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Johan Cruyff - born April 25, 1947 in Amsterdam) is a Dutch football manager/coach and former player, regarded by many as one of the greatest footballers of all time. Named three times European Footballer of the Year (1971, 1973, 1974) and European Player of the Century by the IFFHS in 1999, he was a silky exponent of the football philosophy known as Total Football, developed by his coach Rinus Michels.

He has been named as one of the best football players of all times, alongside Maradona, Pelé, and Franz Beckenbauer, and Zinedine Zidane although he did not win a cup or tournament with his national team.

Cruijff was also highly successful as manager of Ajax and FC Barcelona; he still remains as an influential advisor to Barça and Ajax. He was voted European player of the century by the IFFHS ahead of Franz Beckenbauer.

Played For

• 1964–1973: Ajax Amsterdam (Holland)
• 1973–1978: FC Barcelona (Spain)
• 1979–1979: Los Angeles Aztecs (USA))
• 1980–1981: Washington Diplomats (USA)
• 1981–1981: Levante UD (Spain)
• 1981–1983: Ajax Amsterdam (Holland)
• 1983–1984: Feyenoord (Holland)

Professional
Cruyff played successively for Ajax, FC Barcelona, Los Angeles Aztecs, Washington Diplomats, Levante UD and Feyenoord.

At the pinnacle of his professional playing career, he won the European Cup three times (consecutive titles from 1971-1973 with Ajax), which earned the club the right to keep the trophy. He also won the Ballon d'Or (European Player of the Year) three times (1971, 1973 - 4).

At the age of 32 he signed a lucrative deal with the Los Angeles Aztecs of the North American Soccer League . He had previously been rumoured to be joining the New York Cosmos but the deal did not materialise. He did however play in a couple of exhibition games for the Cosmos. He stayed at the Aztecs for one season, finishing as the NASL's Most Valuable player of 1979 in his first season. The following season he moved to the capital to play for the Washington Diplomats, he played the whole 1980 campaign for Washington, leaving soon after the start of the '81 season.

International
As a Dutch international he played 48 matches, in which he scored 33 goals. In his second Dutch national team match, a friendly against Czechoslovakia, Cruyff was the first Dutch international ever to receive a red card, and be sent off. He received a one-year suspension from the Dutch KNVB.

Cruyff led the Netherlands to a runners-up medal in the 1974 FIFA World Cup and was voted the player of the tournament. Thanks to his team's mastery of Total Football, they coasted into the final, knocking out Argentina (4-0), East Germany (2-0) and Brazil (2-0) along the way. Cruyff himself scored twice against Argentina in one of his team's most dominating performances, then he scored the second goal against Brazil to knock out the defending champions. Accusations of Cruyff's 'aloofness' were not rebuffed by his habit of wearing a shirt with only two stripes along the sleeves, as opposed to Adidas' usual design feature of three, worn by all the other Dutch players, this could though have been due to contractual obligations as he was personally sponsored by Puma.

The Netherlands faced hosts West Germany in the final. Cruyff kicked off and the ball was passed around the Oranje thirteen times before returning to Cruyff, who then went on a rush that eluded Berti Vogts and ended when he was fouled by Uli Hoeness inside the box. Teammate Neeskens scored from the spot kick to give the Netherlands a 1-0 lead, and the Germans had not even touched the ball. The first ever penalty in a World Cup final. His frustration boiled over at half time and he became the first player to ever receive a yellow card at half time from referee Jack Taylor .Only during the latter half of the final was his playmaking influence stifled by the effective marking of Berti Vogts, while Franz Beckenbauer, Uli Hoeness and Wolfgang Overath dominated the midfield, enabling West Germany to win 2-1.

Cruyff retired from international football in October 1977, despite helping his national team qualify for the upcoming World Cup. He refused to participate in the tournament finals in Argentina because it had suffered a military coup only two years earlier and he refused to play in a country where torture and murder were continuing to be perpetrated by the junta.] The Netherlands emerged runners-up again that year and many believe that the outcome could have been different had Cruyff played.

