Dutch Soccer Legend Johan Cruyff Dies At 68

Dutch soccer great Johan Cruyff died Thursday morning after a long battle with lung cancer.

Dutch Soccer Legend Johan Cruyff Dies At 68

The legendary Cruyff boasted a long career as a player for the Netherlands national team, Ajax Amsterdam and Barcelona. He reached his peak in the early 1970s and went on to successfully manage Barcelona. He is considered one of the best soccer players of all time, alongside Pele, Diego Maradona, Franz Beckenbauer and Lionel Messi.

Family spokeswoman Carol Thate stated that Cruyff died in Barcelona after battling lung cancer for five months.

“Another legend has left us today,” said Messi, the Argentina and Barcelona forward.

The Netherlands-France friendly on Friday in Amsterdam will be stopped in the 14th minute for a minute’s silence in honor of Cruyff, who made the No. 14 shirt his own during his great career as a player for the Netherlands team.

In the Netherlands, Prime Minister Mark Rutte said that “through him, the world knew the Netherlands.”

Former France international Michel Platini said the sport had lost one of its best players of all time. “Johan was my childhood hero, my idol and my friend,” said Platini, the former head of European soccer.

Cruyff won three Euorpean Cups with Ajax (1971, 1972, 1973) as a player and one with Barcelona as a coach. He was a three-time European player of the year, and was named Europe’s best player of the 20th century in 1999.

“Football has lost a man who did more to make the beautiful game beautiful than anyone in history,” said former England striker Gary Lineker, who played under Cruyff at Barcelona.

Cruyff was a cigarette smoker for most of his life, and finally quit after undergoing an emergency heart bypass operation in 1991. After further heart trouble in 1997, he vowed never to coach again, though he remained a heavily influential voice in the sport of soccer.

Cruyff was known for his surprising speed and agility, as well as his precise ball-control  that allowed him to trick opponents. “Speed and insight are often confused,” he said. “When I start running before everybody else, I appear faster.”

The Dutchman scored 392 times in 529 games over a 19-year playing career, playing 48 times and scoring 33 goals for the Netherlands. As a coach he had 242 victories in 387 matches, with 75 draws and 70 losses.

He was also one of the first soccer players to take on corporate sponsorships. Many Barcelona fans refer to Cruyff, who joined the team midseason in 1973, as “El Salvador,” or “the Savior.”

At the age of 32, Cruyff also played for the Los Angeles Aztecs of the MLS.

Many fans who watched Cruyff play as children can still replicate some of his moves, including the famous “Cruyff turn” — a tactic he used for passing defenders by faking toward them, then flicking the ball behind his other leg in the opposite direction and then chasing after it.

He made several soccer quotes famous, including, “You can’t score if you don’t shoot,” and “Before I make a mistake, I don’t make it.”

Cruyff launched a tradition of great forwards coming out of the Netherlands that included Marco Van Basten, Patrick Kluivert, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Dennis Bergkamp.

“He meant almost everything to me,” Dutch national team defender Ronald Koeman said.

He had a wife Danny, daughters Chantal and Susila, and a son Jordi, who also played soccer professionally.

Caption: KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA – MARCH 26: Johan Cruyff attends the 2014 Laureus World Sports Awards at the Istana Budaya Theatre on March 26, 2014 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images for Laureus)