TOTAL FOOTBALL: JOHAN CRUYFF

Johan Cruyff (Hendrik Johannes Cruijff) was one of the most influential professional soccer players and greatest soccer managers of all time. Born in Amsterdam , Netherlands in April 25, 1947, Johan Cruyff was a Dutch forward (9) and center attacking midfielder (10). He was a leading proponent of the Total Football philosophy, envisioned by his coach Dutch international team coach Rinus Michels. As such, Johan Cruyff is widely regarded as one of the greatest soccer players in the history of soccer and likewise regarded as one best soccer coaches (or soccer managers) of all time. As a player, Johan Cruyff won the coveted Ballon d’Or three times, in 1971, 1973, and 1974.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Dutch soccer rose from a semi-professional level of obscurity to become a powerhouse in the world’s game of soccer. Johan Cruyff was at the helm, leading the Netherlands to the 1974 FIFA World Cup final and earning the Golden Ball as the player of the tournament. During the finals, he executed a phenomenal feint within the game that was ultimately named after him, the “Cruyff Turn.” Widely replicated in the modern game, catch a glimpse of that magnificent game in the Johan Cruyff videos section below.

After finishing third in UEFA Euro 1976, Johan Cruyff refused to play in the 1978 World Cup, following the attempted kidnapping that targeting him and his Cruyff family in their Barcelona, Spain, which led the Soccer Legend away from his beloved game of soccer.

Cruyff began his career at Ajax. There, he won eight Eredivisie titles, three European Cups, and one Intercontinental Cup. Cruyff moved to Barcelona in 1973 for a world record transfer fee, where he helped the team to capture a La Liga title in his first season, when he was named European Footballer of the Year. He retired in 1984, when he migrated into the highly successful role as manager of Ajax. He later made the move to Barcelona, where he established perhaps the most remarkable legacy of all time.

JOHAN CRUYFF INFO

DATE OF BIRTH / DEATH: April 25, 1947 / March 24, 2016 (aged 68) PLACE OF BIRTH / DEATH: Amsterdam, Netherlands / Barcelona, Spain NATIONALITY: Dutch (Netherlands)

HEIGHT: 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) WEIGHT: 78 kg POSITIONS: Forward (9), Center Attacking Midfielder (10 / CAM)

YOUTH SOCCER CAREER

YOUTH CLUB: Ajax (1957–1964) FOUNDED: March 18, 1900

STADIUM: Johan Cruyff Arena (55,000 capacity) LOCATION: Amsterdam, Netherlands

PROFESSIONAL SOCCER CAREER

YEARS / TEAM / APPS / (GOALS)	YEARS / TEAM / APPS / (GOALS)
1964–1973 Ajax 240 (190) 1973–1978 Barcelona 143 (48) 1978–1979 Los Angeles Aztecs 23 (14) 1980–1981 Washington Diplomats 30 (12) 1981 Levante 10 (2)	1981–1983 Ajax 36 (14) 1983–1984 Feyenoord 33 (11) Total 514 (291)

INTERNATIONAL SOCCER CAREER

YEARS / TEAM / APPS / (GOALS)

1966–1977 Netherlands 48 (33)

SOCCER COACHING CAREER / MANAGER CAREER

YEARS / TEAM / APPS / (GOALS)

1985–1988 Ajax 1988–1996 Barcelona 2009–2013 Catalonia

JOHAN CRUYFF VIDEOS

NASL: Cruyff LA Aztecs Playoff Goal 1979

Cruyff, of the Los Angeles Aztecs, scored this terrific goal in overtime to eliminate the Washington Diplomats from the 1979 North American Soccer League (NASL) playoffs. Oddly enough, Cruyff would end up playing for the Diplomats in 1980 and again briefly in 1981.

Cruyff vs Aston Villa 1977-1978 UEFA Cup Quarter Final Match

At 31 years old, the three-time European Player of the Year with three European Cup wins to his name, Cruyff, the Dazzling Dutchman, leads FC Barcelona in his last professional match as a player in England versus Aston Villa for the 1977-1978 UEFA Cup Quarter Final match amid 95,000 fans.

Johan Cruyff 135 Goals

This video features 135 of Cruyff’s professional career goals, beginning with his November 22, 1964 goal during the Ajax vs PSV match. The video spans the length of his professional soccer career, including the end of his career at the Los Angeles Aztecs, Washington Diplomats, and Feyenoord.

