The Hague: Ajax winger Piet Keizer, part of the frontline that took the Amsterdam team to the summit of world club football in the early 1970s, has died at age 73, the club announced on Saturday.
Together with his late teammate Johan Cruyff, Keizer’s attacking flair led Ajax to three straight titles in the European Cup, the predecessor of the Champions League, from 1971-73. In a statement, Ajax called the left winger a club icon who scored 189 goals in 490 matches for the Amsterdam powerhouse in a career that spanned the 1960s and 1970s.
Keizer played 34 internationals for the Netherlands, but his career was winding down as the Cruyff-led Dutch ‘Clockwork Orange’ team was at its height. Keizer was on the bench as the Netherlands lost 2-1 to West Germany in the 1974 World Cup final.
