The legendary Dutch midfielder Johan Neskens died suddenly in Algeria at the age of 73, as announced by the Dutch football federation (KNVB).
He felt unwell yesterday (6/10) while at an official event in Africa time representing the KNVB and his death was announced today.
“It is with great sadness that the KNVB has learned of the unexpected death of Johan Neskens.
Johan was one of our greatest. We will miss him very much.
We wish his wife Marlis, his children Christian, Tamara, Bianca and Armand, his grandchildren Joy and Lovee, relatives and friends a lot of strength to bear this great loss,” the Dutch football association said in a statement.
Johannes Jacobus “Johan” Neskens was born on September 15, 1951
At Ajax, Neskens was part of the great team that conquered Europe with three consecutive European Cups between 1971 and 1973, captained by Johan Cruyff.
He then followed Johan Cruyff and Rinus Michels to Barcelona.
He played for Barcelona between 1974 and 1979 (in 233 games, scored 54 goals and won two titles), one of the great legends in the history of Dutch football and one of the most loved foreign footballers in the history of Barcelona.
In 1975-76 he was the first winner of the ‘Don Balón’ award as the best foreign player in the Spanish league.
In 1979 he was transferred to the New York Cosmos, where he played until 1984. There, along with Franz Beckenbauer and Carlos Alberto Torres, he won the NASL championship in 1980 and 1982. In six seasons he scored 17 goals in 94 games and was in the best team three times, in 1979, 1980 and 1982. He then played for Groningen, the USL’s South Florida Suns, the Kansas City Comets and finished his career in Switzerland, playing for FC Baar and Chug.
A true charm, who formed, together with Johan Cruyff, one of the top “pairs” in the history of football.
In 2005 he was appointed assistant coach of the Australian national team under Gus Hiddig
In 2006, he joined Barcelona’s coaching staff as Frank Rijkaard’s assistant, but was sacked along with Rijkaard at the end of the 2007–08 season. He later became the manager of the Netherlands B national team until June 2009, when he became Frank Rijkaard’s assistant coach at Galatasaray, a job he held until 2010.
In addition to his football intelligence, Neskens stood out for his long hair, sideburns and tall legs.
Member of the Netherlands national team that was a finalist in the 1974 and 1978 FIFA World Cups.
He made his debut with the national team in 1970 and made 49 appearances until 1981, scoring 17 times.
In the 1974 final he scored the first goal of the match, with a powerful penalty in the second minute of the match.
He was also part of the team that finished third at Euro 1976.
In 2004, he was named one of the 125 greatest living footballers at a FIFA awards ceremony, and in 2017 he was included in the FourFourTwo list of the 100 greatest players of all time, ranked 64th.
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