Johan Neeskens

Johan Neeskens was one of the greatest midfielders in football history and a fundamental piece of Dutch Total Football in the 1970s. He combined rare physical intensity, goal-scoring ability and enormous tactical intelligence, forming with Johan Cruyff the backbone of Ajax and the Dutch National Team. Discovered by RCH de Heemstede, he joined Ajax in 1970 and was part of the team that won three consecutive European Cups (1971, 1972 and 1973), one of the greatest dynasties in club football history. At the 1974 World Cup, he was one of the protagonists of the Mechanical Orange: he scored five goals in the tournament and converted, in the second minute of the final against West Germany, the first penalty in the history of World Cup finals — before the Germans even touched the ball. The Netherlands lost 2-1. Four years later, he was runner-up again at the World Cup in Argentina. In 1974 he transferred to Barcelona, reuniting with Cruyff, and in 1979 he moved to New York Cosmos, in the United States. After ending his playing career, he worked as a coach and assistant coach, including in the Dutch National Team's coaching staff and Barcelona's. He died in October 2024, at age 73, in Algeria, where he was working on a coach training project. In 2004, he had been included in the FIFA 100 list, of the greatest living players elected by Pelé.