. In fact, Johan Cruyff had to travel to the Netherlands to register his son under the name of Jordi, since the authorities in Spain prohibited him from doing so, and he was only allowed to do so under the name of Jorge. Cruyff's decision to go to such lengths to name his son as the patron saint of Catalonia is one of the reasons why he is so highly regarded by Catalan culture.

Death

Surrounded by his family, Johan Cruyff died in Barcelona on Thursday, March 24, 2016 at the age of 68, a victim of lung cancer, his family announced in a statement posted on his website. His body was cremated the next day.

Tributes and legacy

On November 7, 1978, when he had just left F. C. Barcelona and it was not known if he would sign for a team again, Ajax Amsterdam dedicated a tribute game to him, thanking him for his nine seasons with the team and the successes he had achieved. The match faced Ajax and Bayern Munich and although the result was the least important, the Germans prevailed by a clear 8-1.

On March 10, 1999, he received another tribute match, this time from Barça, thanking him for what is considered the most successful stage of the club, after his farewell to the bench in 1996. The match was held at the Camp Nou, facing the official Barça squad of that year, in which Patrick Kluivert, Rivaldo, Luís Figo, Luis Enrique or Frank de Boer stood out; and a Dream Team made up of former Cruyff players such as Zubizarreta, Ronald Koeman, Michael Laudrup, Iván de la Peña, Txiki Begiristain, Hristo Stoichkov and several invited friends, such as Éric Cantona and Joao Pinto. The game would end 2-0, with a victory for Barça in 1999.

Almost a month later, on April 6, he was honored by Ajax, held at the Amsterdam Arena in front of 50,000 spectators. On that occasion, the starting teams of Ajax faced each other, with Edwin van der Sar, Jari Litmanen, Richard Witschge and Clarence Seedorf, and Barça, this time with Josep Guardiola, who could not play the tribute at the Camp Nou. The match ended in a 2-2 draw, with goals from Shota Arveladze and Bryan Roy, for Ajax, and Mauricio Pellegrino and Sonny Anderson for Barça. The match would serve to see Johan Cruyff in the Ajax shirt again, as he played several minutes, wearing his characteristic number 14 number.

On April 25, 2007, the Ajax board retired the number 14 shirt, in tribute to Cruyff, on the occasion of his 60th birthday. In the words of the entity's president, John Jaakke:

Johan Cruyff gave Ajax a name all over the world and made him famous. When you think of number 14, you think of Johan Cruyff. We'll take that number back as a tribute to a single footballer.

The Dutch Super Cup, which each year pits the League and Cup winners against each other, has been renamed the Johan Cruyff Trophy (Johan Cruijff-schaal, in Dutch). F. C. Barcelona a year after his death presented his perpetual tribute in the form of: Stadium of the subsidiary with his name, Statue in the Espai Barça area and will ask the Barcelona city council to change the name of the Camp Nou street.

In 2019 F.C. Barcelona held a conference in his memory.

Statistics

Clubs

Outstanding seasons as released.

Club	Season	Div.	League (1)		Cups (2)		International (3)		Total (4)
			Part.	Goles	Part.	Goles	Part.	Goles	Part.	Goles
A. F. C. Ajax	1964-65	1. a	10	4	-	-	-	-	10	4
	1965-66		19	16	4	9	-	-	23	25
	1966-67		30	33	5	5	6	3	41	41
	1967-68		33	26	5	6	2	1	40	35
	1968-69		29	24	3	3	11	7	43	34
	1969-70		33	23	5	6	8	4	46	33
	1970-71		25	21	6	5	6	1	37	27
	1971-72		32	25	4	3	9	5	45	33
	1972-73		26	16	-	-	10	6	36	22
	1973-74		2	3	-	-	-	-	2	3
F. C. Barcelona	1973-74	1. a	26	16	-	-	-	-	26	16
	1974-75		30	7	-	-	8	-	38	7
	1975-76		29	6	-	-	9	2	38	8
	1976-77		29	13	-	-	7	5	36	18
	1977-78		25	5	7	1	10	5	42	11
Total F. C. Barcelona			139	47	7	1	34	12	180	60
Los Angeles Aztecs	1979	1. a	27	14	-	-	-	-	27	14
Washington Diplomats	1980		27	10	-	-	-	-	27	10
Levante U. D.	1981	2. a	10	2	-	-	-	-	10	2
Washington Diplomats	1981	1. a	5	2	-	-	-	-	5	2
Total Washington Diplomats			32	12	0	0	0	0	32	12
A. F. C. Ajax	1981-82	1. a	15	7	1	-	-	-	16	7
	1982-83		21	7	7	2	2	-	30	9
Feyenoord of Rotterdam	1983-84		33	11	7	1	4	1	44	13
Total A. F. C. Ajax			275	205	40	39	54	27	369	271
Total career			516	291	54	41	92	40	662	372

