Jordi Cruyff
![]() Cruyff in 2009 | |||
Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Johan Jordi Cruijff[1] | ||
Date of birth | [2] | 9 February 1974||
Place of birth | Amsterdam,[3] Netherlands | ||
Height | 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)[2] | ||
Position(s) | Attacking midfielder | ||
Youth career | |||
1981–1988 | Ajax | ||
1988–1992 | Barcelona | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
1992–1994 | Barcelona B | 47 | (14) |
1994–1996 | Barcelona | 41 | (11) |
1996–2000 | Manchester United | 34 | (8) |
1999 | → Celta Vigo (loan) | 8 | (2) |
2000–2003 | Alavés | 94 | (8) |
2003–2004 | Espanyol | 30 | (3) |
2006–2008 | Metalurh Donetsk | 28 | (0) |
2009–2010 | Valletta | 17 | (10) |
Total | 299 | (56) | |
International career | |||
1996 | Netherlands | 9 | (1) |
1995–2004 | Catalonia | 9 | (2) |
Managerial career | |||
2009–2010 | Valletta (player-assistant manager) | ||
2010–2012 | AEK Larnaca (sports director) | ||
2012–2017 | Maccabi Tel Aviv (sports director) | ||
2017–2018 | Maccabi Tel Aviv | ||
2018–2019 | Chongqing Dangdai Lifan | ||
2020 | Ecuador | ||
2020–2021 | Shenzhen | ||
2021–2023 | Barcelona (sporting director) | ||
*Club domestic league appearances and goals |
Johan Jordi Cruijff (anglicised to Cruyff; born 9 February 1974) is a Dutch-Spanish professional football manager and former player and sporting director of professional football at FC Barcelona.
He is the son of footballer Johan Cruyff. He played from 1992 through to 2010, including periods with Barcelona and Manchester United. He earned nine caps for the Netherlands national team, playing at UEFA Euro 1996, and he won the Premier League title in 1997 while at Manchester United.[4]
Cruyff played mainly as an attacking midfielder, although he could also perform as a second striker. In his later years, notably with Metalurh Donetsk, he also played as a centre back. After starting his career with Barcelona and playing for the Netherlands aged 22, Cruyff's career stalled while at Manchester United, as he appeared just 36 times in the league over four years largely because of injuries. His most successful period was arguably with Alavés, which he helped reach the 2001 UEFA Cup Final. He also played for Celta Vigo, Espanyol and finished his playing career with Valletta in the Maltese Premier League.
Under his stewardship as Maccabi Tel Aviv's sporting director, the club regained its dominance in Israeli football. The team won consecutive league titles from 2012 to 2015, as well as regularly qualifying for the Europa League and Champions League.[5]
Club career
[edit]Barcelona
[edit]![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/02/Johan_Cruijff_with_family_1977b.jpg/220px-Johan_Cruijff_with_family_1977b.jpg)
In 1992, Cruyff made his debut for Barcelona B in the Segunda División, becoming the team's top scorer alongside Óscar. Two years later, Cruyff was promoted to the senior team during a pre-season tour in the Netherlands, where he scored hat-tricks against Groningen and De Graafschap. On 4 September 1994, he made his top flight debut in a 2–1 defeat at Sporting Gijón. On 2 November, he played against Manchester United in the Champions League, setting up the first goal for Hristo Stoichkov, as Barcelona won 4–0.
That season, Barcelona finished fourth in La Liga and Cruyff was one of the team's top scorers alongside Stoichkov and Koeman, despite not being a regular starter. Cruyff scored the goal that guaranteed Barcelona played in Europe the following season.
Despite a positive start to the following campaign, Barcelona finished third, and were runners up in the Copa del Rey. On 19 May 1996, he played his last game for the club against Celta Vigo, at the Camp Nou.
Manchester United
[edit]In August 1996, Cruyff signed with Manchester United for a fee of £1.4 million on a four-year contract. He made his debut on 11 August in a 4–0 win over Newcastle United in the 1996 FA Charity Shield, and then played in a 3–0 win over Wimbledon, the opening league fixture of the 1996–97 FA Premier League. Cruyff then scored on his next two appearances, helping the team to 2–2 draws against Everton and Blackburn Rovers.
He was a regular in the first team until the end of November 1996, when he suffered another knee injury. Cruyff's spell at Manchester United was marked by injuries, but he played three games in the group stage of the 1998–99 UEFA Champions League. He played eleven times and scored twice in 1998–99 season, before a loan deal with Celta Vigo took him back to Spain in January 1999, and thus denying him the chance to win the treble achieved by the club in May 1999. He scored twice in eight games for the Spaniards before returning for United.
