Johan Cruyff

Name Johan Hendrikus Cruijff
Born 25 april 1947 (Amsterdam, The Netherlands)
Position Forward, Attacking Midfielder
Caps 48 (33 goals)
Clubs Ajax, FC Barcelona, Los Angeles Aztecs, Washington Diplomats, Levante, Feyenoord As a manager Johan Cruyff was active for Ajax and Barcelona

Trophies Ajax 1x Intercontinental Cup (1972)
3x European Cup (1971, 1972, 1973)
2x European Super Cup (1972, 1973)
8x Dutch Championship (1966, '67, '68, '70, '72, '73, '82, '83)
4x Dutch Cup (1967, 1971, 1972, 1983)
Barcelona 1x Spanish Championship (1974)
1x Spanish Cup (1978)
Feyenoord1x Dutch Championship (1984)
1x Dutch Cup (1984)
As a manager Johan Cruyff won the European Cup (1992),
the European Cup Winners Cup (1989),
four Spanish Championships (1991, '92, '93, '94),
and the Spanish Cup (1992) with Barcelona, and the European Cup Winners Cup (1987) and two Dutch Cups (1986, 1987) with Ajax

Honours 3x European Footballer of the Year (1971, 1973, 1974)1x IFFHS European Player of the Century

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- Biography -

Johan Cruyff, or Cruijff as the name is actualy spelt, was the star of the exciting 1974 Dutch "Total Football" World Cup team and the Ajax Amsterdam team that won a hat-trick of European Cups in the early Seventies. Three times European footballer of the year, Cruyff was the most gifted European player of his generation, and probably of all time.

His supreme technical skills, speed and acceleration, and his tactical insights made Cruyff virtually impossible to defend against. Wearing his trademark Nr.14 jersey, he usually played the centre forward position, but would often drop deep or move to the wing to confuse and draw out his markers. The tremendous tactical insight he had displayed as a player, enabled Cruyff to go on to become a world class coach after hanging up his boots in 1984.
Building on the legacy of his mentor Rinus Michels, Cruyff proved himself the most unrelenting apostle of attacking football in the history of the game. Possession of the ball played a crucial part in his football philosophy. Cruyff abhorred the overly physical game that was dominant in the 1980's. He instructed his players not to go running mindlessly up and down the pitch, but to concentrate on combination play and let the ball do the work instead.
He began his coaching career at Ajax, but it was at Barcelona that his revolutionary vision of a free flowing attacking style of football came to real fruition when he assembled a team that included Michael Laudrup, Hristo Stoichkov, Ronald Koeman and Josep Guardiola. Fondly remembered by Catalonians as the 'Dream Team', they succeeded in winning a host of domestic trophies as well as the 1992 European Cup.

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author http://www.football-history.net/who-is-who/c/johan-cruyff.htm