As a manager
After retiring from the game, Johan Cruyff followed in the footsteps of his mentor Rinus Michels. He lacked formal coaching qualifications, but he caught the eyes of brass when he came down from the stands during a Dutch league game and started handing out unsolicited advice to Ajax coach Leo Beenhakker instructing him to bring on Frank Rijkaard. The baffled Beenhakker let Cruyff take over control and Ajax, who were down 3-1 to FC Twente at that moment, ended up winning the game 5-3.

Cruyff would go on to manage two football clubs, Ajax and Barcelona. He coached a young Ajax to victory in the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1987.

Cruyff returned to Barcelona as manager in 1988, assembling the so-called Dream Team. He introduced players like Josep Guardiola, José Mari Bakero, Txiki

Beguiristain, Goikoetxea, Ronald Koeman, Michael Laudrup, Romário and Hristo Stoichkov. This team won La Liga four times between 1991 and 1994 and beat Sampdoria in both the 1989 European Cup Winners' Cup final and the 1992 European Cup final at Wembley. They also won a Copa del Rey in 1990, the European Super Cup in 1992 and three Supercopa de España. With 11 trophies, Cruyff has been the club's most successful manager to date as well as being the club's longest serving manager. However, in his final two seasons, he failed to win any trophies and fell out with Josep Lluís Nuñez. This resulted in his departure and he vowed never to coach again.

While at Barcelona, he was in negotiations with the KNVB to manage the national team for the 1994 World Cup, but talks broke off at the last minute.

His open support helped candidate Joan Laporta to victory in FC Barcelona's latest presidential elections. He continues to be an adviser for him, although he holds no official post at FC Barcelona right now, sparking controversy about his real role and influence.

Miscellany
Cruyff used to smoke 20 cigarettes a day prior to undergoing double heart bypass surgery in 1991 while he was the coach of FC Barcelona, after which he gave up smoking and began chain-sucking Chupa Chups lollipops instead. He also led the anti-smoking campaign developed by the Health Department of the Catalan government.

In November 2003 Cruyff invoked legal proceedings against the publisher Tirion Uitgevers, over its photo book Johan Cruijff de Ajacied, which used photographs by Guus de Jong. Cruyff was working on another book, also using De Jong's photographs, and claimed unsuccessfully that Tirion's book violated his trademark and portrait rights.

In 2004 he ended sixth place in the election of De Grootste Nederlander (The Greatest Dutchman).

The Dutch Supercup is named after him: Johan Cruijff-schaal.

On 22 July 2006, Cruyff made a surprise return to the football field, in the opening match of the new Emirates Stadium, a testimonial match for Arsenal and Dutch international player Dennis Bergkamp. Cruyff, Marco van Basten, and Bergkamp are often considered by critics and fans to be the three greatest Dutch players of their respective generations.

Cruyff is revered at Nou Camp as 'El Salvador' (The Saviour) for his successful career as player and coach. He quickly won over the Barça fans when he told the European press he chose Barça over Real Madrid because he could not play for a club associated with Franco. He further endeared himself when he chose a Catalan name, Jordi, for his son.

His son, Jordi Cruyff, has played for teams such as FC Barcelona (while his father was manager), Manchester United and Alaves. Interestingly, the younger Cruyff sports "Jordi" on his shirt to distinguish himself from his famous father (this also reflects the common Spanish practice of referring to players by given names alone or by nicknames).

Cruyff won the European Cup as a player and coach, one of the few to do so. His son Jordi was a Manchester United player when they won the Champions League in 1998-99, but despite featuring in some of the early matches, he had been out on loan during their final run-in to the historic treble.

In November 2003, to celebrate UEFA's Jubilee, he was selected as the Golden Player of the Netherlands by the Royal Netherlands Football Association as their most outstanding player of the past 50 years.

On May 22, 2006 Cruyff was presented a Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution to football by Laureus in their annual World Sports Awards.

Cruyff also received a lifetime achievement award from the KNVB in August 2006.