Josep Maria Bartomeu: 'The Barça-Cruyff story will last forever'

On Saturday at the Auditori 1899 the Club and the Cruyff family presented the memorial events planned for Johan Cruyff. Josep Maria Bartomeu, Jordi Cardoner and Jordi Cruyff, representing the family, spoke glowingly about the agreements reached to help honour the Dutch legend.

The blaugrana President defined Cruyff as “the man who changed our mentality and defined the foundations of modern football.” Bartomeu went on to say, "he convinced us that the world belongs to innovators” and then called for a minutes silence in memory of Johan Cruyff and ex-Barça President Agustí Montal, who passed away on Wednesday.

Bartomeu announced that the new stadium at the Ciutat Esportiva will be called ‘Estadi Johan Cruyff’. The Cruyff family are proud of this initiative, with Jordi Cruyff saying: “If my father was to be in any place he would want to be in the academy, in that last step before the first team, so he would have been very happy about this.” Johan’s son thanked the Club for their patience and support on the first anniversary of his father’s passing. He finished by stating: “The reaction of the football world turned a sad day into a happy one.” 

"If my father was to be in any place he would want to be in the academy, in that last step before the first team, so he would have been very happy about this."

Another one of the decisions taken to help commemorate the Barça legend is to ask the Barcelona City Council to name a street after Johan Cruyff somewhere in the vicinity of the Camp Nou. “The stadium should have his name as its new address”, said Vice-President Cardoner. He also announced the creation of a space dedicated to Johan in the FC Barcelona Museum, which is visited by around two million people a year. The exhibition space will be able to display the Balon d’Or the Dutchman won in 1974 and his number ‘9’ shirt he wore with Barça thanks to the generous donation from the Cruyff family. “The Barça Museum is where they should be” stated Jordi Cruyff.

The event, which was originally going to take place on Thursday but was delayed due to Agustí Montal’s passing, was emotional. For instance, the video of Cruyff’s best moments as a player and coach was a particularly poignant moment. Bartomeu thanked the family for donating the shirt and the Balon d’Or and finished by saying that it “symbolises a way of life and a playing style” and that “the history of Barça and Johan Cruyff will last forever.”