Cruyff's contract expired on 30 June 2000. In four years, he had played a total of 57 games for United and scored eight goals.[6][7]
Return to La Liga
[edit]After an initial agreement with Harry Redknapp's West Ham United fell through, Cruyff returned to Spain on a free transfer to Alavés. With the Basque club, he reached the 2001 UEFA Cup Final, against Liverpool: despite being 2–0 and then 3–1 down, Alavés embarked on a spirited comeback and Cruyff's goal in the 89th minute tied the game at 4–4. An own goal in extra time saw Liverpool lift the cup. Cruyff continued to play for Alavés until the club was relegated at the end of 2002–03.[8]
The following season, he joined Espanyol,[9] being played regularly in his only season. Cruyff decided against extending his contract with Espanyol and voluntarily left that summer.
Later career
[edit]He then trained with Bolton Wanderers, coached by Sam Allardyce, but failed a medical test. After he temporarily retired in 2004, Cruyff made a return to professional football in 2006, playing two seasons at the Ukrainian side Metalurh Donetsk,[10] where he played mainly as a centre back. At the same time, he entered the fashion business, helping develop the Cruyff clothing brand.
In mid-2009, Cruyff signed a three-year deal as a player-cum-assistant-manager of Maltese side Valletta, assisting first team coach Ton Caanen,[11] a role he admitted he did not take to.[12] He made his debut on 26 July 2009, in a 3–0 win in the Europa League 2009–10 first qualifying round against Icelandic side Keflavík. His first league appearance came on 21 August 2008, in a 3–1 win over Birkirkara. He scored his first goal on 29 August 2009 in a 6–0 win against Floriana. Valletta won the MFA Trophy in Cruyff's first season beating Qormi 2–1, although Cruyff did not play in the final as he was not fully fit.
Despite mostly playing as a defensive player in the latter stages of his career, Cruyff took on a more attacking role with Valletta.[13]
International career
[edit]![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3a/Scotland-holland_euro_96.jpg/220px-Scotland-holland_euro_96.jpg)
Cruyff was approached to play at under-21 level by both Spain and the Netherlands. He was unsure which country to represent, and in 1996 he declined the possibility to join the Spanish team for the Olympic Games; meanwhile, his performances for Barcelona persuaded coach Guus Hiddink to include him in the Netherlands squad for UEFA Euro 1996. He made his debut for the national side in a 2–0 friendly defeat against Germany on 24 April 1996. He scored his only goal for the Netherlands during a 2–0 win against Switzerland at Villa Park on 13 June,[14] and was one of five Dutch footballers to be selected for the Dutch national team while never having played in the Eredivisie.[15]
Career as sports director
[edit]AEK Larnaca
[edit]In 2010, Cruyff announced his retirement from professional football and joined AEK Larnaca as director of football on a three-year deal.[16][17] He appointed Ton Caanen as head coach, and the pair worked to establish the team as a new football powerhouse in Cyprus. In his first season, the team finished fourth, and qualified for the Europa League. In his second season, AEK Larnaca qualified for the group stage of the Europa League, after beating Rosenborg in the play-offs.
The participation of the team in the 2011–12 UEFA Europa League was historic for both the club and for Cypriot football, as the club became the first Cypriot team to secure qualification to the Europa League (preceded by Anorthosis and APOEL in the group stages of the Champions League). The team finished fifth that season in the domestic league.
Maccabi Tel Aviv
[edit]In April 2012, Cruyff was appointed by Mitchell Goldhar, owner of Maccabi Tel Aviv, as the sports director of the club,[18] paying compensation to AEK Larnaca.[19][20] His initial work included signing Óscar, then head coach of Barcelona Juvenil A, as the new head coach.
Cruyff's arrival finally put an end to Maccabi Tel Aviv's bad fortunes in the league, as they won their first championship in ten years. Under Cruyff's and Garcia's stewardship, Maccabi dominated the league and claimed the title by thirteen points ahead of their nearest rival. The team finished the season as the league's highest scorers, with 78, whilst only conceding 30 - the fewest in the league.
The 2013–14 season saw a change in the club's coach position, when Cruyff appointed the Portuguese coach, Paulo Sousa to replace Garcia, after the Spanish coach was signed by English Championship side Brighton and Hove Albion. During this period, many players left the club whilst several others were recruited.
