Johan Cruyff, the dutch football legend, has been presented as the new coach for the Catalonia national team.
Cruyff is reagarded as one of the greatest players of all time and was awarded European Footballer of The Year in 1971, 1973 and 1974. As a coach he led Barça into one of its most successful periods winning 4 consecutive spanish leagues between 1991 and 1994 and one european Champions League in 1992. The team that achieved those successes was named the Dream Team (link in Catalan).
Cruyff hasn’t coached since he left Barça 13 years ago in spite of having had several offers to do so and therefore his decision to coach for Catalonia is excellent news for Catalonia thanks to Cruyff’s international reputation.
Currently the Catalan and Basque national teams are banned from official competitions and forced to play only friendly matches in spite of having a greater support than the Spanish team. On the other hand, for instance, in Great Britain, there’s an absolute understanding that there must exist a national team for each of the countries that compose it: England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
During his presentation he’s declared (link in Spanish) that “You can notice that the matches here with the flags, the anthem and a full stadium… are a party, that’s the way it has to be: a national party”
He says that he wants to create a team that will play against the best using the players from both Catalan first division teams, Barça and Espanyol as a base. Cruyff is not going to earn any money for his job and instead all the money he should have earned from the Catalan Football Federation will be destined to his foundation for social projects.
The Catalan national team is currently negotiating with other national teams to play a friendly match before Chirstmas.