Neeskens was born on September 15, 1951 in Heemstede, North Holland. As a youth he started playing football at the local football club in Heemstede: RCH. At school he was always the best at gymnastics. At RCH, Neeskens starts playing in the first team early on. Trainer Piet Peeman uses the youngster as a central defender.
After the summer of 1970, Ajax wanted to recruit the young Neeskens. The native of Heemsteden can play football for the team of his great idol, Johan Cruijff. At the age of eighteen, Neeskens is officially an Ajax player.
Debut
In preparation for the 1970/1971 season, Ajax plays a practice match against Chelsea. Head coach Rinus Michels brought Neeskens into the game and he played excellently. The right foot has not lost his place in the starting eleven since then. At Ajax he has secured a place in midfield next to Nico Rijnders. Neeskens is happy with his trainer Michels, from whom he gains confidence and is allowed to make mistakes.
In Amsterdam the experienced players take him by the hand. Sjaak Swart doesn’t like it that the young Neeskens travels back to Heemstede by tram, train and bus the day before the match and takes him home every Saturday after training. There, Neeskens and Swart push the couches together and watch television, until Paco Neeskens sends them to bed at a quarter to ten.
In the autumn of 1970, Neeskens plays with Ajax in the European Cup. In the match against FC Basel in the second round he scores the winning 2-1. After winning the first match 3-0, Ajax has advanced to the quarter-finals. After the match against FC Basel, he was called up for the Dutch national team for the first time. On November 11, the then nineteen-year-old Neeskens made his debut in František Fadrhonc’s Dutch team against East Germany.
Neeskens has then developed into a versatile player, who not only excels through his hard tackles, but also has great technique and passing. Jan Mulder saw that Neeskens’ footballing qualities were sometimes undervalued. “He was much more than mentality. A wonderful passing technique. Speed. He also scored twelve to thirteen goals per season. He was an incomparable footballer. You played with twelve men when he participated. And that is not even allowed.”
Best in Europe
After a good European campaign, Ajax is preparing for the final of the European Cup 1 against Panathinaikos in London at Wembley. Neeskens is enjoying it to the fullest. “There you are. With that entourage and so many Ajax players in the stands. Unbelievable. A year earlier I played with RCH in the second division. Then you sometimes have to pinch yourself.” The final is won and in his first season at Ajax Neeskens wins the biggest prize that can be won in European football.
In the years after winning the European Cup I, golden times dawned for Ajax. The Amsterdam team became national champions in both the 1971/1972 and 1972/1973 seasons. In addition, Ajax makes history by winning the European Cup three years in a row. In 1972 and 1973, Ajax was crowned the best football club in Europe. Neeskens plays an important role in these successes.
In the 1973/1974 season, Neeskens was in his last season as an Ajax player. The native of Heemsteden ultimately played 171 matches in the Ajax shirt and scored 39 times. When he lifts his third European Cup, he will still be only 21 years old. In addition to the national title (two), European Cup (three), Neeskens also wins the World Cup, the Super Cup (two) and the national cup: twice with Ajax.
Neeskens also had good times in the Orange shirt as a young man in his twenties. The midfielder is playing an excellent world championship in West Germany with the Dutch national team. In the final, Neeskens scored in the first minute, but unfortunately Rinus Michels’ team ultimately lost 2-1 to the host country.
Barcelona
After the World Cup, Neeskens will leave Ajax. He follows Cruijff to Barcelona, where Neeskens would experience five more successful years. ‘Johan Segundo’, who was the first Johan is easy to guess, is also a very popular player in Spain. After 140 matches in Catalonia, Neeskens is still looking for adventure in the United States and later in Switzerland.
During his period in Barcelona, Neeskens plays another World Cup final. On June 25, 1978, the midfielder lost again: Argentina was too strong 3-1. Neeskens played a total of 49 matches for the Dutch national team, scoring seventeen times.
After his active career, Neeskens remains involved in the football world. He still trains several clubs in Switzerland and has been head coach of NEC for four years. Neeskens has also been assistant national coach of the Netherlands and Australia and was active on behalf of the KNVB for the global WorldCoaches project.
Ajax wishes Neeskens’ relatives a lot of strength with this loss.