33 Legends The football almanac
‹ Netherlands's 33
Johan Neeskens
Photo: Mieremet, Rob / Anefo · CC BY-SA 3.0 nl · edited (crop, resize, colour toning, WebP format) · source
09 / Netherlands · 1970–1981

Johan Neeskens

CM box-to-boxleader
Caps · Netherlands
49
Goals · Netherlands
17
Life
1951–2024
Clubs
AFC Ajax, FC Barcelona, New York Cosmos
#9
Editorial rank of 33 for Netherlands
–
The people's rank, live from duel votes

The beating heart of Total Football, his relentless energy and box-to-box prowess drove Ajax, Barcelona, and the Dutch national team to multiple finals in the 1970s. Career record: 49 caps and 17 goals for Netherlands; club career at AFC Ajax, FC Barcelona, New York Cosmos.

Career sourcesCareer dates · checked 4 October 2026
Identity and career · Wikidata Q233819
Vote in Netherlands's duels Build your Netherlands XI

Career record

1968–1970RCH
1970–1974AFC Ajax
1974–1979FC Barcelona
1979–1984New York Cosmos
1984–1985FC Groningen
1985–1986Kansas City Comets
1985–1985Fort Lauderdale Sun
1990–1991Zug 94
Netherlands49 caps, 17 goals

Sources

From the daily quiz

In 1974 the Netherlands scored before a German player had touched the ball. Who converted the penalty?

Reveal the answer
Johan Neeskens. Cruyff was fouled by Hoeneß, Neeskens scored after 80 seconds.

Shared the era

Netherlands legends whose careers overlapped Neeskens's

The world's great CMs

Around Neeskens in the almanac

One rank above: Clarence Seedorf at #8.

One rank below: Ronald Koeman at #10.

Netherlands's editorial top five: Johan Cruyff · Marco van Basten · Ruud Gullit · Frank Rijkaard · Dennis Bergkamp.

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