There is no denying Johan Cruyff’s impact on the field as a Barça great. The success and fashion of the men’s and women’s teams in recent years and decades bears witness to his footballing philosophy.
However, the Cruyff Foundation and FC Barcelona Foundation honored Cruyff’s social legacy on Wednesday during an event held at a special school in Barcelona, ahead of the eighth anniversary of his death on March 24.
Social integration through football, especially for the most vulnerable children, is the aim of the collaboration between the two foundations – who have worked jointly on projects in Catalonia for twenty years.
Club president Joan Laporta, the foundation directors, Johan’s wife Dani, and hundreds of excited schoolchildren gathered at La Segrera special school to remember the Dutch icon, hear his voice again over loudspeakers, and, of course, play football.
The football game was played on the school’s Cruyff Court, a little artificial grass field that was created as a result of the school and the Cruyff Foundation’s 2011 partnership. A 6 vs 6 competition for kids in the neighborhood takes place on the Cruyff Court as part of the ‘Salid y disfrutad’ initiative. The program is named after Cruyff’s renowned advice to the Barça players as manager as they took to the Wembley pitch in anticipation of winning their first-ever European Cup in 1992: “Go out there and enjoy yourselves.”
‘The best way to remember him’
The event, playing football at a school specialized in helping children who are behind their peers, was the “best way to remember” Cruyff, Laporta said.
“He hasn’t left us. He is very present when we remember him, very present with we talk about him, and very present at gatherings like today.”
Cruyff believed in “sport as a tool of solidarity,” the FC Barcelona president added.
Pati Roura, director of the Cruyff Foundation, said Cruyff’s social legacy was that “boys and girls can continue to enjoy sport, as is their right.”
Marta Segú, director of the FC Barcelona Foundation, said Cruyff “believed in the value of sport” to help all children, regardless of their economic situation, or any disabilities.
That was clear in projects like the Cruyff Courts and ‘Salid y disfrutad’ in schools with complex social makeups, Segú said.
Cruyff’s words echo
Although all three of the speakers referred to Cruyff’s preference for actions over words, the event featured a recording of him explaining that football can be a tool for integration.
“Children have the right to be young and enjoy themselves. Today there is a lot of immigration, and adaptation, integration is a lot easier if you play sport, if you play football.”
A legend for Ajax, the Netherlands and Barça, Cruyff is regarded as one of the best footballers of all time and one of the game’s most influential managers due to his implementation of Total Football.
At Barça, he is remembered for inspiring the club’s first league title in 14 years as a player, before later managing the team to four league titles in a row and delivering their first European Cup. He died on March 24, 2016 in Barcelona.
