Johan Cruijff

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Johan Cruijff
Personal information
Full name	Hendrik Johannes Cruijff
Date of birth	April 25, 1947 (age 59)
Place of birth	Amsterdam, Netherlands
Height	178 cm
Nickname	El Flaco (The Skinny One) Pythagoras In Boots El Salvador (The Saviour) Jopie God
Playing position	Forward/Playmaker
Club information
Current club	Retired
Youth clubs
1959-1964	Ajax Amsterdam
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1964-1973 1973-1978 1979-1980 1980-1981 1981 1981-1983 1983-1984	Ajax Amsterdam FC Barcelona Los Angeles Aztecs Washington Diplomats Levante Ajax Amsterdam Feyenoord	229 (190) 143 (48) 27 (14) 32 (12) 10 (2) 36 (14) 33 (11)
National team
1966-1978	Netherlands	48 (33)
Teams managed
1986-1988 1988-1996	Ajax Amsterdam FC Barcelona
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

Hendrik Johannes Cruijff (Johan Cruijff (help·info)) - often spelled Cruyff outside the Netherlands; see IJ (digraph)); born April 25, 1947 in Amsterdam) is a Dutch football manager/coach and former player. A brilliant and tempestuous star and widely regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all time. He was named European Footballer of the Year three times (1971, 1973, 1974) which is a record jointly held with Michel Platini and Marco Van Basten. Cruijff was the most famous exponent of the football philosophy known as Total Football, developed by Rinus Michels.

After his retirement from playing in 1984, Cruijff became highly successful as manager of Ajax and later FC Barcelona; he remains an influential advisor to both clubs.

In 1999, Cruijff was voted European Player of the Century in an election held by the IFFHS, and came second, behind Pelé in their World Player of the Century poll.^[1] He came third, behind Pelé and Maradona, in a vote organised by the French weekly magazine France Football consulting their former Ballon D'Or winners to elect their Football Player of the Century.^[2]

Contents 1 Style of play 2 Playing career 2.1 Ajax 2.2 Barcelona 2.3 America 2.4 Back in the Netherlands 2.5 International football 3 Managerial career 3.1 Ajax 3.2 Barcelona 4 Career honours 5 Further honours 6 Outside football 7 Family 8 Quotes 8.1 By Cruijff himself 8.2 About Cruijff 9 References 10 External links

[edit] Style of play

Through his career Cruijff became synonymous with the playing style of "Total Football." It is a system where a player who moves out of his position is replaced by another from his team, thus allowing the team to retain their intended organizational structure. In this fluid system no footballer is fixed in his or her intended outfield role; anyone can be successively an attacker, a midfielder and a defender. The style was honed by Ajax Amsterdam coach Rinus Michels around the time Cruijff came to promenance.

Strictly speaking, Cruijff played centre forward in this system. But he would drop deep to confuse his markers or suddenly move to the wing with devastating effect. No one had seen a centre forward like that before. Due to his lead role in the system Cruijff has been refered to as "the total footballer."^[3]

Cruijff was known for his technical ability, speed and acceleration, but his greatest quality was vision, based on an acute sense of his team-mates' positions as an attack unfolded. The sports writer David Miller believed Cruijff superior to any previous player in his ability to extract the most from others. He dubbed him "Pythagoras in boots" for the complexity and precision of his angled passes and wrote: "Few have been able to exact, both physically and mentally, such mesmeric control on a match from one penalty area to another."^[4]

Cruijff also perfected a move now known as the "Cruijff Turn". To do this move, Cruijff would look to pass or cross the ball. However, instead of kicking it, he would drag the ball behind his planted foot with the inside of his other foot and turn through 180 degrees and accelerate away outside a defender.

[edit] Playing career

Cruijff played for Ajax, FC Barcelona, Los Angeles Aztecs, Washington Diplomats, Levante UD and Feyenoord.

[edit] Ajax

Cruijff joined Ajax on his tenth birthday. He made his first team debut on 15 November 1964 in the Eredivisie, against GVAV, scoring the only goal for Ajax in a 3-1 defeat. That year Ajax finished in their lowest position since the establishment of professional football, 13th.^{[citation needed]} Cruijff really started to make an impression in the 1965-1966 season. Cruijff established himself as a regular first team player after scoring two goals against DWS in the Olympic stadion on 24 October 1965 (in a 2-0 victory). In the seven games that winter he scored eight times and in March 1966 he scored the first 3 goals in a league game against Telstar (6-2 win). Four days later, in a cup game against BV Veendam (7-0 win), he scored 4 goals. In total that season, Cruijff scored 25 goals in 23 games, and Ajax won the league championship.