Johan Cruijff Legendary Goals / Skills / Passing

Johan Cruijff was a native of the Betondorp neighborhood on the outskirts of Amsterdam. Johan and his elder brother Heini spent most of their childhood playing football with the kids of the neighborhood. The small Johan was able to highlight amazing talent already at five years of age. His first team was Ajax, where he won three Champions League with the famous total.

Lui football came in the final of the world’s 74 ‘Germany lost the final with West Germany while playing the best football ever seen prima. La his second squdra Barcelona was the club where he won la Liga then returned to ‘Ajax and in the end to Feyenoord Rotterdam. Unfortunately Johan legacy we all ‘age of 69 years 24 March 2016.

Johan Skills & Goals Video

This video features 135 of Cruyff’s professional career goals, beginning with his November 22, 1964 goal during the Ajax vs PSV match. The video spans the length of his professional soccer career, including the end of his career at the Los Angeles Aztecs, Washington Diplomats, and Feyenoord.

Johan Cruyff’s Tactics Explained | Cruyff Dream Team Tactics | How Cruyff Transformed Barcelona

Cruyff changed the game as a player and a manager. But what tactics did he use? Find out here

Total Football Explained

Tifo Football explains Total Football, which is the iconic style of play made world renowned by coach Rinus Michels and then player Cruyff.

Ultimate Cruyff Analysis: How to Play Like Cruyff (rare footage)

Jordi Cruyff: Johan Cruyff the Barcelona Way Masterclass – The Coaches’ Voice

Jordi Cruyff’s formative years as a footballer were spent developing in a Barcelona squad overseen by his father, the legendary Dutch master Johan. In the first of two exclusive masterclasses for The Coaches’ Voice, the younger Cruyff gives us a fascinating insight into his father’s football philosophy, and explains how Johan used his obsession with triangles as the basis for the formations and rotations that defined his iconic Barcelona teams.

Cruyff: Flair Like No one Else (Rare Footage)

Johan Cruijff is Art Highlight Video

A compelation of video clips about one of the greatest football players ever: Johan Cruijff.

Johan Cruyff: The Father of Modern Football

Cruyff was an innovator and changed the game of football forever. But just how GOOD was he really?

