Johan Cruyff

Hendrik Johannes Cruijff was born in Amsterdam in 1947, a few streets from the Ajax stadium where his mother worked as a cleaner. He joined the club's youth ranks at ten and grew into the emblem of Total Football, the fluid, position-swapping style developed under Rinus Michels that carried Ajax to three consecutive European Cups from 1971 to 1973.

Winner of the Ballon d'Or in 1971, 1973 and 1974, he moved to Barcelona for a world-record fee and led the Dutch national team to the 1974 World Cup final, where his elegance, and the feint known ever after as the Cruyff Turn, enchanted the world. As a coach he built Barcelona's 'Dream Team', winning the club's first European Cup in 1992.

More than trophies, he left a philosophy: press high, keep the ball, trust technique, and think faster than the opponent. The academies of Ajax and Barcelona still teach his principles, and much of today's elite football descends from them. He died of lung cancer in Barcelona in 2016. His legacy is a way of seeing the game, simple, beautiful and demanding.

Dutch footballer and coach, three-time Ballon d'Or winner and the guiding mind of Total Football, whose ideas reshaped how the modern game is played and taught.