In 1966-1967 Ajax again won the league championship, but also won the KNVB Cup, for Cruijff's first "double". Cruijff ended the season as the leading goalscorer in the eredivisie with 33.

Cruijff won the league for the third successive year in the 1967-1968 season. He was also named dutch footballer of the year for the second successive time, a feat he would repeat in 1969. On 28 May 1969 Cruijff played in his first European Cup final against AC Milan, but the Italian team ended up winning 4-1.

In the 1969-1970 season Cruijff won his second league and cup "double", but at the beginning of the 1970-1971 season Cruijff suffered a long-term groin injury. He made his comeback on 30 October 1970 against PSV Eindhoven. In this game he did not wear his usual number 9 which was in use by Gerrie Mühren, but instead used number 14. Ajax won the game 1-0. Although it was very uncommon in those days for the starters of a game not to play with numbers 1 to 11, from that moment onwards Cruijff's number was 14, even using the number with the Dutch national team.^[5] There has even been a documentary on Cruijff titled Nummer 14 Johan Cruijff^[6] and in his native Holland there is a magazine by Voetbal International titled "Nummer 14".^[7]

In a league game against AZ '67 on 29 November 1970 Cruijff scored no less than six goals in an 8-1 victory. After winning a replayed KNVB Cup final against Sparta Rotterdam (2-1), Ajax won in Europe for the first time. On 2 June 1971 in London they won the European Cup by defeating Panathinaikos 2-0. In spite of speculation that Cruijff would move to another club (Feyenoord and Barcelona were interested) on 12 July 1971 he signed a seven-year contract at Ajax. At the end of the season he became not only the Dutch, but also the European footballer of the year for 1971.

1972 was a particular successful year for Ajax and Cruijff. Ajax won a second European Cup, beating Internazionale 2-0 in the final, with Cruijff scoring both goals. This victory prompted Dutch newspapers to announce the demise of the Italian style of defensive football in the face of Total football. Soccer: The Ultimate Encyclopaedia says: "Single-handed, Cruijff not only pulled Internazionale of Italy apart in the 1972 European Cup Final, but scored both goals in Ajax's 2-0 win." Cruijff also scored in the 3-2 victory over FC Den Haag in the KNVB Cup final. In the league Cruijff was the topscorer with 25 goals as Ajax became champions. In the autumn Ajax won the Intercontinental Cup beating Argentina's Independiente (1-1 and 3-0) and then in January 1973 they won the European Super Cup by beating Glasgow Rangers 3-1 away and 3-2 in Amsterdam. Curiously Cruijff's first (and last) own goal came on 20 August 1972 against FC Amsterdam. A week later against Go Ahead Eagles (6-0) Cruijff scored four times for Ajax. The 1972-1973 season was concluded with the another league championship victory and a third successive Europe Cup.

In the summer of 1973 Cruijff was sold to FC Barcelona for 6 million guilder (2.5 million Euros).

[edit] Barcelona

At Barcelona, Cruijff quickly won over the Barça fans when he told the European press he chose Barça over Real Madrid because he could not play for a club associated with Franco. He further endeared himself when he chose a Catalan name, Jordi, for his son. He helped the club win La Liga for the first time since 1960, along the way defeating Real Madrid 5-0 at their home of Bernabéu. He was also crowned European Footballer of the Year twice in a row while at club.

During his time at Barcelona Cruijff scored one of his most famous goals, The 'Phantom' Goal. In a game against Atlético Madrid Cruijff leapt into the air and kicked the ball past the Madrid goalkeeper, the goal was featured in the documentary En un momento dado in which fans of Cruijff attempted to recreate that moment, the goal has been dubbed Le but d'Imposible de Cruyff (The Impossible goal of Cruijff).

[edit] America

At the age of 32 he signed a lucrative deal with the Los Angeles Aztecs of the North American Soccer League (NASL). He had previously been rumoured to be joining the New York Cosmos but the deal did not materialise. However, he did play exhibition games for the Cosmos. He stayed at the Aztecs for only one season, but was voted NASL Player of the year in that time. The following season he moved to play for the Washington Diplomats; he played the whole 1980 campaign for Washington, leaving soon after the start of the 1981 season.

