JOHAN CRUYFF 1947-2016

Hendrik Johannes "Johan" Cruyff was Dutch professional footballer and coach. He will always be remembered as one of the best player in history of football. He was born in Amsterdam and he is product of Ajax youth school. He played there in two spells (1964 to 1973 and 1981 to 1983). More then 350 matches for Ajax with more then 250 goals. Cruyff was the most famous exponent of the football philosophy known as Total Football explored by Rinus Michels. With Ajax he won 8 Eredivisie titles, 5 Duch cup, 3 European Cups todays Champions League, UEFA Supercup and Intercontinental cup.

After 10 seasons with Ajax he moved to Barcelona for a world record transfer fee. In his first season he won La Liga title and later added Copa del Rey. That was Barca first league title since 1960. For Barcelona he played more then 180 matches and scored about 60 goals. During 1975 he played two friendly games for PSG during the Paris tournament. His last season for Barcelona was 1977/78.

Cruyff nearly retired in 1978. but after losing most of his money he come back to football. “I had lost millions in pig-farming and that was the reason I decided to become a footballer again.” He came to USA where he played few exhibition games for New York Cosmos. He later signed for Los Angeles Aztecs in NASL. After one year with Aztecs he played for Washington Diplomats. He played whole 1980 campaign for them. In May 1981 he played as guest player for Milan in a tournament. He got injured which forced him to miss beginning of the 1981 NASL season.

He come back to Europe where he first played 3 friendly matches for FC Dordrecht. After unsuccessful negotiations with Leicester he signed for Levante to play in Segunda Division. He played only 10 matches there and after fail to scure promotion he come back to Holland to his former club Ajax.

In Ajax he played for two seasons and in both of them won league title. Two from his eight Eredivisie titles.

Final season of his professional career he played for Feyenoord. Ajax decided not to offer Cruyff a new contract. This angered Cruyff and he signed for Ajax rival Feyenoord. In last season Cruyff played all league matches except one. He helped Feyenoord to win “Double“, both league and cup title.

On international level Cruyff played 48 matches, scoring 33 goals. He made his official debut on 7 September 1966 against Hungary in UEFA EURO 1968 qualifier. Holland never lost a match when he scored. He lead his national team to FIFA World Cup 1974 runner-up. On their way to final Holland kicked out Argentina (4-0), East Germany (2-0), and Brazil (2-0). He scored twice against Argentina and one against Brazil. In final they faced West Germany and lost 1-2 (Neeskens/Breitner, G. Muller).

Cruyff retired from international football in October 1977. He helped the national team qualify for the upcoming World Cup. Again, but this time without him, Holland finished as runner-ups.

In 1976 Cruyff played one match for Catalonia against SSSR along with his teammate Johan Neeskens.

During his career he won a lot of individual trophies. Most important of them are three Ballon d'Or (1971, 1973 and 1974). He was also three times Dutch footballer of the year...

After retiring Cruyff become a coach. He would become very successful manager as he was player. He started his coaching career in Ajax. After three very good years on Ajax bench he returned to Barcelona but now as coach. With Ajax he was Eredivisie runner-up, twice KNVB Cup winner and won UEFA Cup Winners' Cup.

During his time in Barcelona he become one of the most successful managers in their history. There he created one of the strongest Barca in history with players such as Guardiola, Bakero, Begiristain, Koeman, Laudrup, Romario, Hagi, Stoickhov... Under Cruyff Barca “Dream Team“ won four La Liga titles, Champions League, UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, Copa del Rey, UEFA Supercup and Supercopa de Espana (3). The legacy that Cruyff gave Barcelona, however, was about more than just trophies, records and wins, as he gave Barça a winning mentality and footballing identity/ideology that runs through the club till this day.

From 2009 to 2013 he was manager of Catalonia. In his debut match he won Argentina 4-2. His next match was 4-0 win against Honduras. His last two matches as Catalonia manager were draws. Goalless against Tunisia and 1-1 against Nigeria.

Johan Cruyff quotes

-"Every trainer talks about movement, about running a lot. I say don't run so much. Football is a game you play with your brain. You have to be in the right place at the right moment, not too early, not too late."

- "If you can't win, make sure you don't lose."

- "In my teams, the goalie is the first attacker, and the striker the first defender."

- Why couldn’t you beat a richer club? I’ve never seen a bag of money score a goal.

- Playing football is very simple, but playing simple football is the hardest thing there is.

Cruyff was a heavy smoker. Cigarettes will cost him a life. He died in March 2016, becouse his lung cancer had metastasized to his brain, aged 68.

Cruyff career in pictures/stickers