Dutch soccer legend Cruyff dies aged 68

AMSTERDAM, March 24 (Reuters): Johan Cruyff, one of soccer's greatest players and most influential and visionary coaches, died aged 68 on Thursday after a five-month battle with lung cancer.   His death was announced on his website and soon after by the De Telegraaf newspaper, for whom he wrote a weekly column that was often controversial but always eagerly anticipated.   An ex-smoker who had heart surgery in 1991, Cruyff joined Ajax Amsterdam as a long-haired teenager before emerging as one of the world's greats in the early 1970s.  

He helped Ajax Amsterdam win three European Cups in a row from 1971-73 and also named European Footballer of the Year in 1971, 1973 and 1974.   Born Hendrik Johannes Cruyff, he joined Barcelona for a then world record transfer fee of $2.0 million, and it was Barcelona that would later define his coaching career, helping the Catalan club to win their first La Liga title in nearly 15 years in 1974.   He was also a key player in the great Netherlands team that reached the 1974 World Cup final when, for the first time, during the tournament a global audience saw him perform the now-famous "Cruyff turn" the movement in which the ​player with the ball plays it behind their own leg before swerving away in the ​direction of the ​ball.   The Dutch also got to the World Cup final but lost again in 1978, this time without Cruyff who had quit the national side, saying years later he walked away after an armed kidnap attempt.   Following stints at Los Angeles Aztecs and Washington Diplomats in the old NASL, then Levante in Spain, Cruyff returned to Ajax before ending his playing career at their bitter rivals Feyenoord in 1984.   In 1999, he was voted European Player of the Century while he is often bracketed alongside Brazil's Pele and Argentina's Diego Maradona as the three best players ever to grace the sport.   The Barca 'Dream Team' Cruyff coached won four straight La Liga titles between 1991 and 1994 and beat Sampdoria 1-0 for the club's maiden European Cup triumph in 1992.   The possession-based playing style Cruyff promoted, with an emphasis on relentless attack, has been widely copied and is credited with underpinning Barca's subsequent successes, as well as those of the Spanish national team.   Former England captain Gary Lineker, who played under Cruyff at Barcelona, summed up the Dutchman's contribution by saying on Twitter: "Football has lost a man who did more to make the beautiful game beautiful than anyone in history." Cruyff had announced last October that he was suffering from lung cancer but continued to write his newspaper column and earlier this month travelled to Israel to visit his son Jordi, who is technical director at Maccabi Tel Aviv.   Only last month he said he was “2-0 up in the first half” of his battle against lung cancer. Poignantly that turned out to be one of the last public statements made by the man whose footballing pronouncements were eagerly sought after by soccer fans around the globe.   He died surrounded by friends and family at home in Barcelona, his website added.   His death prompted Dutch radio and television stations to suspend regular programming, with Ronald de Boer, another Dutch international who played at Barcelona, declaring: “He was the best footballer we ever had.”   Former Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola said: “RIP @JohanCruyff, a genius, a legend and the man who changed the mentality of the @FCBarcelona."   Fact Box  

• Born Hendrick Johannes Cruyff in Amsterdam on April 25, 1947.
• Cruyff began playing on the streets of Amsterdam and started his career with local side Ajax where he went on to win eight Dutch league titles. He also won three successive European Cups between 1971 and 1973.
• Lithe, wiry and strong he made his international debut in September 1966, scoring in a 2-2 European qualifier against Hungary. He was also the first Dutch player to be sent off in an international. From 1970, he always wore the number 14 jersey.
• Moved to Barcelona in 1973 for what was then a world record transfer fee of around $2 million. "The sale of Rembrandt's Night Watch could not have caused more dismay," commented one Dutch magazine at the time.
• He won the second of his three Ballon d'Or (now the European Player of the Year) awards in 1973 and in 1974 helped Barcelona win their first league title in nearly 15 years. He also endeared himself to locals by choosing a Catalan name for his son Jordi (born 1974) at a time when Spanish was the country's only official language under the rule of general Francisco Franco.
• Cruyff led the Dutch national team, the masters of 'Total Football', to the 1974 World Cup final where they inspired a generation with their fluid style of play that he once described as 'controlled chaos'. They lost 2-1 to hosts West Germany after taking a 1-0 lead but he was named player of the tournament, famed for close control and dazzling trickery with the ball including the famous 'Cruyff Turn' - the movement in which the player with the ball plays it behind their own leg before swerving away.
• He retired from international football in 1977, the year before the Dutch again reached and lost the World Cup final in Argentina to the hosts. He had scored 33 goals in 48 matches.
• In 1979 he moved to the Los Angeles Aztecs in the North American Soccer League and then joined the Washington Diplomats in 1980. The club folded later that year and Cruyff returned to Europe where he played for Spanish second division side Levante and then Ajax (where he won two more league titles) and Feyenoord (another title). He retired in May 1984, aged 37.
• Cruyff then entered management, coaching Ajax to European Cup Winners' Cup success in 1987.
• He returned to Barcelona as manager in 1988, where he oversaw the rise of a 'Dream Team' - a host of talented players including future manager Pep Guardiola that won four straight titles between 1991 and 1994. Until Guardiola, he was the club's most successful coach.
• In 1999 he was voted European Player of the Century.
• Cruyff was a chain-smoker for much of his career but gave up the habit after a double heart bypass in 1991 while still coaching Barcelona. He subsequently lent his image to an anti-smoking campaign under the slogan "Soccer gave me everything but smoking nearly took it away".
• He was diagnosed with cancer in 2015.