85 Quotes by Johan Cruyff
Johan Cruyff, an iconic footballer and visionary coach, forever transformed the game of soccer. His playing style, characterized by grace, innovation, and a deep understanding of the sport, laid the foundation for "Total Football" – a strategic approach that emphasized fluidity and versatility on the field. As a player, Cruyff's charisma and skill made him a global sensation, while his transition to coaching saw him apply his insights to shaping generations of players and teams. Beyond the pitch, his influence extended to the philosophy of sports and the importance of using the game as a means of fostering personal and societal development. Cruyff's legacy endures as a testament to the impact that individuals who combine talent with a profound understanding of their craft can have on shaping the evolution of a sport and inspiring countless others to push boundaries.
Johan Cruyff Quotes
Playing football is very simple, but playing simple football is the hardest thing there is. (Meaning)
If you can't win, make sure you don't lose. (Meaning)
Every disadvantage has its advantage. (Meaning)
You have got to shoot, otherwise you can't score. (Meaning)
If I wanted you to understand it, I would have explained it better. (Meaning)
To win you have to score one more goal than your opponent (Meaning)
In a way I'm probably immortal. (Meaning)
Before I make a mistake, I don't make that mistake. (Meaning)
Every advantage has its disadvantage. (Meaning)
I still have a lot of room for improvement. (Meaning)
Soccer is simple, but it is difficult to play simple.
Technique is not being able to juggle a ball 1000 times. Anyone can do that by practicing. Then you can work in the circus. Technique is passing the ball with one touch, with the right speed, at the right foot of your team mate.
I find it terrible when talents are rejected based on computer stats. Based on the criteria at Ajax now I would have been rejected. When I was 15, I couldn't kick a ball 15 meters with my left and maybe 20 with my right. My qualities technique and vision, are not detectable by a computer.
It is better to fail with your own vision than to fail with another man's vision.
There's not one club in Europe with an anthem like You'll Never Walk Alone. There's not one club in the world so united with their fans. I sat there watching the Liverpool fans and they sent shivers down my spine. A mass of 40,000 people became one force behind their team. That's something not many teams have. For that I admire Liverpool more than anything.
Players that aren't true leaders but try to be, always bash other players after a mistake. True leaders on the pitch already assume others will make mistakes.
If you have the ball, you must make the field as big as possible, and if you don't have the ball, you must make it as small as possible.
Playing football is very simple, but playing simple football is the hardest thing there is.
There’s only one moment in which you can arrive in time. If you’re not there, you’re either too early or too late.
Every disadvantage has its advantage.
The hardest thing about an easy match is making a weak opponent play poor. A poor player isn't poor because he tends to kick the ball in his own goal. It's because when you put intense pressure on him, he loses control. So you have to increase the tempo of the game and he'll automatically give the ball away.
When you play a match, it is statistically proven that players actually have the ball 3 minutes on average ... So, the most important thing is: what do you do during those 87 minutes when you do not have the ball. That is what determines wether you're a good player or not.
I'm ex-player, ex-technical director, ex-coach, ex-manager, ex-honorary president. A nice list that once again shows that everything comes to an end.
The difference between right and wrong is often not more than five metres.
If my forward arrives in a one vs one situation, I always say: 'let him work it out.' Then my players say: But we can help him!'. My reply is: First, there's a good chance you'll only run in his way, and as a second attacker you're drawing a second defender with you, and two vs two is harder than one vs one.'
Why couldn't you beat a richer club? I've never seen a bag of money score a goal.
Football is a game of mistakes. Whoever makes the fewest mistakes wins.
Every trainer talks about movement, about running a lot. I say don't run so much. Football is a game you play with your brain. You have to be in the right place at the right moment, not too early, not too late.
He deserves ten out of ten for doing what he does. He is a sensation, but still he can improve. He must know when to move the ball on quickly and when to try the impossible mission. When he learns this, he won't win a single Golden Ball, but an entire collection.
YOU NEED BOTH QUALITY AND RESULTS. RESULTS WITHOUT QUALITY IS BORING; QUALITY WITHOUT RESULTS IS MEANINGLESS.
If you play on possession, you don't have to defend, because there's only one ball
Mourinho is a coach of titles, not football. Or rather, not a football coach if we understand the sport is a spectacle or entertainment for those who watch it, either at home or live in the stadium.
In a way I'm probably immortal.
In my teams, the goalie is the first attacker, and the striker the first defender.
Before I make a mistake, I don't make that mistake.
In small space a player has to be capable of acting quickly. A good player who needs too much time can suddenly become a poor player.
Sometimes something's got to happen before something is going to happen.
Playing against 10 is harder than playing against 11 players. You know why? The team with 11 will think "ok, we can take it easy now", while the team with 10 will think "We really have to work hard now."
Every advantage has its disadvantage.