[edit] Back in the Netherlands

After his spell in the USA and a short-lived stay at Levante in Spain Cruijff returned to play in his homeland. One noteable incident from this era was a famous goal he scored against Helmond Sport in 1982 while playing for Ajax. Cruijff put the ball down as if it is a routine penalty kick, but instead of shooting at goal, Cruijff nudges the ball sideways to his Ajax teammate Jesper Olsen who in return passes it back to Cruijff who simply taps the ball into the empty net, as the bemused Helmond goalkeeper looks on. This goal was famously attempted by Arsenal team mates Robert Pires and Thierry Henry, who both failed miserably against Manchester City in 2005, though Cruijff defended Henry and Pires for attempting.

[edit] International football

As a Dutch international he played 48 matches, scoring 33 goals. In his second Dutch national team match, a friendly against Czechoslovakia, Cruijff was the first Dutch international to receive a red card. He received a one-year suspension from the Dutch KNVB.

Accusations of Cruijff's 'aloofness' were not rebuffed by his habit of wearing a shirt with only two white stripes along the sleeves, as opposed to Adidas' usual design feature of three, worn by all the other Dutch players. Crijff, however, had a seperate sponsorship deal with Puma.

Cruijff led the Netherlands to a runners-up medal in the 1974 FIFA World Cup and was named the player of the tournament. Thanks to his team's mastery of Total Football, they coasted all the way to the final, knocking out Argentina (4-0), East Germany (2-0) and Brazil (2-0) along the way. Cruijff himself scored twice against Argentina in one of his team's most dominating performances, then he scored the second goal against Brazil to knock out the defending champions. The Netherlands faced hosts West Germany in the final. Cruijff kicked off and the ball was passed around the Oranje thirteen times before returning to Cruijff, who then went on a rush that eluded Berti Vogts and ended when he was fouled by Uli Hoeness inside the box. Teammate Neeskens scored from the spot kick to give the Netherlands a 1-0 lead, and the Germans had not even touched the ball. Only during the latter half of the final was his playmaking influence stifled by the effective marking of Berti Vogts, while Franz Beckenbauer, Uli Hoeness and Wolfgang Overath dominated the midfield, enabling West Germany to win 2-1.^[8]

Cruijff retired from international football in October 1977, having helped the national team qualify for the upcoming World Cup. He refused to participate in the tournament finals in Argentina because it had suffered a military coup only two years earlier, and he refused to play in a country where he believed torture and murder to be perpetrated by the junta.^[9] Without him, the Netherlands finished runners-up in the World Cup again.

[edit] Managerial career

[edit] Ajax

After retiring from playing, Cruijff followed in the footsteps of his mentor Rinus Michels, coaching a young Ajax side to victory in the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1987, In 1988 he returned to Barcelona as manager.

[edit] Barcelona

At Barcelona Cruijff brought in players such as Josep Guardiola, José Mari Bakero, Txiki Beguiristain, Goikoetxea, Ronald Koeman, Michael Laudrup, Romário and Hristo Stoichkov. Under Cruijff, Barcelona won La Liga four times between 1991 and 1994, and beat Sampdoria in both the 1989 European Cup Winners' Cup final and the 1992 European Cup final at Wembley. They also won a Copa del Rey in 1990, the European Super Cup in 1992 and three Supercopa de España.

Cruijff used to smoke 20 cigarettes a day prior to undergoing double heart bypass surgery in 1991 while he was the coach of FC Barcelona, after which he gave up smoking and began chain-sucking Chupa Chups lollipops instead. He also led the anti-smoking campaign developed by the Health Department of the Catalan autonomous government.

With 11 trophies, Cruijff has been Barcelona's most successful manager to date, as well as being the club's longest serving manager. However, in his final two seasons, he failed to win any trophies, and fell out with chairman Josep Lluís Nuñez; this resulted in his departure from the club, and he vowed never to coach again.

While at Barcelona, he 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.^[10]

His open support helped candidate Joan Laporta to victory in FC Barcelona's latest presidential elections. He continues to be an adviser for him, although he holds no official post at FC Barcelona.

Cruijff is revered at Nou Camp as 'El Salvador' (The Saviour) for his successful career as player and coach.

