Dutch football legend Johan Cruijff dies of cancer at 68

Photo: www.worldofjohancruyff.com/
Photo: www.worldofjohancruyff.com/

Dutch football legend Johan Cruijff has died at his home in Barcelona at the age of 68.

A statement on Cruijff’s own website said: ‘On March 24 2016 Johan Cruyff (68) died peacefully in Barcelona, surrounded by his family after a hard fought battle with cancer. It’s with great sadness that we ask you to respect the family’s privacy during their time of grief.’

Cruijff went public with his diagnosis for lung cancer in October 2015.

Cruijff had heart trouble in the early 1990s and underwent a bypass operation. He also stopped smoking around that time.

Having advertised cigarettes when a player, Cruijff took part in an anti-smoking commercial in Catalonia. In the advert, Cruijff said football had given him everything but that smoking had taken almost everything away.

Cruijff, credited with reviving Dutch football, won the European Player of the Year award in 1971, 1973 and 1974 as he helped Ajax to its hat-trick of European titles.

Michael van Praag, chairman of the Dutch football association KNVB said: ‘We have lost our best footballer ever, our number 14 and a great football friend.’

‘We are broken. Johan took Dutch football to greater heights. The KNVB will be eternally grateful to him. And I am going to miss Johan, my friend, enormously.’

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