He earned nine caps for the Netherlands national team, playing at UEFA Euro 1996, and he won the Premier League title in 1997 while at Manchester United.

Two years later, Cruyff was promoted to the senior team during a pre-season tour in the Netherlands, where he scored hat-tricks against Groningen and De Graafschap.

That season, Barcelona finished fourth in La Liga and Cruyff was one of the team's top scorers alongside Stoichkov and Koeman, despite not being a regular starter.

Cruyff's spell at Manchester United was marked by injuries, but he played three games in the group stage of the 1998–99 UEFA Champions League.

He played eleven times and scored twice in 1998–99 season, before a loan deal with Celta Vigo took him back to Spain in January 1999, and thus denying him the chance to win the treble achieved by the club in May 1999.

[6][7] After an initial agreement with Harry Redknapp's West Ham United fell through, Cruyff returned to Spain on a free transfer to Alavés.

With the Basque club, he reached the 2001 UEFA Cup Final, against Liverpool: despite being 2–0 and then 3–1 down, Alavés embarked on a spirited comeback and Cruyff's goal in the 89th minute tied the game at 4–4.

In mid-2009, Cruyff signed a three-year deal as a player-cum-assistant-manager of Maltese side Valletta, assisting first team coach Ton Caanen,[11] a role he admitted he did not take to.

He was unsure which country to represent, and in 1996 he declined the possibility to join the Spanish team for the Olympic Games; meanwhile, his performances for Barcelona persuaded coach Guus Hiddink to include him in the Netherlands squad for UEFA Euro 1996.

In April 2012, Cruyff was appointed by Mitchell Goldhar, owner of Maccabi Tel Aviv, as the sports director of the club,[17] paying compensation to AEK Larnaca.

Cruyff's arrival finally put an end to Maccabi Tel Aviv's bad fortunes in the league, as they won their first championship in ten years.

Under Cruyff's and Garcia's stewardship, Maccabi dominated the league and claimed the title by thirteen points ahead of their nearest rival.

The club also enjoyed success in the Europa League as they advanced to the round of 32 following a difficult group stage, where they beat Bordeaux (twice) and Eintracht Frankfurt before eventually exiting the competition following a loss to Basel.

Oscar Garcia briefly returned but left before the beginning of the season when Cruyff appointed Pako Ayestarán, former assistant to Rafael Benítez at Liverpool.

Cruyff appointed Vitesse's Peter Bosz[20] after Jokanovic signed as the new Fulham's head coach at the end of December.

At the start of that campaign, he successfully guided the team through four qualifying rounds to reach the UEFA Europa League group stage.