Cruyff's sudden death a shock to everyone.
Although he was open about his battle with cancer over the last six months since his diagnosis last October, it never impacted his usual activities and he was only undergoing mild cancer treatments.
In fact he was in Israel visiting his son Jordi, sporting director at Maccabi Tel Aviv, two weeks ago.
Cruyff's last tweet was three days ago (on Dutch clubs in Europe) and he remained an active traveler between Barcelona, Amsterdam and other countries right until the end. He was active in his own football academies and writing about football.
His autobiography came out recently in the Netherlands.
Cruyff's last weekly Dutch newspaper column in De Telgraaf was published three days ago about PSV's Champions League game last week and Ajax's game last weekend. English translation:
http://cruyff.com/asp/eng/newsarticle.asp?refId=65...
He quit as adviser to Ajax Amsterdam last November only due to feeling his vision wasn't being followed, rather than due to health issues.
Lung cancer claimed him aged 68. He was a heavy smoker during his playing career but stopped in 1992 after double heart bypass surgery and even made anti-smoking commercials: "Football gave me everything in life, smoking almost took it away..."
Johan Cruyff's Twitter account (an active commentator on football philosophies right to the end):
https://twitter.com/johancruyff
Johan Cruyff @JohanCruyff 2 hours ago View translation
Johan Cruyff 1947-2016 (RIP)
"Before I make a mistake, I don't make that mistake." - Johan Cruyff.
View translation
Report