A new youth football competition was launched at the weekend. More than 90 teams and 1600 young players from around the world appeared in the Cruyff Football Championship. It is the idea of Jordi Cruyff, who wants to ensure that the spirit of his father Johan lives on.
Jordi was overseeing events in the Catalonian resort of Salou, along with former Barcelona and Ajax players Roger Garcia and Isaac Cuenca. Naturally, both clubs were represented at the tournament. It was impossible to imagine without them.
“If Johan Cruyff's name is on the competition, we could not do it without Barcelona and Ajax. Both said yes immediately,” Albert Capellas, general manager of Cruyff Football, explains. Sky Sports. There was a third team that had to be there too.
Isaac Cuenca (left) and Roger Garcia (right) with Jordi Cruyff at the Cruyff Football Championship
“Pep Guardiola is the most representative coach for Cruyff, so Manchester City was the next team. It is a reminder that Cruyff's ideas about the game, the situation and the possession, still appear today. “It's an indirect effect,” said Capellas.
“His former players recognize him as the best mentor they ever had. However, he has an influence on the way the game is played. Now, if you look at English football , every time you see an English team trying to play from the game, this is the effect of Guardiola and Cruyff.
“It's the same with Spain. The national team was all about fighting, about duels (in the early 1980s). La Furia Espanola. After Johan, everything changed. We started give value to the technical players, those who can think quickly and move the ball quickly.
“That had a big impact on the national team. Now, Spain try to build the game, try to play in the other half, when they lose the ball they press up, all these concepts were from the time of Johan Cruyff . just change football in Catalonia.”
Johan Cruyff pictured as coach of FC Barcelona in 1995
Nevertheless, it was that region of Iberia that was the natural home for the first Cruyff Football Championship. It is there, almost as much as his native Holland, the home of Total Football, that Cruyff's principles are strongly felt. He changed Barcelona.
First, during his time as a player. Most importantly, as a coach. “He was at Barcelona for eight years and all the academy teams trained and played the same way. But he wasn't going to those teams and telling them how to play. It was the opposite.
“All the coaches thought he was so amazing, they wanted to do it. Sometimes he would watch the Barcelona B team. his thoughts.
“I was with Hristo Stoichkov two weeks ago. He said that there is no money in the world that could replace what he learned from Johan Cruyff. He said that he influenced him from the first day and that he could never have won the Ballon. That's it.
“I think it was at the last Ballon d'Or ceremony that they announced that Johan Cruyff is the creator of modern football. I really think he is the man who showed us how modern football should be played. been doing it for many years.”
Albert Capellas is among those working to ensure Johan Cruyff's legacy continues
With that in mind, it was a conversation with Jordi that inspired this. “He had this vision that through Cruyff Football we could write down this experience, explain it to the football community. Jordi told me, 'Look, Albert, we have to do this.'”
Through Cruyff Football, Capellas, who was the director of the academy in Barcelona, leads the coaching qualifications and has helped create an app so that coaches can prepare their sessions according to these ideas that Cruyff himself was involved in.
“We want to make sure this experience of Johan Cruyff stays around forever. We can't lose this. The way he trained, the positional games, the games with small sides, his way of thinking on football. We all have a responsibility to share this.”
All this raises an obvious question. If Cruyff's ideas are so broad, if the tentacles of his influence live on in the Premier League champions and last summer's European Championship winners, why worry that his legacy will be lost?
Capellas, who was the director of an academy in Barcelona, watched “hundreds and hundreds” of Cruyff's sessions. “They lasted less than an hour but they were high intensity. Just by listening to the sound of the ball, you would know if the positioning game was working.”
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For him, someone who grew up as a coach watching Cruyff work with Stoichkov, Romario and Michael Laudrup, there is a determination that Cruyff's views on football are not only remembered and studied – but critics don't understand me either.
“You see a lot of coaches saying you can't limit touches, you have to give players freedom or you lose their creativity. Johan was saying otherwise. If you need three touches, that's bad. Two touches are good. is wonderful.
“The concept is that the ball never gets tired. He moves quickly to frustrate the opposition, make them run and sooner or later they lose concentration and the gap appears. Top players recognize when to change their rhythm, when to use their rhythm. skill
“But Johan Cruyff was not a coach who banned touches in the final third because this is where the creativity comes, when the real player expresses himself, whether It was Romario or Stoichkov. It was about teaching players when you can take risks.
“He didn't say you can't dribble. When you see Michael Laudrup on the right wing, in a No 7 position, in a one-on-one position, go. Give him as much of space as he can. Let him remain in that position.
“Before people criticize a touch and two, they should know that there was a lot of room for players to show their creativity within his idea of football. It was not a system that suppressed that creativity. .”
Hopefully he would have enjoyed this tournament, one that featured some of the biggest names in European football, including Atletico Madrid and Inter, but also showcased some of the best young talent in the Catalonia region as well.
“We wanted local teams. An opportunity to prove themselves, to show their skills against the future stars of world football. The players go to the resort, they share knowledge, friendship and football. It's not just about the games, it's about the experience.”
Barcelona was represented at the Cruyff Football Championship in Salou
Every match has been recorded so that it is possible not only to do an individual analysis of the players but to access it for free in the app. “They can see their statistics, an opportunity to be audited.” This is for fun but it is also a competition with big ambitions.
The intention is that it will be a “point of reference” for other youth competitions around the world in the future. Expansion plans are already underway with the concept of food competitions in Ireland, Sweden and China – the winners competing in Catalonia.
“This is the best way to honor Johan Cruyff. He was looking for perfection. We must do the same. This is just the beginning. Football brings religions and societies together. There is nothing more powerful. And yes, I expect Barcelona and Ajax to always be there.”
