 Michels in 1974 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Marinus Jacobus Hendricus Michels | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | (1928-02-09)9 February 1928 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Amsterdam, Netherlands | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Date of death | 3 March 2005(2005-03-03) (aged 77) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of death | Aalst, Belgium | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Position | Forward | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Youth career | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1940–1946 | Ajax | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 1945–1958 | Ajax | 264 | (122) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| International career | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1950–1954 | Netherlands | 5 | (0) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Managerial career | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1953–1954 | Asser Boys | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1960–1964 | JOS | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1964–1965 | A.F.C. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1965–1971 | Ajax | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1971–1975 | Barcelona | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1974 | Netherlands | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1975–1976 | Ajax | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1976–1978 | Barcelona | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1979–1980 | Los Angeles Aztecs | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1980–1983 | 1. FC Köln | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1984–1985 | Netherlands | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1986–1988 | Netherlands | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1988–1989 | Bayer Leverkusen | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1990–1992 | Netherlands | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
| |||||||||||||||||||||||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Marinus Jacobus Hendricus "Rinus"Michels (Dutch pronunciation:[ˈrinʏsˈmɪxəls]ⓘ; 9 February 1928 – 3 March 2005) was a Dutchfootball player and coach.[1][2] Heplayed his entire career forAjax, which he later managed, and played for and later managed theNetherlands national team for four spells. Throughout his career, he played as aforward. He is regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time.[1][3][4]
Michels became most notable for his coaching achievements; he won theEuropean Cup with Ajax and theSpanish league withBarcelona, and had four tenures as coach of the Netherlands national team, who he led to reach the final of the1974 FIFA World Cup and to win the1988 UEFA European Championship.[1]
He is credited with the invention of a major football playing style and set of tactics known as "Total Football" in the 1970s.[1] He was named Coach of the Century byFIFA in 1999,[1] in 2007 the greatest post-war football coach byThe Times[3] and in 2019 the greatest coach in the history of football byFrance Football.[5]
Michels was born inAmsterdam and grew up at the Olympiaweg, a street near theOlympic Stadium. He celebrated his ninth birthday on 9 February 1937, when he received a pair of football boots and anAjax jersey. Moments later, he was playing with his father at a small field near their home.[6] Via Joop Köhler, a friend of the family who was commissioner at Ajax, Michels was introduced to the club and became a junior member in 1940.[6] WhenWorld War II started, and especially during theDutch famine of 1944–45, Michels' career was set on hold.[6]
French clubLille had also wanted to sign Michels, but a playing career abroad did not materialize, as theRoyal Netherlands Army did not allow him to go because he had to serve on active duty.[6]
.jpg)
On 9 June 1946, Michels was invited into Ajax's first team squad to replace the injured Han Lambregt. In his debut, Ajax beatADO 8–3, and Michels scored five times.[6] That season, Ajax won their 14th division championship and a year later they won theDutch national championship.[6] Although there were doubts about Michels' technical skills, team members likeCor van der Hart and captainJoop Stoffelen were enthusiastic about his strength and heading capabilities.[6] Indeed, Michels was characterized for his hard work rather than for his technical qualities.[7]
He 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.[6] In 1958, four years after the introduction of professional football in the Netherlands and one year after winning his second league title, he was forced to end his career due to a back injury.[6]
Michels' international playing career with theNetherlands national team lasted five matches, making his debut on 8 June 1950 away toSweden, a 4–1 defeat.[8] He also lost all of his remaining matches as anOranje player, 4–1 toFinland, 4–0 toBelgium, 6–1 to Sweden and 3–1 toSwitzerland.[8]
Michels returned to Ajax as head coach in 1965. Under his tenure and along with great players such asJohan Cruyff andJohan Neeskens, Ajax went from relegation candidates to a team that won the national championship four times and theKNVB Cup three times in the following six years. In 1969, they reached the final of theEuropean Cup for the first time, being defeated 4–1 by Italian sideMilan. In 1971, he managed Ajax to the first of three consecutiveEuropean Cups, a feat only achieved previously by the greatReal Madrid team ofAlfredo Di Stéfano andFerenc Puskás. While at Ajax, Michels modernized the game by introducing what became known as "Total Football" and using theOffside trap. He then moved toBarcelona in the second part of 1971, being joined by Johan Cruyff in 1973. With Michels and Cruyff, the team won thePrimera División title in 1974, before Michels became manager of the Dutch national team.[1]
Michels was appointed national coach by theRoyal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) after the Netherlands had qualified for the1974 FIFA World Cup. His first game as the Netherlands' coach was on 27 March 1974 in a 1–1 draw againstAustria. At the finals tournament in Germany, their third ever World Cup participation, the Dutch impressed many observers with their style of play which was backed up by their results; they won their first round group, then in the second round group they defeatedArgentina and the defending world championsBrazil, and reached the final after five wins and one draw, with 14 goals scored and only one conceded in six matches. At that point, Michels was undefeated in nine matches as the Netherlands' coach. The Netherlands scored first againstWest Germany in thefinal, but the host team came back to defeat them 2–1, ending their run. That match was the last of Michels' first tenure in charge of the Dutch team, which he would return to coach ten years later.
