Johan Cruyff

Johan 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.

Cruyff, encouraged by his influential football-loving father and his close proximity in Akkerstraat Stadium, played football with his schoolmates and older brother Henny (1944–2023) whenever he could, and idolised the prolific Dutch dribbler, Faas Wilkes.

Hendrik Johannes Cruijff (25 April 1947 – 24 March 2016), commonly known as Johan Cruyff, was a Dutch professional football player and manager.

Hendrik Johannes "Johan" Cruyff was born on 25 April 1947 in the Burgerziekenhuis Hospital in Amsterdam.

He grew up on a street five minutes away from Ajax's stadium, his first football club.

As Cruyff recalled, in celebration of his 50th birthday, "My father died when I was just 12 and he was 45. From that day the feeling crept stronger over me that I would die at the same age and, when I had serious heart problems when I reached 45, I thought: 'This is it.' Only medical science, which was not available to help my father, kept me alive."

Viewing a potential football career as a way of paying tribute to his father, the death inspired the strong-willed Cruyff, who also frequently visited the burial site at Oosterbegraafplaats.

His mother began working at Ajax as a cleaner, deciding that she could no longer carry on at the grocer without her husband, and in the future, this made Cruyff near-obsessed with financial security but also gave him an appreciation for player aids.

His mother soon met her second husband, Henk Angel, a field hand at Ajax who proved a key influence in Cruyff's life.

Cruyff joined the Ajax youth system on his tenth birthday.

Cruyff and his friends would frequently visit a "playground" in their neighbourhood and Ajax youth coach Jany van der Veen, who lived close by, noticed Cruyff's talent and decided to offer him a place at Ajax without a formal trial.

When he first joined Ajax, Cruyff preferred baseball and continued to play the sport until age fifteen when he quit at the urging of his coaches.

In 1959, Cruyff's father died from a heart attack.

His father's death had a major impact on his mentality.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Dutch football rose from a semi-professional and obscure level to become a powerhouse in the sport.

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.

Cruyff really started to make an impression in the 1965–66 season and established himself as a regular first team player after scoring two goals against DWS in the Olympic stadium on 24 October 1965 in a 2–0 victory.

In the seven games that winter, he scored eight times and in March 1966 scored the first three goals in a league game against Telstar in a 6–2 win.

Four days later, in a cup game against Veendam in a 7–0 win, he scored four goals.

In total that season, Cruyff scored 25 goals in 23 games, and Ajax won the league championship.

In the 1966–67 season, Ajax again won the league championship, and also won the KNVB Cup, for Cruyff's first "double".

Cruyff ended the season as the leading goalscorer in the Eredivisie with 33.

Cruyff won the league for the third successive year in the 1967–68 season.

He was also named Dutch footballer of the year for the second successive time, a feat he repeated in 1969.

Regarded as one of the greatest players in history and as the greatest Dutch footballer ever, he won the Ballon d'Or three times, in 1971, 1973, and 1974.

Cruyff was a proponent of the football philosophy known as Total Football developed by Rinus Michels, which Cruyff also employed as a manager.

Because of the far reaching impact of his playing style and his coaching ideas, he is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in modern football.

For his achievements as a manager, he is also viewed as one of the greatest managers of all time.

In 1973, he moved to Barcelona for a world record transfer fee, helping the team win La Liga in his first season and winning the Ballon d'Or.

In 180 official matches for Barcelona, he scored 60 goals and provided 83 assists.

Cruyff led the Netherlands to the final of the 1974 FIFA World Cup with three goals and three assists; he received the Golden Ball as player of the tournament.

After finishing third in UEFA Euro 1976, Cruyff refused to play in the 1978 FIFA World Cup after a kidnapping attempt targeting him and his family in their Barcelona home dissuaded him from football.

At club level, Cruyff started his career at Ajax, where he won eight Eredivisie titles, three European Cups, and one Intercontinental Cup, where he had a goal and two assists.

In 329 matches for Ajax, he scored 257 goals and provided more than 170 assists.

After retiring from playing in 1984, Cruyff became highly successful as manager of Ajax and later Barcelona; he remained an advisor to both clubs after his coaching tenures.

His son Jordi also played football professionally for Barcelona.

He was included in the World Team of the 20th Century in 1998, the FIFA World Cup Dream Team in 2002, and in 2004 was named in the FIFA 100 list of the world's greatest living players.

In 1999, Cruyff was voted European Player of the Century in an election held by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics, and came second behind Pelé in their World Player of the Century poll.

He came third in a vote organised by the French magazine France Football consulting their former Ballon d'Or winners to elect their Football Player of the Century.

That year, Ajax finished in their lowest position since the establishment of professional football, in 13th.