Sudden illness: died Johan Neeskens

Johan Neeskens è died

Johan Neeskens è died. This was reported by the KNVB in a press release. Neeskens è felt ill Sunday during an event in Algeria, where he was attending on behalf of the soccer federation. The former Dutch national and former Ajax and Barcelona player was 73 years old.

With his passing, the Dutch soccer world loses another icon of the generation that reached the World Cup final in 1974. Neeskens was a starter for the Dutch national team that won the hearts of the soccer world fifty years ago: he scored five goals in that tournament, including the penalty kick in the final lost to West Germany.

At the time, Neeskens, who was only 22, had already become a starter for Ajax and, in the summer, followed Johan Cruijff by moving to Barcelona, where he was soon nicknamed Johan Segundo. 

After his time in Spain, the midfielder ended his career in the United States and Switzerland, making a brief return to FC Groningen in 1984.