The legendary Dutchman - who has passed away aged 68 - was not just an awesome footballer. He was an innovative one too
Johan Cruyff was not just an Ajax, Barcelona and Holland legend. He was a football legend.
As one of the greatest talents to ever grace the game, the iconic Dutchman - who has died after losing his battle with cancer - won all manner of awards and medals.
But plenty of famous footballers have retired with bulging trophy cabinets. Cruyff was different. As both a player and a manager, Cruyff was an innovator, often tearing up the rulebook and coming up with new, ground-breaking ways of approaching the game.
Hence why he was the first man in football to do an awful lot of things…
1. First footballer to do THAT turn
How many players have a world famous, regularly used piece of skill named after them?
2. First star of 'Total Football'
Forget tiki-taka. Long before Barcelona and Spain's trademark tactic, there was the Ajax and Holland team of the 1970s and their unique system of "total football". Led by Cruyff, their style was based around quick passing, quick movement and constant rotation of position.
Sound familiar? Cruyff was basically Lionel Messi and Andres Iniesta rolled into one… forty years ago.
3. First player to win three Ballon d'Or awards
Yeah, Messi has five. But long before he was even born, Cruyff won three golden balls in just four years (1971, 1973 and 1974).
4. First man to wear an adidas two-striped shirt in a World Cup final
Perhaps the best evidence of Cruyff's refusal to be conventional came in the 1974 World Cup final, between Holland and West Germany. Holland had a deal with adidas, and so were due to wear the classic adidas three stripes on their shirts for the final.
Cruyff, however, had an individual boot deal with Puma. So, did he diplomatically explain the situation to his sponsors and avoid rocking the boat?
Did he heck. Look closely at the picture above and you'll see that while his team-mates wore the three stripes, Cruyff insisted on only wearing two!
5. First star to regularly wear a squad number outside of 1-11
Johan Cruyff performing the Cruyff turn
All of you young professional footballers who long to wear a bizarre squad number in the 40s or 50s? You owe Cruyff a thank-you.
Back in his day, every team simply wore 1-11. Returning from injury early in the 1970-71 season, the then Ajax forward's No9 shirt was being worn by a team-mate… so he decided he would wear No14.
From then on, he defied convention (not for the first or last time) by sticking with his new number.
6. First footballer to cost $2m
Cruyff's world record moved from Ajax to Barcelona in 1973 made him the first player to cost more than two million US dollars.
Might not sound like much now, but back then that was a FORTUNE.
7. First man to realise the potential of La Masia
La Masia is now a legendary institution - the football factory responsible for the conveyer belt of small, clever, technically gifted players that continue to find their way from into the Barcelona first team.
So where did the idea for football's most famous academy come from? Cruyff, of course.
La Masia existed before he was appointed Barca manager in 1988, but it was a word away from what we know today. Youngsters were picked on size and physical strength. It was Cruyff who changed the outlook, ensuring the emphasis was on technique and ability.
It's no exaggeration to say that without the Dutchman's vision, Andres Iniesta and Lionel Messi may have got no further at Barcelona than the front door.
8. First Dutch international to ever be sent off
Perhaps not the most glorious of his achievements, but against Czechoslovakia in 1968, Cruyff became the first Holland player to ever see red. It was only his second cap.
9. First (and only) winner of European Player of the Century
Which says it all, really…
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