JOHAN CRUYFF QUOTES

• “Every disadvantage has its advantage.” — Cruyff
• “Before you can coach others, you must learn to coach yourself.” — Cruyff
• “Football has to be fun for kids, or it doesn’t make sense” — Cruyff
• “There was also no rational reason why Dutch football should produce someone like Cruyff at the time that he began kicking around a ball in the East Amsterdam planned neighbourhood of Betondorp… Until he pulled on the Oranje jersey, the Dutch national team had failed to qualify for a major tournament since before World War II. No Dutch side had won European silverware. It was very much a footballing backwater, as likely to spawn a guy who would change the sport forever as Jamaica is to produce the world’s greatest downhill skier.” — Gabriele Marcotti, ESPN FC, 2016
• “Never in my life have I seen a player like Cruyff rule matches. He was the owner of the show. Much more than his team, the referee or the fans. His grip on what was happening on the field was amazing. He was a player, coach and referee at the same time.” —- As quoted from Argentinian World Cup winner Jorge Valdano, who said of Johan Cruyff in an interview with Thomas Goubin of SoFoot.com
• “If you look at the greatest players in history, most of them couldn’t coach. If you look at the greatest coaches in history, most of them were not great players. Johan Cruyff did both – and in such an exhilarating style.” —- Former Dutch international Johan Neeskens, FIFA.com, 2016
• “You can separate Barça’s history into BCE (Before Cruyff Era) and CE (Cruyff Era). And, yes, Barça are still, nearly 20 years after he coached his final game for the club, still very much in the Cruyff Era.” —- Gabriele Marcotti, ESPN FC, 2016
• “That was a big lesson for me. They showed us how important it is to possess the ball. I hadn’t understood it until then. I learned how important it is to have control of the ball in European matches.” — Sir Alex Ferguson
• “The predominant style was that which has sustained Barcelona since the arrival of the Ajax coach Rinus Michels in 1971. He brought with him Total Football, a belief in possession football, rooted in a high offside line, pressing and the interchange of players on the field and, in 1973, the great Dutch forward Johan Cruyff. When Cruyff became Barcelona’s manager in 1988, he reinforced this philosophy and, although he saw the version of the game practised by his successor as manager, Louis van Gaal, as overly mechanised, the starting point was the same. This was perhaps the greatest coaching seminar in history, and the philosophy it taught was that which had been flowing from Ajax to Barcelona, which believed the same things but had more money, for three decades: what we might perhaps term the Barçajax school.” — Jonathan Wilson, December 2015
• “I’m a footballing romantic just like Cruyff. We like football that is attractive, attacking and easy on the eye. When you win playing like this it’s twice as satisfying. (…) I’ve always played attacking football: my footballing ideals are very clear and well-defined. I’ve grown up at Barcelona with that style and that’s the one I like. I think it’s good to win like that, by taking the initiative right from the off.” — Xavi, FIFA.com, June 2010
• “I met him, I played against him and we had some exchanges. We shared many ideas and I personally have been influenced by Johan Cruyff and this Dutch generation of football. (…) I have a big respect in general for the Dutch school, and Johan Cruyff especially, because let’s not forget he is the product of a school in Holland which was around before him. People like Rinus Michels, who influenced his players too, because this is not an isolated way of thinking. Johan Cruyff had it too – that personality, the character to say ‘yes, I believe in this game, and I’m strong and brave enough to apply it on the pitch.’ That’s what I admired.” — Arsène Wenger, Arsenal Magazine, May 2016
• “Cruyff established a very clear philosophy at Barcelona, he gave birth to that philosophy, he created Barça’s DNA.” — Xavi, May 201
• “Cristiano Ronaldo is better than George Best and Denis Law, who were two brillian and great players in the history of (Manchester) United.” — Cruyff
• “Why couldn’t you beat a richer club? I’ve never seen a bag of money score a goal.” —- Cruyff
• “Quality without results is pointless. Results without quality is boring.” —- Cruyff
• “We must make sure their worst players get the ball the most. You’ll get it back in no time.” —- Cruyff
• “If I wanted you to understand, I would have explained it better.” —- Cruyff
• “If you play on possession, you don’t have to defend, because there’s only one ball.” —- Cruyff
• “I’m not religious. In Spain all 22 players make the sign of the cross before they enter the pitch. If it works, all matches must therefore end in a draw.” —- Johan Cruyff
• “In football we have one coach for 15 players. This is absurd.” —- Cruyff
• “What is speed? See, if I start running slightly earlier than someone else, I seem faster.” —- Cruyff
• “If you have the ball, you must make the field as big as possible.” —- Johan Cruyff
• “Playing football is very simple, but playing simple football is the hardest thing there is.” —- Cruyff
• “Footballers from the street are more important than trained coaches.” —- Johan Cruyff
• “I’m ex-player, ex-technical director, ex-coach, ex-manager, ex-honorary president. A nice list that once again shows that everything comes to an end.” —- Johan Cruyff
• “It is better to fail with your own vision than to fail with another man’s vision.” —- Cruyff
• “Players today can only shoot with their laces. I could shoot with the inside, laces, and outside of both feet. In other words, I was six times better than today’s players.” —- Johan Cruyff
• “Before I make a mistake, I don’t make that mistake.” —- Cruyff
• These are a few of the best quotes from the philosopher of football.
• “Technique is not being able to juggle a ball 1,000 times … Technique is passing the ball with one touch, with the right speed, at the right foot of your team mate” —- Johan Cruyff