Michels later moved on to the United States where he coached in the ill-fatedNorth American Soccer League. He ended his club coaching career withBayer Leverkusen in 1989. He had hisjour de gloire, however, when he coached the Dutch team to European glory at the1988 UEFA European Championship.
Michels returned to coach the team for the Euro 1988 tournament. After losing the first group match against theSoviet Union (1–0), the Netherlands went on to qualify for the semi-final by defeatingEngland 3–1 (with a hat-trick by the tournament's top scorerMarco van Basten), and theRepublic of Ireland (1–0). For many Dutch football supporters, the most important match in the tournament was the semi-final against West Germany, the host country, considered a revenge for the lost 1974 World Cup final (also in West Germany). Michels said after the match, "We won the tournament, but we all know that the semi-final was the real final." Van Basten, who would later become national team coach, scored in the 89th minute of the game to sink the German side. The game is also remembered for its post-match shenanigans, includingRonald Koeman, who, in front of the German supporters, provocatively pretended to wipe his backside with the shirt ofOlaf Thon as if it were toilet paper, an action Koeman later did not regret. The Netherlands won the final with a convincing victory over the Soviet Union, a rematch on the round robin game, through a header byRuud Gullit and a remarkable volley by Van Basten. This was the national team's first, and to date only, major tournament win and it restored them to the forefront of international football after almost a decade in the wilderness for almost three years to come.
Michels died on 3 March 2005 at a hospital inAalst, Belgium, after a heart surgery in the hospital of Gareth, Spain (his second since 1986).
Regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time,[1][3][4] Rinus Michels's tactics andTotal football philosophy were influenced by his time playing under English managerJack Reynolds at Ajax, who had implemented a similar playing style with the club to great success in the 1940s.[9] When Michels himself later became manager of Ajax in 1965, he further developed this style around the team's mainforward Johan Cruyff.[10] Although Cruyff was seemingly fielded as centre forward, Michels encouraged Cruyff to roam freely around the pitch, using his technical ability, creativity, and intelligence to exploit the weaknesses in the opposition and create space and chances in addition to scoring goals. Cruyff's teammates also supported him by playing him in a similar manner, regularly switching positions to ensure that the tactical roles in the team were consistently filled.[11] This role has retroactively been compared to the "false 9" position in contemporary football.[12][13][14] Michels's favoured formation was the4–3–3.[15]
The major component of total football was the use of space, and the need to consistently create it. Former Ajax defenderBarry Hulshoff described it as "[the thing] we discussed the whole time. Cruyff always talked about where to run and where to stand, and when not to move".[16] He further elaborated that position switching was only made possible due to apt spatial awareness.[17] He also described Total Football beingproactive, as well as highlighting the use of pressing, which would be used to win back the ball or put the opposition under considerable pressure.[18] Another aspect of the system was the use of the offside trap.[1] Under Michels's system, Ajax enjoyed a highly successful period, winning fourEredivisie titles, threeKNVB Cups, and oneEuropean Cup.[19]
The rise of Total Football and its attacking qualities were also linked with the demise of the more defensive–mindedCatenaccio, a system reliant heavily on man-marking and counter–attacking, which was promoted most prominently by Italian sidesInternazionale andMilan during the 1960s underHelenio Herrera andNereo Rocco respectively.[20] Unlike previous systems, inTotal Football, no out–field player was fixed in their nominal role, which exposed weaknesses in thecatenaccio tactical system; any player could assume the role of a forward, midfielder, or defender, at any given time depending on the circumstances. Due to players often switching positions with one another, man-marking strategies, such ascatenaccio, were no longer effective at coping with this highly fluid tactical system.[21][22][23][24] Despite previously losing out 4–1 to Milan in the1969 European Cup Final, who were managed by Rocco, a manager known for his defensive catenaccio strategy,[25][26] in 1971, Michels'sAjax won theEuropean Cup Final, defeatingPanathinaikos 2–0, usingTotal Football.[27] The following year, Michels's successor at Ajax,Ștefan Kovács, continued to use Michels'sTotal Football philosophy, and defeated Inter 2–0 in theEuropean Cup final; Dutch newspapers subsequently announced the "destruction ofCatenaccio" at the hands ofTotal Football.[22][23][28] The following year, Ajax defeatedCesare Maldini's Milan 6–0 in the second leg of theEuropean Super Cup, in a match in which the defensivecatenaccio system employed by Milan was unable to stop Ajax, which saw the Dutch side win the title 6–1 on aggregate; this was the worst defeat for an Italian team in an UEFA competition final.[29]
