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Johan Cruyff

Attacking midfielder and coach, Ajax & Barcelona

Sports Netherlands Hall No. 34

Profile

Why they shine

Johan Cruyff won three Ballons d'Or in four years and, in doing so, changed how the game was played. The first, in 1971, made him the first Dutch winner; the second came in 1973 after Barcelona had signed him from Ajax; the third, in 1974, made him the first player to reach the mark, with 116 points to Franz Beckenbauer's 105. He had already won the European Cup with Ajax in 1972 at the De Kuip in Rotterdam, and would add three more as player and coach. Ajax's 1972 side remains the reference point for Total Football.

Full name: Hendrik Johannes Cruijff
Nationality: Netherlands
Clubs: Ajax and FC Barcelona — as player and manager
Position: Attacking midfielder
Ballon d'Or: Three — 1971, 1973, 1974
European Cups: Four, 1971-1974

Record

Honor record

Ballon d'Or

1971 · Dec 28, 1971

Paris, France

The first Dutch winner, and the first of three, in the year Ajax's European Cup side reached its peak. Cruyff finished ahead of Sandro Mazzola, with George Best and Franz Beckenbauer also in the top five, and the award was presented in Paris on 28 December 1971. Cruyff was 24 and already a European Cup winner.

Ballon d'Or

1973 · Dec 25, 1973

Paris, France

The second, awarded after his first season at Barcelona, where he had arrived from Ajax and begun to remake the game. Cruyff beat Dino Zoff and Gerd Müller to take the trophy on Christmas Day 1973, and Barcelona's league and cup double that season was the first in six years for the club.

Ballon d'Or

1974 · Dec 31, 1974

Paris, France

The third, and the first in the award's history. Cruyff took 116 points to Beckenbauer's 105 on a ballot of 26 national journalists, and became the first three-time winner at 27 years old. He had already added a second European Cup with Ajax and a third with Barcelona, where he had signed from the club he had just beaten.

UEFA Champions League

1972 · May 31, 1972

De Kuip, Rotterdam

The second European Cup of his playing career, won 2-0 against Inter Milan at the De Kuip, with Cruyff scoring the second and handing the first-half penalty to Willem van Hanegem to take. Ajax's team, with Johan Neeskens alongside him, is the reference point for Total Football and reached the final having beaten Bayern Munich in the semi-final.

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