25 Facts About Rinus Michels

1.

Marinus Jacobus Hendricus Michels was a Dutch football player and coach.

2.

Rinus Michels played his entire career for AFC Ajax, which he later managed, and played for and later managed the Netherlands national team for four spells.

3.

Rinus Michels is regarded as one of the greatest managers of all-time.

4.

Rinus Michels is credited with the invention of a major football playing style and set of tactics known as "Total Football" in the 1970s.

5.

Rinus Michels was named Coach of the Century by FIFA in 1999, in 2007 the greatest post-war football coach by The Times and in 2019 the greatest coach in the history of football by France Football.

6.

Rinus Michels was born in Amsterdam and grew up at the Olympiaweg, a street near the Olympic Stadium.

7.

Rinus Michels celebrated his ninth birthday on 9 February 1937, when he received a pair of football boots and an Ajax jersey.

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8.

Via Joop Kohler, a friend of the family who was commissioner at Ajax, Rinus Michels was introduced to the club and became a junior member in 1940.

9.

On 9 June 1946, Rinus Michels was invited into Ajax's first team squad to replace the injured Han Lambregt.

10.

Indeed, Rinus Michels was characterized for his hard work rather than for his technical qualities.

11.

Rinus Michels went on to become a regular for the club, and between 1946 and 1958, he appeared in 264 league matches for Ajax, in which he scored 122 goals.

12.

Rinus Michels then moved to Barcelona in the second part of 1971, being joined by Johan Cruyff in 1973.

13.

Rinus Michels was appointed national coach by the Royal Dutch Football Association after the Netherlands had qualified for the 1974 FIFA World Cup.

14.

At that point, Rinus Michels was undefeated in nine matches as the Netherlands' coach.

15.

Rinus Michels later moved on to the United States where he coached in the ill-fated North American Soccer League.

16.

Rinus Michels ended his club coaching career with Bayer Leverkusen in 1989.

17.

Rinus Michels had his jour de gloire when he coached the Dutch team to European glory at the 1988 UEFA European Championship.

18.

Rinus Michels returned to coach the team for the Euro 1988 tournament.

19.

Rinus Michels died on 3 March 2005 at a hospital in Aalst, Belgium, after a heart surgery in the hospital of Gareth, Spain.

20.

Rinus Michels further elaborated that position switching was only made possible due to apt spatial awareness.

21.

Rinus Michels described Total Football being proactive, as well as highlighting the use of pressing, which would be used to win back the ball or put the opposition under considerable pressure.

22.

Rinus Michels became known as a person who was keen on his money and did not want to spend much of it.

23.

Rinus Michels's IQ was high and during foreign trips he always brought a book with him, which he wanted to have read completely before coming home.

24.

Rinus Michels was known as someone who did not need anybody and who felt happy on his own, but sometimes he joined his teammates and shared their enthusiastic friendships.

25.

Rinus Michels was named coach of the century by FIFA in 1999.

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