[edit] Career honours

As a player:

Ajax:

• 1966, 1967, 1968, 1970. 1972, 1973, 1982, 1983 Dutch League Champion
• 1967, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1983 Dutch Cup Champion
• 1971, 1972, 1973 European Cup Champion

Barcelona:

• 1974 Spanish League Champion
• 1978 Spanish Cup Champion

Feyenoord:

• 1984 Dutch League Champion
• 1984 Dutch Cup Champion

As a manager:

Ajax:

• 1986, 1987 Dutch Cup Champion
• 1987 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup Champion

Barcelona:

• 1990 Spanish Cup Champion
• 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994 Spanish League Champion
• 1989 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup Champion
• 1992 European Cup Champion

[edit] Further honours

In 1996 the Dutch Supercup was named after him: Johan Cruijff-schaal.

In November 2003, to celebrate UEFA's Jubilee, he was selected as the Golden Player of the Netherlands by the Royal Netherlands Football Association as their most outstanding player of the past 50 years.^[11]

On May 22, 2006, Cruijff was presented a Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution to football by Laureus in their annual World Sports Awards.^{[citation needed]}

Cruijff also received a lifetime achievement award from the KNVB in August 2006.^[12][13]

[edit] Outside football

In November 2003, Cruijff invoked legal proceedings against the publisher Tirion Uitgevers, over its photo book Johan Cruijff de Ajacied, which used photographs by Guus de Jong. Cruijff was working on another book, also using De Jong's photographs, and claimed unsuccessfully that Tirion's book violated his trademark and portrait rights.

In 2004 he ended sixth place in the election of De Grootste Nederlander (The Greatest Dutchman).

[edit] Family

On 2 December 1968 Cruijff married Danny Coster. Johan and Danny have 3 children: Chantal (16 November 1970), Susila (27 January 1972) and Jordi (9 February 1974). The family lives in Barcelona.

His son, Jordi, has played for teams such as FC Barcelona (while his father was manager), Manchester United and Alaves. Interestingly, the younger Cruijff sports "Jordi" on his shirt to distinguish himself from his famous father (this also reflects the common Spanish practice of referring to players by given names alone or by nicknames).

[edit] Quotes

[edit] By Cruijff himself

During his career Cruijff also became a national phenomenon on account of his comments. His expressions are considered as phrases of such simple, stark logic that it either qualifies as sheer brilliance or ultimate cheesiness. It has become cult in the Netherlands, where his form of speech was dubbed "Cruijffiaans" (eng: Cruyffian). His influence on the Spanish language has been subject of the documentary En un momento dado released in 2004. Some examples:

• "Football is simple, but the most difficult thing is to play simple football."
• "You are as valuable as the time you are on TV"
• "Italians can not beat us, but we can certainly lose against them." (Italianen kunnen niet van ons winnen, maar we kunnen wel van ze verliezen.)
• "Without the ball, you can't win." (Zonder de bal kun je niet winnen.)
• On the Teamgeist football for the 2006 FIFA World Cup: "A ball is an essential part of the game." (Een bal is een essentieel onderdeel van het spel.)
• "Speed is often confused with insight. When I start running earlier than the others, I appear faster." (Snelheid wordt vaak verward met inzicht. Als ik eerder ga lopen dan de rest, lijk ik sneller.)
• "Before I make a mistake, I DO NOT make that mistake." (Voordat ik een fout maak, maak ik die fout niet.)
• "Every disadvantage has its advantage." (Elk nadeel heb z'n voordeel.)
• "To win you have to score one more goal than your opponent." (Om te winnen moet je 1 doelpunt meer scoren dan je tegenstander.)
• "I'm not religious. In Spain all 22 players make the sign of the cross before they enter the pitch. If it worked, then it would always be a draw." (Ik geloof niet. In Spanje slaan alle 22 spelers een kruisje voordat ze het veld opkomen, als het werkt, zal het dus altijd een gelijkspel worden.)

• "Coincidence is logical." (Toeval is logisch.)
• "And if you score, then it's in." (En als je scoort, dan zit ie erin.)
• On Italian striker Filippo Inzaghi: "Look, actually he can't play football at all. He's just always in the right position." (Kijk, eigenlijk kan ie helemaal niet voetballen. Hij staat alleen altijd op de goeie plek.)
• On moving from Ajax Amsterdam to Barcelona: "I don't want to be a thief of my own wallet." (Ik wil geen dief van mijn eigen portemonnee zijn.)

