Amsterdam’s Stadionplein is to be renamed after footballer Johan Cruijff, the city council announced on Wednesday.

The Olympic stadium on the Stadionplein was the scene of some of Cruijff’s triumphs with football club Ajax in the early 1970s – in particular, victory in the Intercontinental Cup in 1972.

‘Johan had a lot of connections to [the Stadionplein] and often came there,’ the city said in a statement. ‘He was there for matches but also for his own institute and foundation which had their offices there. And the Cruijff family lived nearby.’

It is, the council said, ‘a suitable place to honour this extraordinary Amsterdammer.’

The Amsterdam Arena stadium will also carry Cruijff’s name but the change has not been approved officially.

Johan Cruijff died on March 24 2016, at the age of 68.