The team continued its success in the league competition by claiming another league title by a margin of 16 points. The club also enjoyed success in the Europa League as they advanced to the round of 32 following a difficult group stage, where they beat Bordeaux (twice) and Eintracht Frankfurt before eventually exiting the competition following a loss to Basel.
The 2014–15 season was characterized by a difficult start. Operation Protective Edge meant that the qualifying games to the UEFA Champions League were held away from Israel, leading Maccabi to be ousted from both the Champions League and the Europa League. There was also a change in club manager following Paulo Sousa's appointment at FC Basel. Oscar Garcia briefly returned but left before the beginning of the season when Cruyff appointed Pako Ayestarán, former assistant to Rafael Benítez at Liverpool. Maccabi Tel Aviv became the first Israeli team to win all three local trophies: the Israeli Premier League, the Israel State Cup and the Toto Cup.
In April 2015, Cruyff renewed his contract for a further two years despite interest from English Championship and Bundesliga sides.
In the 2015–16 season, Cruyff appointed Slaviša Jokanović as head coach after the Serbian had promoted Watford to the Premier League. The team qualified for the UEFA Champions League group stages for the first time in 11 years, playing against Chelsea, Porto and Dynamo Kyiv in Group G, before exiting the competition. Cruyff appointed Vitesse's Peter Bosz[21] after Jokanovic signed as the new Fulham's head coach at the end of December.[22]
Managerial career
[edit]In his first full season as head coach in the 2017–18 season, Cruyff led Maccabi Tel Aviv to Toto Cup glory, oversaw a second-place league finish and secured European qualification for a sixth successive year since he joined the club in 2012. At the start of that campaign, he successfully guided the team through four qualifying rounds to reach the UEFA Europa League group stage. At the end of the season, he announced his intention to leave the club to begin new experiences.[23]
On 8 August 2018, Cruyff was appointed as the manager of Chinese Super League side Chongqing Dangdai Lifan.[24] In 2019, he led the club to their best start in Super League history but decided to not renew his contract, and left the club at the end of the season.[25]
On 3 January 2020, Cruyff reached an agreement to become manager of the Ecuador national side.[26] On 23 July 2020, Cruyff resigned from his position. This came after several major leadership changes in the Ecuadorian Football Federation. Ecuador did not play any matches or hold any training camps in his time as head coach, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
On 14 August 2020, Cruyff was appointed as the manager of Chinese Super League club Shenzhen.[27]
On 2 June 2021, Barcelona announced his appointment to the role of sporting advisor.[28][29][30]
Career statistics
[edit]Club
[edit]Club[31] | Season | League | National cup[a] | League cup[b] | Europe | Other | Total | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
Barcelona | 1993–94 | La Liga | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | ||
1994–95 | La Liga | 28 | 9 | 2 | 0 | — | 5[c] | 0 | 1[d] | 0 | 36 | 9 | ||
1995–96 | La Liga | 13 | 2 | 1 | 0 | — | 4[e] | 0 | — | 18 | 2 | |||
Total | 41 | 11 | 3 | 0 | — | 9 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 54 | 11 | |||
Manchester United | 1996–97 | Premier League | 16 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4[c] | 0 | 1[f] | 0 | 22 | 3 |
1997–98 | Premier League | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1[f] | 0 | 8 | 0 | |
1998–99 | Premier League | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3[c] | 0 | 1[f] | 0 | 11 | 2 | |
1999–2000 | Premier League | 8 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4[c] | 0 | 4[g] | 0 | 17 | 3 | |
Total | 34 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 58 | 8 | ||
Celta Vigo (loan) | 1998–99 | La Liga | 8 | 2 | 1 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 9 | 2 | ||
Alavés | 2000–01 | La Liga | 35 | 3 | 0 | 0 | — | 10[e] | 4 | — | 45 | 7 | ||
2001–02 | La Liga | 33 | 4 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | 33 | 4 | ||||
2002–03 | La Liga | 26 | 1 | 3 | 0 | — | 3[e] | 0 | — | 32 | 1 | |||
Total | 94 | 8 | 3 | 0 | — | 13 | 4 | — | 110 | 12 | ||||
Espanyol | 2003–04 | La Liga | 30 | 3 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | 30 | 3 | |||
Metalurh Donetsk | 2006–07 | Vyshcha Liha | 13 | 0 | 3 | 0 | — | — | — | 16 | 0 | |||
2007–08 | Vyshcha Liha | 15 | 0 | 2 | 1 | — | — | — | 17 | 1 | ||||
Total | 28 | 0 | 5 | 1 | — | — | — | 33 | 1 | |||||
Valletta | 2009–10 | Maltese Premier League | 17 | 10 | 1 | 0 | — | 4[h] | 0 | — | 22 | 10 | ||
Career total | 252 | 42 | 14 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 37 | 4 | 8 | 0 | 316 | 47 |
- ^ Includes Copa del Rey, FA Cup, Ukrainian Cup, Maltese FA Trophy
- ^ Includes Football League Cup
- ^ a b c d Appearances in UEFA Champions League
- ^ Appearance in Supercopa de España
- ^ a b c Appearances in UEFA Cup
- ^ a b c Appearance in FA Charity Shield
- ^ Appearance in FA Charity Shield, appearance in UEFA Super Cup, two appearances in FIFA Club World Championship
- ^ Appearances in UEFA Europa League
International
[edit]National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
---|---|---|---|
Netherlands | 1996 | 9 | 1 |
Total | 9 | 1 |
- Scores and results list the Netherlands' goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Cruyff goal.
