Johan Cruyff was the legendary star player 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 70's. Cruyff was a three time European footballer of the year, making him arguably the most gifted European player of his generation, and possibly of all time. In his career Cruyff not only changed football as a player, but also made massive contributions to the game on a managerial level. As a manager he won two Dutch Cups, two Cup Winners Cups, four Spanish titles, a Spanish Cup, the Uefa Super Cup and of course, the European Cup.

Cruyff joined the famous Ajax youth programme at only 10 years old. He gradually established himself as a favourite centre-forward in the first team, and helped Ajax win the league in only his second first team season. He scored an incredible 25 goals in 23 appearances, including three hat tricks. From then on, Cruyff became a living legend to Ajax fans. Cruyff played successively for Ajax, Barcelona, L.A. Aztecs, Washington Diplomats, Levante Union Deportive and Feyenoord. Cruyff was known for his technical ability, his majestic ball skill, speed, acceleration and the ability to change direction at will. Combined, these skills make him one of the most gifted footballers of all time.

His supreme technical skills, speed and acceleration, along with his tactical insights made Cruyff virtually impossible to defend against. He made the centre forward position his own, wearing his trademark No.14 shirt, but would often drop deep or move to the wing to confuse his markers. It was these tremendous tactical insights that Cruyff developed as a player which helped him become a world class manager after hanging up his boots in 1984. 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 life.