Johan Cruijff

Hendrik Johannes Cruijff, known globally as Johan Cruyff, was born on 25 April 1947 and died on 24 March 2016. A Dutch professional footballer and manager, he is considered one of the greatest players ever and the finest the Netherlands has produced. He won the Ballon d'Or three times, in 1971, 1973, and 1974. As both a player and a manager, Cruyff championed Total Football, a philosophy created by Rinus Michels. His playing style and coaching ideas left a deep mark on modern football, and he is seen as one of the most influential figures in the sport, as well as one of the greatest managers.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Dutch football rose from semi-professional obscurity to become a global force. The Netherlands qualified for the 1974 FIFA World Cup, their first appearance in 36 years. Cruyff scored three goals and made three assists, leading his team to the final, where they lost to West Germany. He was awarded the Golden Ball as the tournament's best player. After finishing third at UEFA Euro 1976, Cruyff refused to play in the 1978 World Cup. A kidnapping attempt targeting him and his family at their Barcelona home led to his retirement from international football.

At club level, Cruyff began his career with Ajax in 1964. There he won six Eredivisie titles, three European Cups, and one Intercontinental Cup. He moved to FC Barcelona in 1973, winning La Liga in 1973–74—the club's first league title in 14 years—and one Copa del Rey. After spells with the Los Angeles Aztecs, Washington Diplomats, and Levante, he returned to Ajax in 1981, winning two more Eredivisie titles. When Ajax refused to extend his contract, he joined rivals Feyenoord in 1983, winning the double (Eredivisie and KNVB Cup) in his only season there. He retired as a player in 1984.

As a manager, Cruyff was highly successful at Ajax and Barcelona. He won the 1987 European Cup Winners' Cup with Ajax, and at Barcelona he secured four La Liga titles and one European Cup. After being dismissed in 1996, he remained an advisor to both clubs. His son Jordi also played professionally for Barcelona.

In 1997, Cruyff founded the Johan Cruyff Foundation, which supports disadvantaged children and those with special educational needs. He also coined many catchphrases and aphorisms, known as Cruijffiaans, which entered everyday language in the Netherlands and, to some extent, Spain. In 1999, he was voted European Player of the Century by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics, and came second behind Pelé in their World Player of the Century poll.

Hendrik Johannes "Johan" Cruyff was born on 25 April 1947 at the Burgerziekenhuis in Amsterdam. He grew up on a street five minutes from Ajax's stadium, his first club. He was the second son of Hermanus Cornelis Cruijff (1913–1959) and Petronella Bernarda Draaijer (1917–2007), from a humble, working-class background in east Amsterdam. He lived at Akkerstraat 32 in the Betondorp neighbourhood, a district with a "brutalist" architectural style. Akkerstraat was five minutes from De Meer Stadion, Ajax's home ground. His father Manus was an Ajax fan. Biographer Auke Kok describes the Cruyffs' environment as business- and market-oriented, distanced from leftist ideas. The young Cruyff was shaped by Calvinism; he was considered devout and often referred to God, and later experimented with spiritualistic practices to contact his deceased father.

At school, Cruyff's performance was inconsistent, and he had to repeat two school years. He later suspected his mixed academic results and persistent restlessness were due to ADHD. He had a close relationship with his older brother Henny, two and a half years his senior. Observers initially thought Henny more talented, but he did not make the professional team.

Cruyff believed this was because Henny lacked focus on football, never making it his top priority. Henny later opened a sports shop and tried to profit from the family connection, arranging trips to Barcelona that offered tours of Cruyff's estate. His attempts to manage Cruyff were blocked by Johan's father-in-law, Cor Coster. The brothers fell out permanently in the 1980s, and Henny published a book accusing Coster of having been a member of the Waffen-SS during the German occupation of the Netherlands. Research did not support the claim.

Early in his professional career, Cruyff anglicised his surname. In the Netherlands he is still known as Cruijff, but the anglicised version became standard elsewhere. On 8 July 1959, his father died of a heart attack. His mother Nel could not run the vegetable shop alone and gave it up. She worked as a cleaner at Ajax, cleaning lockers, where she met caretaker Henk Angel and married him. For Cruyff, his father's death was both a tragedy and a formative event; he lived with a lifelong fear of dying young. The sudden loss and its economic consequences became a driving force in his life.