Johan Cruyff Quotes

“Football is a game you play with your brain. You have to be in the right place at the right moment, not too early, not too late.”

“I've never seen a bag of money score a goal.”

“Technique is not being able to juggle a ball 1,000 times. Anyone can do that by practicing. Then you can work in the circus. Technique is passing the ball with one touch, with the right speed, at the right foot of your teammate.”

“Football is simple, but the most difficult thing is to make it simple.”

“In football, the most difficult thing is to make the difficult look simple.”

“Every disadvantage has its advantage.”

“Playing football is very simple, but playing simple football is the hardest thing there is.”

“The ball is round, the game lasts ninety minutes, and everything else is just theory.”

“If you have the ball, you must make the field as big as possible, and if you don't have the ball, you must make it as small as possible.”

“The most important thing in football is what you do when you don't have the ball.”

“[Speed](/mental-models/speed) is often confused with insight. When I start running earlier than the others, I appear faster.”

“I always threw the ball in quickly so that we could surprise the opponent.”

“If you want to play attacking football, the whole team has to be compact. For that, you need the right distances between the lines.”

“Technique is not being able to juggle a ball 1,000 times. Anyone can do that by practicing. Then you can work in the circus.”

“[Quality](/mental-models/quality) without results is pointless. Results without quality is boring.”

“The difference between right and wrong is often not more than five meters.”

“Before I make a mistake, I don't make that mistake.”

“As a coach, you must have a clear vision of what you want to achieve and the courage to implement it, even when others doubt you.”

“The coach must be able to read the game and make the right decisions at the right time.”

“You have to shoot, otherwise you can't score.”

“I'm not religious. In Spain all 22 players make the sign of the cross before they enter the pitch. If it works, all matches must therefore end in a draw.”

“In football, everything is complicated by the presence of the opposite team.”

“There is only one ball, so you need to have it.”

“Why couldn't you beat a richer club? I've never seen a bag of money score a goal.”

“Football is a game of mistakes. Whoever makes the fewest mistakes wins.”

“Coincidence is logical.”

“Football is the most beautiful game, but only if it is played beautifully.”

“I don't make a lot of mistakes, because it's hard for me to be wrong.”

“Football is a team sport, and the team that plays as a team will always beat a team of individuals, however talented they may be.”

“If you play for Barcelona, you have to give everything. If you can't do that, you shouldn't be here.”

“Football is about having the best technical ability, the best tactical insight, and the best physical condition. But above all, it's about having the right mentality.”