• "You never see a Dutchman excelling in a sport like weightlifting. It's apparently not in our nature to lift weights. We're just too lazy. But we did sail every sea and we excel in hockey, football and volleyball. Being just a little bit smarter helps. Dutch people have the edge there." (Je ziet nooit een Hollander die uitblinkt in krachtsporten. Het zit kennelijk niet in onze mentaliteit om te gaan gewichtheffen. Dat kunnen we niet opbrengen. Je ziet wel dat we alle zeeën bevaren hebben. En in hockey, volleybal en voetbal staan we bovenaan. Dus: waar ligt het gaatje en hoe kom je er? Iets slimmer zijn dan een ander. Hollanders hebben een streepje voor.)
• "Extremes, I don't like them. Every extreme is so extreme" (Uitersten, daar hou ik niet van. Elk uiterste is iets waanzinnigs."
• "People say that life is like a stream. They are right. I recently tried to spit into the wind, and I spat in my face" ( Het leven is een stroom zeggen de mensen. Dat klopt. Toen ik laatst tegen de wind in wou spuwen, spoog ik mezelf in het gezicht.)
• "Often something in life is necessary." (Vaak heeft iets in het leven waarschijnlijk een noodzaak)
• "When I come home after a sport analysis and my wife asks: What did you say? I reply ... I have absolutely no idea whatsoever." (Als ik thuiskom van een televisieanalyse, vraagt mijn vrouw: Wat heb je gezegd? Dan zeg ik: Al sla je me dood)
• "Orange is a happy colour." (Oranje is een blije kleur)
• "If it isn't going well, then it isn't going well" (Als het niet goed gaat, dan gaat het niet goed)
• "You can't win without a ball." (Zonder de bal kun je niet winnen)

[edit] About Cruijff

• "He was the better player, but I won the World Cup" — Franz Beckenbauer
• "Pelé was the best, but after him comes Johan. He is the best player Europe ever produced" — Franz Beckenbauer
• "He is the best player I have ever seen." — Ron Atkinson [1]
• "Maradona was absolutely the best player I have ever played with - but Johan Cruyff was the best player I ever played against" — Mario Kempes [2]
• "I think along with Johan Cruyff, Pelé is the best player I have ever played against, and with Diego Maradona, the best players I have ever seen." — Alan Ball [3]
• "Johan Cruyff was my idol. He is the best player I have seen in my lifetime" — Michel Platini
• "I loved the Dutch in the '70s, they excited me and Cruyff was the best. He was my childhood hero; I had a poster of him on my bedroom wall. He was a creator. He was at the heart 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 [4]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official website
• Cruijff Classics — Cruijff's official shoe brand
• UEFA.com - Netherlands' Golden Player

Preceded by Ljupko Petrovic	European Cup Winning Coach 1991-92	Succeeded by Raymond Goethals
Preceded by Gerd Müller	European Footballer of the Year 1971	Succeeded by Franz Beckenbauer
Preceded by Franz Beckenbauer	European Footballer of the Year 1973	Succeeded by retained
Preceded by current holder	European Footballer of the Year 1974	Succeeded by Oleg Blokhin
Preceded by Ard Schenk	Dutch Sportsman of the Year 1973 – 1974	Succeeded by Jos Hermens
Preceded by Willy van der Kuijlen Piet Kruiver	Dutch Eredivisie Topscorer 1966-1967	Succeeded by Ove Kindvall
Preceded by Ove Kindvall	Dutch Eredivisie Topscorer 1971-1972	Succeeded by Cas Janssens Willy Brokamp

	Netherlands squad - 1974 FIFA World Cup Runners-up
1 Geels | 2 Haan | 3 van Hanegem | 4 van Ierssel | 5 Israël | 6 Jansen | 7 de Jong | 8 Jongbloed | 9 Keizer | 10 R. van de Kerkhof | 11 W. van de Kerkhof | 12 Krol | 13 Neeskens | 14 Cruijff | 15 Rensenbrink | 16 Rep | 17 Rijsbergen | 18 Schrijvers | 19 Strik | 20 Suurbier | 21 Treijtel | 22 Vos | Coach: Michels

World Team of the 20th Century  v • d • e
Lev Yashin (Goalkeeper) Carlos Alberto Torres | Franz Beckenbauer | Bobby Moore | Nílton Santos (Defenders) Johan Cruijff | Alfredo Di Stéfano | Michel Platini (Midfielders) Garrincha | Diego Maradona | Pelé (Forwards)