You have got to shoot, otherwise you can't score.
Speed is often confused with insight. When I start running earlier than the others, I appear faster.
When you're playing against a team that has two great central defenders, the best option is to play without a striker.
Choose the best player for every position, and you'll end up not with a strong XI, but with 11 strong 1's.
A counter-attack can only arise when you make a mistake. That's why there are rules. A horizontal pass? Prohibited. In my line-up there are as many lines as possible. Because you must have the option to pass the ball forward, even if it's a meter. Because then I can still make up for the loss of possession. After a horizontal pass this is impossible.
Italians can't win the game against you, but you can lose the game against the Italians.
I always threw the ball in, because then if I got the ball back, I was the only player unmarked.
Footballers from the street are more important than trained coaches.
He has been outstanding. [Manuel] Neuer is an extraordinary goalkeeper, who would deserve to win it.
There are very few players who know what to do when they're not marked. So sometimes you tell a player: that attacker is very good, but don't mark him.
Football is simple but the hardest thing to do is play simple football.
Actually I never make a mistake, because it takes a huge effort for me to make a mistake.
If you can't win, make sure you don't lose.
If I wanted you to understand it, I would have explained it better.
For the world of football, Messi is a treasure because he is role model for children around the world... Messi will be the player to win the most Ballons d'Or in history. He will win five, six, seven. He is incomparable. He's in a different league.
The fun part of golf is the variety of shots. In football you can do anything with a ball, but you can do anything with a golf ball as well. When you hit a shot and the ball does exactly what you want it to do ... that's wonderful. It's just great when you hit the ball well. You should always try not to make the ball cry.
One trophy is good, but two are better. That way, when a hero wears his medals on his chest, at least his steps are level as he walks by.
Coincidence is logical.
If you want to play quicker you can start running faster, but it's the ball that decides the speed of the game.
The ball is an essential part of the game.
To win you have to score one more goal than your opponent
Someone who has juggled the ball in the air during a game, after which four defenders of the opponent get the time to run back, that's the player people think is great. I say he has to go to a circus.
I'm not religious. In Spain all 22 players make the sign of the cross before they enter the pitch. If it works all matches must therefore end in a draw.
It's all very simple: if you score one more than your opponent, you win.
What is speed? The sports press often confuses speed with insight. See, if I start running slightly earlier than someone else, I seem faster.
Italy cannot beat you but you can lose to Italy.
The most difficult thing about an easy match is to make a weak opponent play bad football.
Players today can only shoot with their laces. I could shoot with the inside, laces, and outside of both feet. In other words, I was six times better than today's players.
We must make sure their worst players get the ball the most. You'll get it back in no time.
Football is simple, you're either on time, or you're too late. If you're too late then you have to leave earlier.
You know I don't think there will ever be a time when the English player is not respected, and feared, across the world of football. The English footballer is very brave and strong and committed and there is always enough high-class players in his team to cause concern in any opponent. It is a national characteristic.
Without the ball, you can't win.
I look at Messi, and he makes me laugh. A beautiful footballer who is still like a kid. A world superstar, but still a kid. Innocent, you know. He just plays.
I still have a lot of room for improvement.
Often you see people who move there and then, once they have arrived, the ball moves here after which they also come here, but then the ball goes there again. I say: just stay where you are, then you are in any case at the right place half of the time.
To play well, you need good players, but a good player almost always has the problem of a lack of efficiency. He always wants to do things prettier than strictly necessary.
Football is about making mistakes. Who makes the most, loses the game.
There is only one ball, so you need to have it.
I don't make a lot of mistakes, because it's hard for me to be wrong
Every professional golfer has a seperate coach for his drives, for approaches, for putting. In football we have one coach for 15 players. This is absurd.
Football is about having the best offensive play possible. I always like to play offensive football, and nobody will convince me otherwise.
I don't want to be a thief of my own wallet.
I can be a new Di Stefano, but I can't be a new Pelé. He is the one that goes beyond the limits of logic.
However good an English team is, they will always have an additional advantage. It is that European players know that their English opponents will come at them in the belief they will win, and they can always be guaranteed never to stop fighting. They have a natural aggression that they are born with. If it ever goes, English football will lose its most valuable dimension.
Surviving the first round is never my aim. Ideally, I'd be in one group with Brazil, Argentina and Germany. Then I'd have lost two rivals after the first round. That's how I think. Idealisitic.
After you've won something, you're no longer 100 percent, but 90 percent. It's like a bottle of carbonated water where the cap is removed for a short while. Afterwards there's a little less gas inside.
― Johan Cruyff Quotes
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Tal Gur is an author, founder, and impact-driven entrepreneur at heart. After trading his daily grind for a life of his own daring design, he spent a decade pursuing 100 major life goals around the globe. His journey and most recent book, The Art of Fully Living, has led him to found Elevate Society.
