Johan Cruyff, the football philosopher

Only a few meters from the De Meer Stadion, the great football talent Hendrik Johannes Cruyff (later better known as Johan Cruyff) inevitably joined Dutch flagship club Ajax. On November 15, 1964, he made his debut in the Eredivisie - aged just 17-years old. And of course, he scored.

A lack of enthusiasm in the Ajax boardroom threatened to limit his time on the pitch. Weighing just 60 kilograms, Cruyff was considered too thin, but what especially displeased the officials at the Amsterdam club was his public cigarette smoking. The new head coach Rinus Michels was convinced of his talent, and made him a first-team regular, after strength exercises and forest runs.

Cruyff was quickly becoming a superstar in the Ajax team and in a system, that today is famously known as 'Total Football': Aggressive pressing and continuous formation changes. The entire team begins the game with attacking pressure on the opponent. Among other things, the team won three European Cups, with the 1972 triumph pictured above.

Cruyff was quick to become a talking point on the international stage. In his first international match in 1966, he was sent off - the first Dutch player to ever be shown a red card. The association suspended him for a year. Then, at the 1974 World Cup in West Germany, Cruyff captained the Netherlands to an incredible final, which they lost to the hosts.

With many teammates Cruyff was known to show an arrogant manner which was not well received. At Ajax, he was voted out as captain. He was offended, but the timing was perfect - for the first time, the Spanish league opened its borders to foreign professionals. Coach Michels brought him to Barcelona and Cruyff's style of play was a perfect fit for the Catalan club.

Surprisingly after a cup win in 1978, Cruyff announced his retirement from football. He then came back to join the North American professional soccer league, playing for the Los Angeles Aztecs for a year. After his American adventure, he played for Levante and Ajax again, before winning the double in 1983-84 with Feyenoord, whilst sporting a classic haircut (pictured).

In 1985 Cruyff followed in the footsteps of his mentor Michels and became head coach of Ajax. While there, he developed the tactic which is still known as the "Ajax" system, an evolution of Total Football. At Ajax, and later at Barcelona, Cruyff had great success, developing young talents like Frank Rijkaard, putting to bed the claim that great players could not become great coaches.

"I can't imagine a life without football, so I'll keep going," said Cruyff, who became a consultant at Ajax in 2008 after ending his coaching career. Cruyff has three children with wife, Danny (pictured) and here is shown smiling when announcing his retirement from his position as the CEO of Ajax in 2012.

Today, it would be unthinkable: As a player, Cruyff smoked like a chimney. Before games, after games and even during the half-time break - Cruyff would enjoy upwards of 80 cigarettes a day. Because of this level of consumption, he suffered a heart attack in 1991 and stopped smoking, before taking part in anti-smoking campaigns. On March 24, 2016, he died of lung cancer.