• “I look at Messi, and he makes me laugh. A beautiful footballer who is still like a kid … Innocent, you know. He just plays” —- Johan Cruyff
• “There are very few players who know what to do when they’re not marked” —- Johan Cruyff
• “To win you have to score one more goal than your opponent” —- Johan Cruyff
• “Choose the best player for every position, and you’ll end up not with a strong XI, but with 11 strong 1’s” —- Johan Cruyff
• “Without the ball, you can’t win” —- Johan Cruyff
• “The most difficult thing about an easy match is to make a weak opponent play bad football” —- Johan Cruyff
• “Football is a game of mistakes. Whoever makes the fewest mistakes wins” —- Johan Cruyff
• “Don’t run so much. Football is a game you play with your brains” —- Johan Cruyff
• “You have got to shoot, otherwise you can’t score” —- Johan Cruyff
• Below are a few quotes Johan Cruyff quotes on Barcelona.
• “Try to get a message to a player on the opposite wing during the match when fifty thousand people are singing…” —- Johan Cruyff
• “I’d never been one to put off until tomorrow what I could do today.” —- Johan Cruyff
• “It’s not by chance that people talk about something called Jordi syndrome.” —- Johan Cruyff
• “Footballers who come from a poor family, play good football, get rich and go off the rails. Put yourself in their position … In fact, hardly any European clubs even look at that kind of issue. Because the worlds are too far apart.” —- Johan Cruyff
• “I had an affinity with numbers. Numerology interests me. So, for example, I married Danny on the second day of the twelfth month, December. Two plus twelve produces the number on my back: number fourteen.” —- Johan Cruyff
• “Frank de Boer had gone on performing, and had twice won the national championship with the first team … For that reason, the Ajax board had a moral duty to ensure that he didn’t get drowned in bureaucracy … and was allowed to get on with his job.” —- Johan Cruyff
• “Everything started in the street … here I learned to think about how to turn a disadvantage into an advantage. You see that the kerb isn’t actually an obstacle, but that you can turn it into a teammate for a one-two.” —- Johan Cruyff
• “I was a bag of bones … and they took pity on me, which meant that even though I had no business being there, and wasn’t even in the youth team, I was playing with the Ajax team from a very early age.” —- Johan Cruyff
• “The most talented players almost always seemed to be really good guys.” —- Johan Cruyff
• “English supporters are also hooked on their teams. It’s in their DNA. They’re always there, in good times and bad.” —- Johan Cruyff
• “And I enjoyed the English fans, too. They’ve got real respect for someone who plays football well. Not just because of that unique talent, but also because he’s doing his best, 100 per cent.” —- Johan Cruyff
• “I’m determined to go on evolving; that’s always been part of it. As a footballer and a trainer I was always an idealist.” —- Johan Cruyff
• “I didn’t let anyone force anything down my throat.” —- Johan Cruyff
• “If you’ve got someone who dribbles too much, you don’t stop him dribbling, instead you put him up against a big, physically strong opponent.” —- Johan Cruyff
• “Someone can be a fantastic youth trainer, but a disastrous head coach. Or someone can succeed at a second-rate club, but fall through the ice right at the top.” —- Johan Cruyff
• “It’s great to see everyone passing on the baton. First from me to Rijkaard and then from Frank to Pep … It is an ideology that has turned Barcelona into an institution. A club that symbolizes a unique philosophy in football.” —- Johan Cruyff
• “The decline in street football of the kind I’d played as a kid meant that a young player was now working on his fundamental techniques about ten hours a week less, and over the course of even a few years that really makes a big difference.” —- Johan Cruyff
• “You can’t demand that a German must play football like a Dutchman. Or an Italian. You just can’t. So don’t look at them. Sort yourself out first, that has always been my philosophy.” —- Johan Cruyff
• “I’ll be interested to see them when Busquets is no longer in the squad. I think everyone will be shocked by the change it’ll bring about. I also think Busquets is going to become a good coach.” —- Johan Cruyff
• “I had to be critical, both of the group and of individual players. Perhaps that wasn’t clever at a time when everyone in our team was admired, but I felt professionally obliged to do it as the captain.” —- Johan Cruyff
• Johan Cruyff was the best player of his time and of wherever he played. People admired him a lot. Here’s a few quotes on the legend from other people.
• “Few have been able to exact, both physically and mentally, such mesmeric control on a match from one penalty area to another.” —- David Miller
• “The modern-day Barça started with him, he is the expression of our identity.” —- Joan Laporta
• “Cruyff was the first player who understood that he was an artist, and the first who was able and willing to collectivise the art of sports.” —- Hubert Smeets
• “As a player he turned football into an art form. Johan came along and revolutionized everything.” —- Joan Laporta
• “When you saw Cruyff off the pitch he was like a thin boy. But on the pitch he was from another planet.” —- Rinus Michels.
• “He was pretty intelligent, too! A real football brain … he could perform magic with a ball to get himself out of trouble instinctively.” —- Bobby Charlton.
• “Johan Cruyff painted the chapel, and Barcelona coaches since merely restore or improve it.” —- Pep Guardiola.
• “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.” —- Eric Cantona.
• “He was certainly the best footballer Europe has produced.” —- Franz Beckenbauer.
• “Never in my life have I seen a player like Cruyff rule matches. He was the owner of the show. Much more than his team, the referee or the fans.” —- Jorge Valdano.

JOHAN CRUYFF STORIES

• The World of Cruyff – The official home of Johan Cruyff, who is widely regarded as one of the greatest players in football history. In 1999, Johan was voted European Player of the Century.
  https://www.worldofjohancruyff.com/