Johan Cruyff’s 75th birthday
Johan Cruyff is a legend. Hardly anyone has shaped football as much as the legendary number 14 of the Netherlands. Even today, there is still a lot of Cruyff in the appearances of many top international teams.
Pelé, Maradona, Beckenbauer – they all shaped football during their playing days and afterwards. But arguably no one had as much of an impact on the game as Johan Cruyff. “His legacy is boundless,” said star coach Pep Guardiola about the Dutch football legend, who would have been 75 this Monday. Cruyff was the coach of the current Manchester City coach at FC Barcelona for a number of years and made an impression on the Spaniard like no one before or after him. “I didn’t know anything about football,” Guardiola once said, “until I met Cruyff. It was through him that we understood football.”
Guardiola’s former Barça team-mate Hristo Stoickov, who was named Europe’s Footballer of the Year in 1994, speaks of Cruyff with similar reverence. “Johan Cruyff is arguably the greatest genius in football history,” said the Bulgarian in March in the t-online interview“Cruyff is one of the people who made football the most popular sport in the world in the first place.”
Cruyff’s football is still a source of inspiration today
Cruyff, who died of lung cancer six years ago, is still revered at the stations of his career today. FC Barcelona appointed him honorary president, in Amsterdam the arena is named after the legendary number 14. The “James Dean of football”, as Arsène Wenger once called the gifted playmaker, is still idolized almost everywhere in the football world. “Cruyff was a source of inspiration for our entire generation. Also because of his charisma. His whole appearance radiated freedom,” said Wenger.
Johan Cruyff as Barcelona coach on the bench at Wembley Stadium: in 1992 he won the European Cup with Barça in London. (Source: Werek/imago images)
Freedom – that was also the core of Cruyff’s football philosophy. The unconditional attacking football of Cruyff’s teams went down in history as “Voetbal totaal”. Despite all his ambition, the beauty of the game was always more important to him than the result. The defeat in the final of the 1974 World Cup in Munich against Germany still bothered him many years later. But Cruyff was proud of the World Cup itself and the Oranje team’s thrilling game.
“Of course I would have liked to have won the final in Munich, but the fact that we’re still being talked about all over the world as the team that played the most beautiful football is a bigger victory for me than winning the World Cup.” Cruyff once said in retrospect about the 2-1 draw against Beckenbauer and Co. in Munich’s Olympic Stadium.
Companion Stoichkov: “He knew how to get the best out of me”
So Cruyff was denied the big title win with the Oranje team under his mentor Rinus Michels. At club level, on the other hand, the genius on the ball won all the important titles. Between 1971 and 1973 he led Ajax to the European Cup title three times in a row, and he managed the feat with FC Barcelona’s “Dream Team” in 1992 as coach. Guardiola in midfield, Ronald Koeman in defense and the eccentric Stoichkov on offense had perfected Cruyff’s offensive magic with dizzying ball relays. “He knew how to bring out the best in me. Just like all the other players he coached. Because he knew: The ‘Dream Team’ is not just Pep, Ronald and I, but every single player on the team.” Stoichkov recalled 30 years later.
The Catalan metropolis became the second home of “King Johan”. His former club raved about the “Dutch magician” in his obituary in 2016. “You can’t win without the ball,” was Cruyff’s philosophy. And that’s how Barça played for years under the Dutch star coach, who repeatedly offended off the pitch with his penchant for perfection, his stubbornness and his penchant for know-it-alls. “He often let his opponents on the field run into nowhere and the public too when he thought it was appropriate,” writes the renowned Dutch author Auke Kok in his recently published book “Johan Cruyff – Total Football. The Biography”.
Cruyff spoke his mind bluntly throughout his life. His appearances as an expert on television or as a columnist in the newspaper “De Telegraaf” were feared by coaches and players. But Cruyff’s unparalleled skill as a professional and coach allowed him to take on the role of chief critic.
The “Rembrandt of football”, as the trade magazine “Voetbal International” wrote these days, was revered until his death and beyond. “Der Spiegel” wrote six years ago on the day of his death: “March 24, 2016 is the day football died. Just like Buddy Holly invented rock ‘n’ roll, Johan Cruyff invented football, like us know him today.” Or as a moved Stoichkov put it: “I miss Johan Cruyff. So much.”