No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 13 June 1996 | Villa Park, Birmingham, United Kingdom | ![]() |
1–0 | 2–0 | UEFA Euro 1996 | [32] |
Managerial statistics
[edit]- As of 30 May 2021
Team | Nat | From | To | Record | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
G | W | D | L | Win % | ||||
Maccabi Tel Aviv (caretaker) | ![]() |
5 January 2017 | 10 February 2017 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 85.71 |
Maccabi Tel Aviv | ![]() |
1 July 2017 | 30 June 2018 | 50 | 29 | 9 | 12 | 58.00 |
Chongqing Dangdai Lifan | ![]() |
8 August 2018 | 14 December 2019 | 46 | 14 | 14 | 18 | 30.43 |
Ecuador | ![]() |
13 January 2020 | 23 July 2020 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
Shenzhen | ![]() |
6 September 2020 | 4 June 2021 | 17 | 7 | 4 | 6 | 41.18 |
Total | 120 | 56 | 28 | 36 | 46.67 |
Honours
[edit]Player
[edit]Barcelona
Manchester United
Manager
[edit]Maccabi Tel Aviv
Sources
[edit]- Barça: A People's Passion (1998), Jimmy Burns.[37]
References
[edit]- ^ "Jordi Cruyff: Profile". worldfootball.net. HEIM:SPIEL. Retrieved 29 October 2021.
- ^ a b c "Jordi Cruyff: Overview". Premier League. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
- ^ "Jordi Cruyff". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
- ^ "Jordi Cruyff Profile, News & Stats | Premier League". premierleague.com. Retrieved 18 August 2021.
- ^ Tweedale, Ali (22 March 2021). "Go for it". The Coaches' Voice. Retrieved 18 January 2023.
- ^ "Jordi Cruyff - Manchester United FC - Football-Heroes.net". Sporting-heroes.net. Retrieved 11 October 2011.
- ^ McCleery, Jonathan (9 February 1974). "Jordi Cruyff: Manchester United Profile". Dnausers.d-n-a.net. Archived from the original on 10 July 2012. Retrieved 11 October 2011.
- ^ Vrije transfer voor Jordi bij Alaves - NRC (in Dutch)
- ^ Cruijff door keuring en tekent bij Espanyol - Voetbal International (in Dutch)
- ^ 'Jordi Cruijff langer bij Metalurg Donetsk' - Voetbal International (in Dutch)
- ^ Caanen en Cruijff gaan Maltezer topclub leiden - Voetbal International (in Dutch)
- ^ Jordi Cruyff: Because of my name I’m not a guy who can make mistakes theguardian.com
- ^ Malta a pleasant experience, says in-form Cruyff timesofmalta.com
- ^ Intl career stats - EU Football
- ^ Debuut Tim Krul bij AZ eindigt in nederlaag tegen PSV - Volkskrant (in Dutch)
- ^ timesofmalta.com, Cruyff to hang up boots at end of season
- ^ "AEK Larnaca". Aek-larnaca.epik.com. Archived from the original on 11 August 2011. Retrieved 11 October 2011.
- ^ Jordi Cruijff wordt technisch directeur bij Maccabi Tel Aviv - NU (in Dutch)
- ^ Timor, Lior (13 April 2012). "Jordi Cruyff signed an agreement with Maccabi Tel Aviv: It's a special club" (in Hebrew). ONE. Retrieved 13 April 2012.
