Rinus Michels (2)

Former Dutch association football player and coach, born February 9th, 1928 in Amsterdam, North Holland, the Netherlands and died March 3rd, 2005 in Aalst, East Flanders, Belgium. Michels played his entire career as a striker for AFC Ajax who he later managed, having also managed F.C. Barcelona and the Dutch national team. He is considered one of the greatest football managers of all time, as well as the inventor of the tactics and playing style known as "Total Football". Born and raised in Amsterdam, Michels grew up near the Olympic Stadium and was recruited to the youth ranks of Ajax. As a player, he won the Dutch national championship twice. The groundwork for Total Football had been laid at Ajax, by then English manager Jack Reynolds under whom Michels played. He then made a few changes to the system, adopting a 4-3-3 formation with vedette and team captain Johan Cruyff. Together they helped Ajax to win four national championships, as well as the first of three consecutive continental titles before moving to F.C, Barcelona where he was joined by Cruyff two years later. Together they helped to lay the foundation at Barcelona that had been implemented in Amsterdam, from which the club has not veered to this day, earning the club the nickname "The Son of Ajax". Michels helped to coach the Dutch national team to the final of the 1974 FIFA World Cup where they finished as runners-up, losing 2–1 to archrivals West Germany. He later coached the Dutch national team to Continental success, winning the 1988 UEFA Euro Cup. He was named the coach of the Century by FIFA in 1999 and the award for the Dutch Footballer of the Year is called the Rinus Michels Award. He died on 3 March 2005 at a hospital in Aalst, Belgium, after a heart surgery.