Why did Johan Cruyff wear number 14?

In his book I am Number 14, author Tom Nunn tells us that when he reached a high level in football, wearing number 14 became important.

He wore it in the Netherlands because the first of the Dutch superstars, Piet Goedkoop, had worn it, and because of that, number 14 was becoming an important number.

As Tom Nunn explains, Johan Cruyff had played for the Holland national football team on two occasions at the start of his career, but only one in his whole career, in 1966, and his debut as a starter came on October 8th, 1968 in a friendly match against West Germany. By that time Dutch fans already knew their Cruyff in the role of a midfielder. Because of that, number 14 became a symbol of Cruyff-man, and his goal for the Netherlands in the 1st match of the 1974 FIFA World Cup, his legendary hat-trick against England, and some amazing passes helped create this image.

Cruyff-man (Cruyff-nummer vier) was a perfect term to describe the image of footballers in those days: Cruyff as king of football. And in those years, if you were good in football, it meant that you were king of football.

Of course, that didn't last very long and in recent years the image changed. When Johan Cruyff died in March 2025 the first reactions on social media were not very nice: Cruyff was the worst Dutch footballer ever! or He was just a cheat. Even at Euro 2025, his image was under attack as the German newspapers were accusing him of faking injuries.

But the Cruyff-haters had it wrong. In the old days Cruyff was seen as a symbol, while today the symbols of a country are more often players from the national squad and not managers. And we should be careful of the opinions we form about the great players when playing on the web - especially since in most cases there is no concrete evidence to back it up.

We tend to believe in what we see and read, what is said and repeated, and sometimes those opinions may not be completely factual or entirely accurate.

What was Johan Cruyff's favorite food?

Johan Cruyff was a fan of the French cuisine.

His favorite food was probably a steak with some truffles and potatoes. He loved it, because it reminded him of his childhood. You could say he had a special relationship to the French cuisine. He felt very comfortable in France, but also loved to eat the french cuisine. So it was probably his favorite.

Where did he live when he won the World Cup? The answer to this question might surprise you. Cruyff actually lived in The Hague in Holland.

What is the most famous anecdote about Johan Cruyff? Johan Cruyff was the first football player to have a sports car. He drove a Porsche 959. He used to take all of his team mates out in his Porsche at the team's hotel. The Dutch press called him "Porsche Johan" (Porsche Johan) because of this fact.

How old was he when he died? At the age of 53 he died. Did he have a girlfriend? Yes, he did. He had three girlfriends and two sons.

Who was his first girlfriend? His first girlfriend was Wilhelmina Groot (1875-1953), a Dutch painter. She inspired Cruyff to be a footballer.

Who was his second girlfriend? His second girlfriend was Nuria Sanz. She became a ballet dancer in Paris.

Who was his third girlfriend? His third girlfriend was Chantal Regnier. What was his last girlfriend? His last girlfriend was Anje Wienbruch. How did his relationships end? All three of his girlfriends were killed. Cruyff as a kid. In Cruyff's youth, he was a very happy child. He was a big fan of music. He was not interested in other sports at the beginning of his childhood. He did not like to play table tennis. He liked football. He played every day. Even if he was sick, he used to go to football. But there were other kids who were interested in other sports.

When he was 13 years old, he decided to quit the school. He joined the HBS. He took on a job, and worked as an assistant barkeeper. He was interested in soccer.

What did Johan Cruyff invent?

A Dutchman!

The best player in the history of football!

Johan Cruyff was born on the 8th of May 1956 in Amsterdam. He is one of the greatest football players in history, with his name still being associated with the most successful teams of all time. Although he was a true genius on the field of play, his true talent was as a coach.

There were many debates around the world about who was the greatest. And in his book "Johan Cruyff. A Memoir" he writes about his life and how he was not one of the greatest because he is the greatest.

He also mentioned about a new game he invented for his team, Ajax. This game was called Eerste Divisie Pro-venement or simply Pro-venement, and it was designed to give a chance to young players. The game was similar to a friendly, but the first teams played for a total of 20 minutes with only the goalkeepers (no substitutions). After 20 minutes the teams would change sides and start again from the beginning. The team that scored first won the match.

The first match of Pro-venement took place on 19th December 1975 in the stadium De Meer. It was a match between Ajax and the team that at the time was considered the best Dutch amateur team, Sint-Niklaas. Both teams were very proud of their clubs and were very professional. The match was won by Ajax, who also went on to win the Dutch league that season.

And here's a picture of the first match of Pro-venement, and the famous goalkeeper of Ajax, Johnny Rep. After he played for Ajax, he was transferred to the Belgian team Anderlecht. They also played a very important part in his career, and they had another game that was specially invented for him. They called it the game van de Johan Cruyff.

In 1970 Ajax and Anderlecht played in the cup semi-finals, and Ajax was already considered as the biggest and strongest team in the Netherlands. So the games were very important for Ajax, as a win meant they would be playing in the final and could even win the cup. The teams played a very tight match, but Anderlecht, who played in the first division, was better and beat Ajax 3-1.

What is the Johan Cruyff Shield?

The Johan Cruyff Shield is a Dutch national soccer competition, first contested in 1992.

Since 2025, the teams competing are ranked according to UEFA rankings and the league finishes in the last two seasons.

The winner of the cup will automatically qualify for the 2016-17 UEFA Europa League unless already qualified from the qualifying stage. The cup winner will also receive automatic qualification for the group stage of the 2017-18 UEFA Champions League (this qualification being a part of domestic league champions' participation in Europe). In addition, due to the increased number of teams in the tournament, if no team from the highest-ranked league was able to automatically qualify for the cup's preliminary round, those leagues would not receive any teams into that stage, which would in turn lower their standings when compared to leagues that had an automatic berth.

If a league did have such an automatic spot, the other teams placed in those league would need to be eliminated to create room for a team into the cup's preliminary round. However, since it has been decided that any league can have at most three entrants into the cup's preliminary round, none of those eliminated teams would necessarily have an opportunity to reach the final.

Why hasn't Barcelona won it? Since 1992, Barcelona has only finished as runners-up once, in 2025, which represents the team's best overall showing in the competition. Since then, the team has also finished as runners-up in 2025, but the team were not eligible for the competition because by that time Anderlecht had already qualified for the 2016-17 UEFA Champions League as they won the 2015-16 Belgian First Division. Furthermore, should Atletico Madrid be able to repeat their previous effort as runners-up in the 2018-19 season, the title would be awarded to the team with the fewest points from their league record before the last matchday of the regular season.

For the 2025 edition, in which Barcelona was already champion with 90 points before the last matchday, Bara finished on 89 points in fourth place in the end-of-season standings. As a result, Barcelona were out of the running.