- ^ "Jordi Cruyff joins Maccabi Tel Aviv". Maccabi Tel Aviv FC. 13 April 2012. Archived from the original on 17 April 2012. Retrieved 13 April 2012.
- ^ "Vitesse coach Peter Bosz heads for Tel Aviv". Dutch News. 4 January 2016. Retrieved 25 April 2020.
- ^ "Slavisa Jokanovic: Fulham appoint Serb as new head coach". BBC Sport. 27 December 2015. Retrieved 25 April 2020.
- ^ "Jordi Cruyff pone fin a seis años de éxito en el Maccabi Tel Aviv". Marca.com (in Spanish). 27 March 2018. Retrieved 18 January 2023.
- ^
重 庆官方 宣布 新 帅上任 克 鲁伊夫 之子 执掌斯威教鞭 (in Chinese). Sina. 8 August 2018. Retrieved 8 August 2018. - ^ "斯威
官 宣 小 克 鲁伊夫 不 再 执教双方 就续约未达一致 ". Sina (in Chinese). 14 December 2019. Retrieved 16 December 2019. - ^ Aldunate, Ramiro (3 January 2020). "Official: Jordi Cruyff becomes Ecuador's new head coach". Marca. Madrid. Retrieved 3 January 2020.
- ^ "
深 足 官 方 宣布 小 克 鲁伊夫 出 任 球 队主帅". Sina Sports (in Chinese). 14 August 2020. Retrieved 14 August 2020. - ^ "Jordi Cruyff to join the football area of the Club as of August 1". fcbarcelona.com. 3 June 2021. Retrieved 3 September 2021.
- ^ "FC Barcelona - La Liga - Official: Jordi Cruyff joins Laporta's staff". Marca.com. 3 June 2021. Retrieved 3 June 2021.
- ^ "Jordi Cruyff: I would never replace Koeman, it would be ugly and I have principles". Marca.com. 14 July 2021. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
- ^ "Jordi Cruijff Profile" (in Dutch). Voetbal International. Retrieved 26 September 2009.
- ^ a b "National football team player Jordi Cruyff". EU Football Info.
- ^ "Supercopa / Spanish Super Cup 1994".
- ^ "Manchester United v Newcastle United, 11 August 1996". 11v11.com. AFS Enterprises. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
- ^ "Charity remains at home". The Irish Times. Dublin. 4 August 1997. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
- ^ "גביע הטוטו ליגת העל מחזור 3". Israel Football (in Hebrew). 14 December 2017. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
- ^ Burns, Jimmy (2000). Barca: A People's Passion. ISBN 0747545545.
External links
[edit]![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- Jordi Cruyff at National-Football-Teams.com
- Jordi Cruyff at BDFutbol
- Jordi Cruyff at Soccerbase
- SportingHeroes profile
- National team data (knvb.nl) at the Wayback Machine (archived 2007-03-26) (in Dutch)
- Jordi Cruyff at Wereld van Oranje (archived) (in Dutch)
- Jordi Cruyff – FIFA competition record (archived)
- Jordi Cruyff – UEFA competition record (archive)
- Jordi Cruyff at UAF and archived FFU page (in Ukrainian)
- Johan Cruyff
- 1974 births
- Living people
- Footballers from Amsterdam
- Dutch men's footballers
- Footballers from Catalonia
- Men's association football midfielders
- FC Barcelona Atlètic players
- FC Barcelona players
- Manchester United F.C. players
- RC Celta de Vigo players
- Deportivo Alavés players
- RCD Espanyol footballers
- FC Metalurh Donetsk players
- Valletta F.C. players
- La Liga players
- Premier League players
- Ukrainian Premier League players
- Maltese Premier League players
- Netherlands men's international footballers
- Catalonia men's international footballers
- UEFA Euro 1996 players
- Dutch expatriate men's footballers
- Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Spain
- Dutch expatriate sportspeople in England
- Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Ukraine
- Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Malta
- Expatriate men's footballers in Spain
- Expatriate men's footballers in England
- Expatriate men's footballers in Ukraine
- Expatriate men's footballers in Malta
- Dutch football managers
- Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C. managers
- Chongqing Liangjiang Athletic F.C. managers
- Ecuador national football team managers
- Israeli Premier League managers
- Chinese Super League managers
- Dutch expatriate football managers
- Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus
- Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Israel
- Dutch expatriate sportspeople in China
- Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Ecuador
- Expatriate football managers in Israel
- Expatriate football managers in China
- Expatriate football managers in Ecuador