Football-mad Dutch tenants compete for the chance to live in a simple and affordable two-bedroom house in Amsterdam, where icon Johan Cruijff grew up. More than 1,500 people have flooded a social housing association seeking the opportunity to live in the modest concrete house for just $157 a week. The Dutch legend and apostle of “total football”, who died in 2016 at the age of 68, spent his childhood in the building where his parents ran a shop.
“Until the applications were closed last night, we had 1,543 applications for eligibility for the home,” said Coen Springelkamp, spokesperson for Ymere housing association.
“That is six or seven times as much as usual for social housing. The interest is enormous.”
The house has become a place of pilgrimage for fans, but plans to formally commemorate Cruijff there have now been abandoned.
“We wanted to turn it into a museum, but it was decided to keep it as a social rental home,” says Springelkamp. “There is a great need for homes in the Netherlands.”
Cruijff, captain of the Netherlands to the World Cup final in 1974, was born in 1947 and grew up in the corner house at 32 Akkerstraat in Betondorp (Betonstad), where his parents had a fruit and vegetable shop.
Built in 1924, the house was part of a city project to create cheap homes for workers at a time when skilled masons and even bricks were in short supply after World War I.
Cruijff lived in the 62-square-meter house until he turned 12 in 1959, Springelkamp said.
The house is close to the former stadium De Meer – until 1996 the home ground of football club Ajax – where Cruijff spent his formative years.
When Cruijff died six years ago, the front of the house was decorated with a sea of flowers of grieving fans.
Today it still attracts spectators and a window is engraved with one of Cruijff’s famous sayings: “Playing outside should be a school subject.”
Because social housing is rent-controlled, the new residents, to be chosen from a shortlist of 10 candidates, will be charged between 630 and 762 euros per month, depending on their income.
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The condition of the house — it comes with a backyard and shed — also contributed to the high demand, Springelkamp added.
“Who knows, maybe it’s even a family with a young soccer star in the making,” he said.
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