Jordi Cruijff leaves FC Barcelona, wants new challenges

Jordi Cruijff (49) will leave FC Barcelona as sporting director at the end of June. He is ready for new challenges, reports the club. The Catalans became national champions last weekend.

Cruijff announced his departure to President Joan Laporta in an “emotional meeting,” according to the club. Last week, the director of soccer affairs, Mateu Alemany, also announced that he would be stepping down.

The son of late legend Johan Cruijff was in office at the Catalans for two years and has just gone through a hectic period. Many players had to leave at FC Barcelona to make room for new players. The former midfielder had an important role in the buying and selling policy of the Catalan superpower. “It’s not an easy situation,” he said earlier about that.

At the beginning of 2021, Barcelona was still struggling with a sky-high debt of 1.35 billion euros. As a result, the club was under a lot of fire. Especially because a whole series of top players were recruited. Cruijff took over as technical adviser in the summer of 2021. FC Barcelona cut back considerably that year, including by letting the expensively paid Lionel Messi go in 2021. A year later, Cruijff became sporting director.

Cruijff is determined to help the club transition to a new management structure and will offer his full support ahead of the summer transfer market.

In recent years he worked as a coach at Maccabi Tel Aviv, Chongqing Lifan and Shenzhen FC, among others, and was national coach of Ecuador. Exactly what new professional challenges the Dutchman wants to take on is not known.