Jordi Cruyff

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Jordi Cruyff (born February 9, 1974 in Amsterdam), is a professional football player. He is the son of the famous Dutch football player Johan Cruijff. The typical Dutch 'ij' is often replaced with 'y' in non-Dutch-speaking countries for ease of pronunciation. However, the name on his shirt at FC Barcelona and for the Netherlands national football team was neither 'Cruijff' or 'Cruyff', but 'Jordi'. This was thought to be because he wanted to be seen and judged by his own performances, instead of being seen as the son of his famous father (although he did choose to wear his father's famous number 14 shirt). Also, it is not uncommon in Spanish football for players to be generally referred to by given names or nicknames (for other modern examples, see Míchel, Raúl, Guti and Xavi).

Jordi made his debut into professional soccer in the 1993-1994 season, at the time his father was the coach of FC Barcelona, during the legendary Dream Team period. Manager of the Dutch national team Guus Hiddink rewarded his good performances with a nomination for the 1996 European Football Championship tournament. He has since been capped nine times by his country, scoring once. He has also played for the Catalan national football team. After a good performance in the European Championships, Jordi was signed by Manchester United for £1.5million in 1996.

In the 1996-97 season opening game against Wimbledon — a match remembered for David Beckham scoring from his own half — Jordi made his United debut. During his stay at United he won 3 league championships (1997, 1999, and 2000), 1 FA Cup in 1999 and 1 UEFA Champions League in 1999, though due to injuries (1997: knee, 1998: ankle) he never managed to break fully into the team at Manchester. He left Manchester United in 2000, having played only 34 matches (scoring 7 goals), mainly as a substitute.

In Spain, his second home country, he signed with Deportivo Alavés. Determined to revive his career, he played 35 matches (scoring 3 goals) and reached the 2001 UEFA Cup final in his first season. Jordi played at Deportivo Alavés until the team was relegated at the end of season 2002-03 (having played in total 94 matches, scoring 7 goals). The next season he returned to La Liga, playing for RCD Espanyol (30 matches, scoring 3 goals).

He currently plays for Ukrainian club Metalurh Donetsk, along with coach, friend and former FC Barcelona player Àngel "Pichi" Alonso.

He has a whale shaped birthmark.