Willem van Hanegem was a masterful midfielder of the Dutch golden age, nicknamed De Kromme for the curling passes he struck with the outside of his left foot. Deceptively unhurried, he controlled the tempo of matches with vision and a formidable range of distribution.
The heart of the Feyenoord side that won the European Cup in 1970, he was also a key figure in the great Netherlands team that reached the 1974 World Cup final.