{"id":4111,"date":"2016-03-24T23:52:13","date_gmt":"2016-03-24T23:52:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/?p=4111"},"modified":"2016-03-25T14:38:48","modified_gmt":"2016-03-25T14:38:48","slug":"a-legend-has-left-us-johan-cruijff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/a-legend-has-left-us-johan-cruijff\/","title":{"rendered":"A Legend Has Left Us: Johan Cruijff"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today, on March 24, 2016, one of the most famous and loved BN’ers <\/i>(acronym for Bekende Nederlanders<\/i>\u00a0(well-known Dutch people) passed away. Johan Cruijff, also spelled as Cruyff in English, died fighting cancer at the age of 68 in Barcelona, Spain.<\/p>\n

It might be that you have never heard of him, but any Dutch person has for sure. What is special about this man? Who was he?<\/p>\n

1. The <\/i>football\u00a0player of the Netherlands<\/h2>\n
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Cruijff in a match against rival Feyenoord (Image by Ron Kroon (ANEFO) at Commons.wikimedia.org under license CC BY SA 3.0)<\/p><\/div>\n

If you are into voetbal <\/i>(football, not the American kind, the “normal” kind, where the ball is kicked with feet. Americans also call this “soccer”), you will probably know Cruijff for this mostly. He was recognized as one of the\u00a0best voetballers <\/i>(football players)\u00a0in the world. Three times, he became best European voetballer<\/i> of the year and in 1999, he was even chosen as the European voetballer<\/i>\u00a0van de eeuw<\/em>\u00a0<\/i>(of the century),\u00a0<\/em>and a close second behind Pel\u00e9 for the global\u00a0voetballer\u00a0<\/em>van de eeuw.<\/em><\/p>\n

He played successfully in different\u00a0voetbalclubs\u00a0<\/em>(football clubs), in the Netherlands, Spain and the United States.<\/p>\n

During his time at the Amsterdam-based club\u00a0Ajax<\/em>, he won the\u00a0Europacup I\u00a0<\/em>(European Cup, since 1992 known as the UEFA Champions League) three times. In 1974, the Netherlands got very close in the\u00a0Wereldkampioenschap\u00a0<\/em>(World Championship) to win the\u00a0Wereldbeker\u00a0<\/em>(World Cup), but lost from West Germany. Cruijff was the team leader of the\u00a0elftal\u00a0<\/em>(football team. Elftal\u00a0<\/em>means a “lot of eleven”, and specifically refers to a football team, as there are 11 players in a football team)\u00a0in that tournament.<\/p>\n

After two decades, Cruijf decided to quit his successful career as a player to become a\u00a0voetbaltrainer\u00a0<\/em>(football coach) in 1985. Without having the required diplomas, he was accepted as trainer at his former club\u00a0Ajax\u00a0<\/em>in Amsterdam, and under his lead, the\u00a0elftal\u00a0<\/em>won two\u00a0KNVB Bekers\u00a0<\/em>(KNVB (=\u00a0Koninklijke Nederlandse Voetbalbond\u00a0<\/em>(Royal Dutch Football Association)) Cups) and even the\u00a0Europacup II\u00a0<\/em>(UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup), which was a European contest consisting of the teams that won the national cups. So, in a way, under Cruijf,\u00a0Ajax\u00a0<\/em>was the best team of Europe.<\/p>\n

His club\u00a0Ajax\u00a0<\/em>made a wonderful video showing his achievements – and it is a great listening lesson!<\/p>\n

https:\/\/youtu.be\/kJoD6op8DfA<\/a><\/p>\n

After three years, Cruijf switched to train at FC Barcelona, and formed a\u00a0Dream Team<\/em>, that won a lot. However, all good things come to an end, and when the players could not keep up with the high expectations anymore, the success ended, and Cruijff was fired in 1996. Of course, he stayed involved in football all his life, but after this he distanced himself a bit and focused on other things.<\/p>\n

He came back as a trainer though, from 2009 to 2013 as a trainer for Catalonia.<\/p>\n

After being fired, Cruijff focused more on becoming a\u00a0weldoener\u00a0<\/em>(benefactor). No wonder, with such fame and millions at his disposal! His\u00a0goodwill was targeted mainly\u00a0at\u00a0sport\u00a0<\/em>(sports) and\u00a0jeugd\u00a0<\/em>(youth). More about this below!<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0Bijnamen\u00a0<\/em>(nicknames)<\/h2>\n
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Apparently he is skinny! Cruijff proudly wearing his national orange jersey and nummer 14. (Image by Nazionale Calcio at Flickr.com under license CC BY 2.0)<\/p><\/div>\n

Cruijff also got some nicknames during his legendary career, some of which I discuss here!<\/p>\n

\u25aa Nummer 14<\/i><\/h3>\n

The first time that Cruijff wore\u00a0nummer veertien\u00a0<\/em>(number fourteen) was on October 30, 1970. After this match, he was injured and missed an entire season. When he came back in 1971, during the first match, he was supposed to wear number 9. But that did not happen: this number went to another player. He ended up with number 14 again. Ever since,\u00a0nummer 14\u00a0<\/em>became his lucky\u00a0rugnummer\u00a0<\/em>(shirt number) – and his nickname.<\/p>\n

\u25aaEl Salvador (De Verlosser)<\/i><\/h3>\n

When Cruijff was transferred to FC Barcelona in 1973, the club had a turning point. After thirteen\u00a0years, Real Madrid was beaten. In 1973, Barcelona wins 5-0 against Real in the Madrid stadium Camp Nou. This was not only\u00a0a sportive victory, but also a political one. Barcelona is the capital of Catalonia, which tried to separate itself from Spain and General Franco. This victory also signified this. Cruijff was seen as\u00a0El Salvador<\/em>,\u00a0de verlosser<\/em>, the Savior of FC Barcelona. He made it happen!<\/p>\n

\u25aa El Flaco (De Magere)<\/i><\/h3>\n

Not so much known as\u00a0El Salvador\u00a0<\/em>in Spain, but more so in the Netherlands, the Spanish called Cruijff\u00a0El Flaco, de magere<\/em>, the skinny one. It is hard to find a source that tells you why, but I assume this is because he is skinny.<\/p>\n

4. After his career<\/h2>\n
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Cruyff Courts (Image by Premsa VNG at Flickr.com under license CC BY ND 2.0)<\/p><\/div>\n

After his career as a football player, Cruijff began a number of initiatives. The Johan Cruyff College, University and Institute offers education in sport management, marketing, coaching, etc.<\/p>\n

The Johan Cruyff Foundation is a non-profit that supports sport projects for (disabled) children and youth. It also builds so-called Cruyff Courts, modern football pitches.<\/p>\n

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Cruijff in 2009 (Image by Pvt pauline at Commons.wikimedia.org under license CC BY SA 3.0)<\/p><\/div>\n

Even though he was a professional sportsman that was generally observing a healthy diet, he could not resist smoking. He smoked a lot, and in 1991, that almost became fatal when he got heart complaints and bypasses. The doctors told him to stop smoking, which led him to collaborate in an anti-smoking campaign. As a coach at Barcelona, he was then seen a lot with lollies instead of a cigarette.<\/p>\n

However, it seems that the damage was already done.\u00a0In October 2015, Cruijff got lung cancer. And just a few months later, today, he died from this disease. A great\u00a0man has left us, that has moved a lot in his life.<\/p>\n

5. Quotes and joke<\/h2>\n