Number 14 turns 60 today!

Happy Birthday to you Johan Cruyff!

Cruyff was awarded "Best European Soccer Player Of The 20th Century". He is without a doubt the most famous Dutch soccer player of all times.

Cruyff was internationally known for his technical ability, speed and acceleration, but his greatest quality was vision, his tactical understanding of the game.
The sports writer David Miller believed Cruyff superior to any previous player in his ability to extract the most from others. He dubbed him "Pythagoras in boots" for the complexity and precision of his angled passes and wrote: "Few have been able to exact, both physically and mentally, such mesmeric control on a match from one penalty area to another".
The Spanish fans showed their admiration for the talented player by giving him a special name. At Nou Camp in Barcelona he is known as "El Salvador" which is Spanish for "The Saviour".

After his retirement from playing soccer in 1984, he became manager of Ajax and later of FC Barcelona.

What is the story behind number 14? At the beginning of the 1970-1971 season Cruyff suffered a long-term groin injury. He made his comeback on 30 October 1970 against PSV. In this game he did not wear his usual number 9 which was used by Gerrie Mühren, but instead Cruyff used number 14. Ajax won the game 1-0. Although it was very uncommon in those days for the starters of a game not to play with numbers 1 to 11, from that moment onwards Cruyff's number was 14, even using the number with the Dutch national team. The number 14 became synonymous with Johan Cruyff, just like number 10 is synonymous with Pele.
There is even a documentary on Cruyff titled "Nummer 14 Johan Cruijff" and in Holland there is a magazine by Voetbal International titled "Nummer 14".
For many soccer players after Cruyff, the player's number proved an inconvenient heritage because, often, a comparison was made with the master. And that is a comparison only a few can bear.
From the next season onwards, Ajax has decided not to use number 14 anymore in honour of Johan Cruyff and in the light of his 60th birthday on April 25. This decision makes perfect sense to me, because if you say "Number 14" you will always think of Johan Cruyff.