Why He Deserves This Honor More Than Anyone Else: A Tribute to Exceptional Dedication

NOS Voetbal•gisteren, 23:20

Football celebrities commemorate Neeskens in Zeist: ‘A wonderful person’

A hedge of football shirts from clubs where Johan Neeskens played or trained during his career illuminated the KNVB training center in Zeist. Many football celebrities, some of whom are still in a bad mood, reported on Monday evening for a memorial meeting for the former midfielder of Ajax and Oranje, who died at the beginning of this month.

At the feet of the statue of ‘De Nees’ in the garden in Zeist are flowers and wreaths from his old clubs. His death has been commemorated everywhere for two weeks. Completely justified, according to the guests in Zeist.

“A tribute to Johan Neeskens,” says Frank Rijkaard. “I think it’s great that it’s happening. He deserves this like no other.”

ANP Frank Rijkaard at the commemoration of Johan Neeskens in Zeist

Friends, acquaintances and other guests from the football world, about 160 in total, had traveled to Zeist. Not just Willem van Hanegem, Sjaak Swart and Jan Mulder. A delegation from Barcelona, ​​where Neeskens was called ‘Johan Segundo’, had also come to the Netherlands.

“A wonderful person,” says Guus Hiddink, who was also present, who met Neeskens as an assistant coach at the Oranje at the 1998 World Cup.

Former football player Johan Neeskens (73) passed away

“He was an example for everyone. A very nice boy,” says Bert van Marwijk, who drove to the KNVB campus “with a very sad feeling”. Van Marwijk knew Neeskens from a long time ago.

“I can still see us coming here together. We were both sixteen, we came here together for the UEFA team. From that moment on we played all the teams together up to the Dutch national team. A great player on the field. We were all attracted to him. When things got nasty, he led the way. He was one of the greatest we had in the Netherlands.”

ANP shirts from clubs where Neeskens trained or played during his career

Neeskens was the great connecting player in the midfield of the Ajax and Orange teams that brought Dutch football to the status it has today in the 1970s.

Sjaak Swart, who considered Neeskens his son, is saddened by the number of players from that golden era who have died in recent years. “I’m a bit nervous because I’ve played with all those guys for years, and it hurts me a lot that a lot of them are missing.”

Grew up with Neeskens

Rijkaard, who was asked to say something during the commemoration, worked closely at FC Barcelona with Neeskens, who was in the dug-out as Rijkaard’s assistant in 2006. What do you say on an evening like this? That Neeskens could work well in a team, that he transferred his football knowledge to the group of players without any apologies.

And: “How I used to look up to him as a player of the golden generation. It was a privilege to work with him,” says Rijkaard. “We grew up with the golden generation. These were our heroes. Dutch football was put on the map by those people. And one of them was Johan Neeskens.”