Cruyff 'proud' to receive UEFA President's Award

Johan Cruyff, the Dutchman who helped revolutionise how football was played, both as a player and a coach, has received the 2013 UEFA President's Award at a ceremony in Amsterdam.

European Footballer of the Year in 1971, 1973 and 1974, Cruyff is the name that most evokes memories of the swashbuckling 'Total Football' exhibited by his first club AFC Ajax and the Netherlands national team in the early 1970s. He received the award from UEFA President Michel Platini at the Amsterdam ArenA ahead of Sunday's Eredivisie match between AFC Ajax and sc Heerenveen.

Cruyff, 66, follows other famous European Footballers of the Year who have received the UEFA President's Award from Michel Platini in recent years – Alfredo Di Stefáno (2007), Sir Bobby Charlton (2008), Eusébio (2009), Raymond Kopa (2010), Gianni Rivera (2011) and Franz Beckenbauer (2012). The award recognises players, the main actors in the game, and the invaluable contribution that they have made through their careers to the development and success of football in Europe and beyond.

Cruyff was given a standing ovation by Ajax fans when he walked onto the pitch to collect his award. "Here's where it started," he said. "I'm really proud to have received this award. This is one of the highest accolades you can get. "It's unique when you think of players like Beckenbauer and Di Stefáno and all these players who have had a huge impact in their countries, and the fact that you are part of that is amazing."

Cruyff also recalled being a ball boy at the Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam in 1962, when Eusébio and Di Stefáno played for SL Benfica and Real Madrid CF respectively in one of the great European Champion Clubs' Cup finals – the Portuguese side eventually prevailing 5-3.

"It is a great privilege for me to present the UEFA President's Award to Johan Cruyff, one of the truly great footballers and ambassadors for the game," said Mr Platini ahead of the ceremony. "First as a player and then as a coach, he was committed to entertaining the public with his own unique brand of football."

Prominent with AFC Ajax (in two spells) and FC Barcelona in particular, Cruyff – a player of breathtaking grace, skill and speed – scored 392 goals in 704 games in club football. He won three European Cups in succession with Ajax in 1971, 1972 and 1973, and a host of domestic titles, before retiring in 1984.

Cruyff also made 48 appearances for the Netherlands, registering 33 times, and led a brilliant Oranje team to second place at the 1974 FIFA World Cup. To mark UEFA's Jubilee in 2004, the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) named him as the Netherlands' Golden Player. Success also came to him as a coach as he lifted the 1987 European Cup Winners' Cup with Ajax, and the 1992 European Champion Clubs' Cup with Barcelona.

In August 2013, the Johan Cruyff Foundation received the €1m UEFA Monaco Charity Award, which will be used to promote the mental and physical wellbeing of children and young people.