Cruyff Courts

A Cruyff Court is a modern alternative of the ancient green, which one could find in a lot of neighbourhoods and districts, but has over the years been sacrificed due to urbanization and expansion. With the Cruyff Courts the function of the old green have been brought back to the neighbourhood.

The Court can be used to organize different sorts of activities by local organizations including sports clubs, schools and neighbourhood centres. Currently more than 120 Cruyff Courts have been realized. Look here for more information and locations.

On June the third in 2003 the first Cruyff Court was launched in a very special way. In honour of former Dutch international Aron Winter the best players of the world came to the so-called Winterball, to play a Testimonial Game on a artificial court in the famous concert hall in Amsterdam. In the theatre where normally the best orchestra’s and classical singers of the world perform, stars like Ronaldo, Marco van Basten, Nicola Berti, Paul Ince, Johan Cruyff, Frank Rijkaard, Guiseppe Signori and many many more played football.

“With this special launch, we didn’t only want to draw extra attention for our new project, we also wanted to show that on these Cruyff Courts you can play anywhere. In the streets, deserts, jungle and if you’re very, very good you can even play in a theatre.” Johan Cruyff

Aron Winter, who during his career played for Ajax, Lazio Roma, Inter and 84 times for Holland, donated this first Cruyff Court to his hometown of Lelystad, where it’s now know as the Aron Winter Court.