Hendrik Johannes Cruijff, known internationally as Johan Cruyff is a former Dutch footballer, coach of the Catalan national team, former honorary president of FC Barcelona and collaborator of the Catalan federation in sports and social projects. His surname is spelled Cruyff in traditional spelling or Cruijff in reformed Dutch spelling.
Hendrik Johannes Cruijff was born on April 25, 1947, at 1:00 p.m., in Linnaeusstraat, and grew up in a neighborhood on the outskirts of Amsterdam, half a kilometer from the Ajax field. He was the son of Hermanus Cornelius Cruijff, owner of a fruit and vegetable store, and Petronella Bernarda Draaijer, who helped in the store and at home.
He played ten seasons in the Ajax Amsterdam first team, signing in 1973 for FC Barcelona, from which he would leave in 1978 to join the American Soccer League. He spent three seasons there, interspersed with a season at Levante UD that played in the Second Division of Spain, to finally return in 1981 to the Dutch league, playing two seasons at Ajax and his last season as a player at Feyenoord Rotterdam.
He received the Ballon d'Or three times (1971, 1973 and 1974), a mark he shares with Michel Platini and Marco Van Basten. Cruyff was the most famous exponent of the football philosophy known as "Total Football", developed by Rinus Michels. In 1984, after retiring from the playing field as a player, Cruyff became coach of Ajax and later coach of FC Barcelona, clubs of which he remains an influential advisor.
He is considered by FIFA to be one of the four best soccer players of the 20th century, along with Pelé, Diego Armando Maradona, and Alfredo Di Stéfano, and the best in Europe. He was also voted second best Player of the 20th Century by the IFFHS6 and in 1999 as Best Player of the Century by all Ballon d'Or winners to date.
Source images: Twitter Johan Cruyff.
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