New Technical Advisor, Jordi Cruyff's Past Achievements

KBRN, Jakarta: Indonesian Football Association (PSSI) appointed Jordi Cruyff as technical advisor for the Indonesian national team. He is expected to provide important input for the national team and is scheduled to arrive in Indonesia next month.

As the son of a legendary Dutch soccer player, Johan Cruyff is often compared to his father who was successful as a player and coach. Like his father, Cruyff also played for major European teams, Barcelona and Manchester United.

He started his professional soccer career with Barca B in 1992 and was promoted to the Barcelona first team in 1994. At the Catalan club, Cruyff only lasted two seasons before being recruited by United in 1996.

Although he rarely played as a starter, Cruyff won trophies with the Red Devils, winning the Premier League in the 1996/1997 season and the Charity Shield in 1996 and 1997.

Cruyff's adventure in England ended in 1999 and he then moved to Celta Vigo on loan to score two goals in eight games over half a season with Celta.

After his contract expired at United in 2000, Cruyff joined Alaves, reaching the UEFA Cup final in 2001. He almost led the Basque club to victory, before Liverpool came back to win 5-4.

Cruyff stayed at Alaves until they were relegated at the end of the 2002/2003 season, before moving to Espanyol. At Espanyol, Cruyff played for a season and then moved to Metalurh Donetsk in Ukraine in 2006-2008.

He ended his career at the Maltese club Valetta, in 2010. After retiring as a soccer player, Cruyff pursued a managerial career by becoming the soccer director at the Cypriot club AEK Larnaca in 2010.

In Larnaca, Cruyff played a part in getting them to qualify for the 2011/2012 Europa League. Then Cruyff moved on to become the soccer director of the Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv.

At the club, Cruyff returned to work behind the scenes and ended Maccabi's ten-year title drought by leading them to win the league.

After winning the Israeli League, Cruyff who played a major role in recruiting coaches such as Oscar Garcia, Paulo Sousa, Pako Ayestaran, Slavisa Jokanovic, and Peter Bosz, stayed at Maccabi and stole the attention of the European soccer public.

Besides being a football director, Cruyff was once a coach after retiring as a player. Cruyff was the Maccabi coach when they won the Toto Cup in 2017/2018, as quoted by antaranews.com.

He also coached two Chinese clubs, Chongqing Dangdai Lifan and Shenzhen, and coached the Ecuador national team. ***