It's disappointing to see how football, the world's No. 1 sport, is not No. 1 when it comes to development. It seems to me that a wealth of practical football knowledge is being squandered.
Johan CruyffRead
Ajax is a multicultural club, and we have found that many talented immigrant players quit when they reach puberty. So we wanted to tackle this problem with someone from the same background who had come through it. And that was Edgar Davids. During one of our fights, I pointed that out to him. But it had nothing to do with his skin colour.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the importance of diversity and understanding in sports development.
Johan Cruyff reflects on the challenges faced by multicultural clubs in nurturing immigrant talent, particularly when young players face pivotal moments in their careers. By involving someone like Edgar Davids, who shares a similar background, Cruyff underscores the significance of representation and support for inspiring young athletes to persevere beyond adolescence, separate from issues of race.
Themes
DiversityImmigrantTalentSupportSportsUnderstanding
In practice
Example use cases
During a sports conference about youth development.
More from Johan Cruyff
All quotes →Football is not about suffering. It's about enjoyment. Control the ball, be friendly with it, try to attack, try to score goals. Of course defending is part of it, but you can defend in a lot of ways.
Johan CruyffRead
If you look at other countries, you see they have different values: defend more, pass the ball out more, winning is holy. In England, you could say that sport itself is holy. They say, 'Look, guys, it's about more than just winning.'
Johan CruyffRead
If you take golf, you have a teacher for the drive, a teacher for the approach play, and a teacher for the putt. That's three specialist coaches for one player. In football, one coach looks after 25 players.
Johan CruyffRead
The most important part are the fans, that people going home are happy. It's their time off, and you should give them something to enjoy.
Johan CruyffRead
Football is about having the best offensive play possible. I always like to play offensive football, and nobody will convince me otherwise.
Johan CruyffRead
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