Total football also had some weaknesses, however, which were notably exploited in the final of the1974 FIFA World Cup byWest Germany.[30] Michels and Cruyff saw their ability to introduce playmaking stifled in the second half of the match by the effective marking ofBerti Vogts. This allowedFranz Beckenbauer,Uli Hoeneß, andWolfgang Overath to gain a stronghold in midfield, thus, enabling West Germany to win 2–1.[31] Moreover, as man-marking alone was insufficient to cope with the fluidity oftotal football, Italian coaches consequently began to create a new tactical system that mixed man-marking with zonal defence in order to counter this strategy, which came to be known aszona mista ("mixed zone," in Italian), orgioco all'italiana ("gameplay in the Italian manner," in Italian), in Italian football, as it mixed elements of Italiancatenaccio (man-marking) with elements oftotal football (zonal marking), withGiovanni Trapattoni as one its main and most successful proponents from the 1970s onward.[21][22][23]
Michels became known as someone keen on his money and did not want to spend much of it. A common joke in the Ajax changing rooms in those days was, "Does anybody know the color of Michels' wallet?".[6] HisIQ was high. During foreign trips he always brought a book with him, which he wanted to have read completely before coming home.[6] He 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.[6] At the celebrations of Ajax' 50th birthday in 1950, he was the organizer of the humoristic show that was held and during traditional parties, he and his friendHans Boskamp climbed up the stages to sing some duets.[6] After matches, he was always soaping his hot body down in the showers of the changing rooms as well, even when the game was lost.[6]
Michels was also known as apractical joker. At a hotel, he once borrowed afur coat of a lady and pretended to be a lady to his teammates.[6] During a training session inLille, the players went fishing and Michels, who did not enjoy himself, jumped into the water.[6]
Due to his authoritarian style as coach, Michels was called "The General". He said, "Professional football is something like war. Whoever behaves too properly, is lost."[32] This has often been misquoted as "Football is war." Michels felt the quote was taken out of context as he did not intend to equate war with football.[33] Michels was named coach of the century byFIFA in 1999.[1] In 2007 he was named the greatest post-war football coach byThe Times,[3] and in 2019, he was listed as the greatest coach in the history of football by France Football.[5]
TheRinus Michels Award, which rewards the best managers inDutch football, is named in his honour.[1]
| Club | Season | League | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | ||
| Ajax | 1945–46 | Football League Championship | 12 | 13 |
| 1946–47 | 28 | 14 | ||
| 1947–48 | 5 | 3 | ||
| 1948–49 | 20 | 7 | ||
| 1949–50 | 26 | 16 | ||
| 1950–51 | 14 | 5 | ||
| 1951–52 | 19 | 15 | ||
| 1952–53 | 20 | 8 | ||
| 1953–54 | 26 | 12 | ||
| 1954–55 | 33 | 14 | ||
| 1955–56 | 30 | 8 | ||
| 1956–57 | Eredivisie | 29 | 7 | |
| 1957–58 | 2 | 0 | ||
| Career total | 264 | 122 | ||
| Team | From | To | Record | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P | W | D | L | Win % | |||
| Ajax | 22 January 1965 | 30 June 1971 | 288 | 207 | 41 | 40 | 071.88 |
| Barcelona | 1 July 1971 | 30 June 1975 | 174 | 88 | 43 | 43 | 050.57 |
| Netherlands | 27 March 1974 | 7 July 1974 | 10 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 060.00 |
| Ajax | 1 July 1975 | 30 June 1976 | 43 | 27 | 8 | 8 | 062.79 |
| Barcelona | 1 July 1976 | 30 June 1978 | 94 | 47 | 25 | 22 | 050.00 |
| Los Angeles Aztecs | 1 July 1978 | 13 October 1980 | 72 | 42 | 1 | 29 | 058.33 |
| 1. FC Köln | 14 October 1980 | 23 August 1983 | 116 | 58 | 26 | 32 | 050.00 |
| Netherlands | 14 November 1984 | 23 December 1984 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 050.00 |
| Netherlands | 29 April 1986 | 25 June 1988 | 22 | 12 | 6 | 4 | 054.55 |
| Bayer Leverkusen | 1 July 1988 | 13 April 1989 | 31 | 10 | 11 | 10 | 032.26 |
| Netherlands | 26 September 1990 | 22 June 1992 | 19 | 11 | 4 | 4 | 057.89 |
| Total | 871 | 509 | 168 | 194 | 058.44 | ||
| Team | Record | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % | |
| Netherlands | 53 | 30 | 13 | 10 | 98 | 32 | +66 | 056.60 |
Ajax[34]
Ajax[34]
Barcelona[34]
1. FC Köln[34]
Netherlands[34]
Individual
Orders
Netherlands squads | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||||||||||||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| People | |
| Other | |