Selection

Coach

Club	Season	Div.	Statistical data (1)
			Part.	P.G.	P.E.	P.P.	Titles	G.F.	G.C.	D.G.	%
A. F. C. Ajax	1985-86	1. a	39	28	3	8	1	127	38	+89	74.36
	1986-87		44	33	4	7	1	118	37	+81	78.03
	1987-88		24	16	2	6	-	55	30	+25	66.67
Total club			107	77	9	21	2	300	105	+195	74.77
F. C. Barcelona	1988-89	1. a	51	33	13	5	1	108	39	+69	73.20
	1989-90		47	27	8	12	1	94	48	+46	63.12
	1990-91		41	25	6	10	1	78	43	+35	65.85
	1991-92		51	31	11	9	3	106	46	+60	67.97
	1992-93		49	29	12	8	3	102.	47	+55	67.35
	1993-94		56	34	11	11	1	123	60	+63	67.26
	1994-95		50	22	13	15	1	83	66	+17	52.67
	1995-96		57	31	18	8	-	111	52	+59	64.91
Total club			402	232	92	78	11	805	401	+404	65.34
Total career			509	309	101	99	13	1105	506	+599	67.32
(1) Includes KNVB Beker data, First Division, King Cup, Champions League, European Super Cup, European Coup and Intercontinental Cup.

Statistical summary

Honours of Prizes

As a player

National tournaments

Title	Club	Country	Year
Eredivisie	Ajax de Amsterdam	NetherlandsNetherlands	1965-66
Eredivisie			1966-67
Cup of the Netherlands			1966-67
Eredivisie			1967-68
Eredivisie			1969-70
Cup of the Netherlands			1969-70
Cup of the Netherlands			1970-71
Eredivisie			1971-72
Cup of the Netherlands			1971-72
Eredivisie			1972-73
The League	F. C. Barcelona	SpainSpain	1973-74
Copa del Rey			1977-78
Eredivisie	Ajax de Amsterdam	NetherlandsNetherlands	1981-82
Eredivisie			1982-83
Cup of the Netherlands			1982-83
Eredivisie	Feyenoord Rotterdam		1983-84
Cup of the Netherlands			1983-84

International tournaments

Title	Club	Headquarters	Year
European Cup	Ajax de Amsterdam	London	1970-71
European Cup		Rotterdam	1971-72
Intercontinental Cup		Amsterdam	1972
European Super Cup			1972
European Cup		Belgrade	1972-73

As a coach

National tournaments

Title	Club	Country	Year
Cup of the Netherlands	Ajax de Amsterdam	NetherlandsNetherlands	1985-86
Cup of the Netherlands			1986-87
Copa del Rey	F. C. Barcelona	SpainSpain	1989-90
The League			1990-91
Supercopa de España			1991
The League			1991-92
European Cup			1991-92
Supercopa de España			1992
The League			1992-93
The League			1993-94
Supercopa de España			1994

International tournaments

Title	Club	Headquarters	Year
Coup Europe	Ajax de Amsterdam	Athens	1986-87
Coup Europe	F. C. Barcelona	Bern	1988-89
European Cup		London	1991-92
European Super Cup		Barcelona	1992

Individual awards

Rankings of the best coaches of all time

Prize	Position	Top 10	Year	References
France Football	4.o	Yes.	2019
World Soccer	28.o	No.	2013

Awards

Distinction	Year
Knight of the Order of Orange-Nassau	1974
Orange-Nassau Order Officer	2002
Gold Medal of the Royal Order of Sports Merit	2016
Creu de Sant Jordi	2006
Giving	Year
Laureus of Sport to the best trajectory	2006

Filmography

• Documentary TVE (29 January 2013), «Conexion Vintage - Johan Cruyff» in rtve.es
• Documentary TVE (30 April 2013), « Vintage Connection - Beckenbauer against Cruyff, 1974» in rtve.es