Late football legend Cruyff's family chooses 'soccer' over 'motherland'

Will the name of Johan Cruyff, "legendary player of total soccer" who died on Thursday last week, return to his motherland of the Netherlands, or to Barcelona where he perfected his soccer style?

Amsterdam Arena for the prestigious Dutch professional team, for which Cruyff played for more than 10 years, promptly took action to honor his name, but his bereaved family declined the offer. The French daily Le Figaro reported on the day that the spokesman for his bereaved family said in a Twitter post on Monday, “We don’t want to rename Amsterdam Arena as Cruyff Arena for the time being.”

Why did the bereaved family oppose Amsterdam’s bid? A report by Sport, a local sports journal in Catalonia, Spain suggested an answer on the same day. FC Barcelona, the famed pro soccer team in Catalonia, said it had finished consultations to rename its home stadium "Camp Nou" as "Johan Cruyff Stadium," and decided to call a board meeting on Wednesday. In a poll of Barcelona fans, 65 percent of more than 8,000 respondents expressed support of the change.

Cruyff played for FC Barcelona for only six years (1973 -1978), but "Cruyff soccer style," which is summarized through collective offense and defense by all members of the team, was completed at FC Barcelona. He served a far longer time as coach for FC Barcelona (1988 – 1996) than for AFC Ajax (1985 – 1988). After all, his bereaved family has chosen "soccer" itself over "his motherland."

한기흥기자 eligius@donga.com