Johan Cruyff

Johan Cruyff (born April 25, 1947, Amsterdam, Netherlands—died March 24, 2016, Barcelona, Spain) was a Dutch football (soccer) player and coach renowned for his imaginative playmaking. He won numerous individual and team honors throughout his career. Cruyff, along with Franz Beckenbauer of West Germany, was regarded as among the world’s finest players in an era when the European game was dominated by “total football,” a style of play developed by Dutch coach Rinus Michels that emphasized all-around skill, versatility, and creativity.

Club career

Cruyff joined the youth development squad of Amsterdam’s Ajax soccer club when he was 10 years old. He was 17 when he made his debut with the senior team. After helping Ajax win six league titles, four national cups, and three European Champion Clubs’ Cups (now known as the Union of European Football Associations [UEFA] Champions League), he was transferred to Spanish team FC Barcelona in 1973. Cruyff won the Ballon d’Or, one of football’s most prestigious individual honors, in 1971, 1973, and 1974. Captained by Cruyff, FC Barcelona won the Spanish League championship in 1974 and was runner-up in 1976 and 1977.

From 1979 to 1980 Cruyff played with several American teams, including the Los Angeles Aztecs and the Washington Diplomats, and he was named the North American Soccer League’s Most Valuable Player in 1979. He returned to Ajax in 1981, but two years later he joined rival team Feyenoord after a contract dispute. There he won his ninth Dutch championship and fifth national cup.

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International career and 1974 FIFA World Cup

Cruyff debuted with the Dutch national team when he was 19 and went on to score 33 goals in 48 international matches. At the 1974 FIFA World Cup, the Dutch team, led by Cruyff and including Johan Neeskens and Ruud Krol, put on a memorable display of total football that earned them the nickname “Clockwork Orange” (a name borrowed from Anthony Burgess’s novel A Clockwork Orange, but inspired by the team’s orange jerseys). Although the Netherlands lost to West Germany in the championship match, Cruyff’s individual brilliance won him the tournament’s Golden Ball (Most Valuable Player) award. He also used the famous “Cruyff Turn,” a dribbling move in which a player fakes a pass before making a 180-degree turn with the ball to fool the opponent, for the first time during the World Cup in a match against Sweden. Cruyff was not a part of the Dutch squad for the 1978 World Cup and the team failed to qualify for the 1982 tournament.

Post-retirement career

After retiring as a player in 1984, Cruyff coached both Ajax (1987) and Barcelona (1989) to the European Cup Winners’ Cup. In 1992 he guided Barcelona to both the European Champion Clubs’ Cup and the UEFA Super Cup, but he was fired in 1996. He was named the European Footballer of the Century in 1999, ahead of Beckenbauer and Spanish club Real Madrid star Alfredo di Stefano. In 2006 Cruyff was presented with the Laureus Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution to football (soccer). He returned to the sidelines in 2009 to manage the Catalonian national team, a position he held until 2013.

Cruyff was also involved in philanthropy. He founded both a nonprofit organization to encourage children to participate in sports and the Johan Cruyff Institute, which provides an education in sports management.