The Hague (AFP)
A court in Amsterdam summoned Friday the author of a biography of Johan Cruyff to rectify a passage in the book, according to which the famous Dutch footballer would have received millions of euros from a foundation that bears his name.
In his book published Friday, Auke Kok writes that the Johan Cruyff Foundation paid him each year 1 million euros to use his name and his image, citing three different sources from the entourage of the former footballer, according to his words .
The foundation, a not-for-profit association set up by Johan Cruyff in 1997, refuted these allegations and brought an interlocutory procedure (urgent procedure) before an Amsterdam court, asking it to order the withdrawal of the book from the market.
"The passage in Auke Kok's book that Johan Cruyff received money from the Johan Cruyff Foundation is irregular and needs to be rectified," the Amsterdam court said in a tweet.
"In copies already printed, this must be done by means of an insert, it is not necessary to withdraw the book from the market," he added at the end of the hearing, which attracted the attention of many local media.
Long questioned by the judge, Auke Kok confessed not to be certain of his words: "After all this business, I began to doubt the veracity of this statement, I should not have written it this way. If I can publicly contribute to the rectification, I will do it, "he told the court.
The foundation and the family of the former footballer had refused to cooperate with the author for the writing of the book, already drawn to 65,000 copies according to the Dutch public television NOS, which is very much in the Netherlands for a book non-fiction.
Johan Cruyff died in 2016 at the age of 68 due to lung cancer. It is considered a monument of world football having embodied the famous "total football" in the 1970s.
© 2019 AFP