Rinus Michels

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Rinus Michels
Rinus Michels 1984b.jpg
Michels in 1984
Personal information
Full name Marinus Jacobus Hendricus Michels
Date of birth 9 February 1928
Place of birth Amsterdam, Netherlands
Date of death 3 March 2005 (aged 77)
Place of death Aalst, Belgium
Height 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)
Playing position Striker
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1946�1958 Ajax 264 (122)
National team
1950�1954 Netherlands 5 (0)
Teams managed
1960�1964 JOS
1964�1965 DWS
1965�1971 Ajax
1971�1975 Barcelona
1974 Netherlands
1975�1976 Ajax
1976�1978 Barcelona
1979�1980 Los Angeles Aztecs
1980�1983 1. FC K�ln
1984�1985 Netherlands
1986�1988 Netherlands
1988�1989 Bayer Leverkusen
1990�1992 Netherlands
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only
Marinus Jacobus Hendricus "Rinus" Michels OON (Dutch pronunciation: ['m?x?ls]; 9
February 1928 � 3 March 2005) was a Dutch association football player and coach.[1]
He played his entire career for the club AFC Ajax, which he later coached, and was
a member of the Netherlands national team both as a player and as manager. He is
regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time.[1][2][3]

Michels became most notable for his coaching achievements, having won the European
Cup with Ajax and the Spanish league with Barcelona, and having had four tenures as
coach of the Netherlands national team, which he led to reach the final match of
the 1974 FIFA World Cup and to win the 1988 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 by FIFA in 1999[1] and in 2007 the greatest post-war football coach by The
Times.[4]

Contents
1 Playing career
1.1 Ajax first team
1.2 National team
2 Coaching career
2.1 1974 World Cup
2.2 Later years
2.3 European champions
3 Death
4 Personality and legacy
5 Quotes
5.1 About Michels
6 Career statistics
7 Honours
7.1 Player
7.2 Manager
7.3 Other
8 References
9 External links
Playing career
Michels was born in Amsterdam and grew up at the Olympiaweg, a street near the
Olympic Stadium. He celebrated his ninth birthday on 9 February 1936, when he
received a pair of football boots and an Ajax jersey. Moments later, he was playing
with his father at a small field near their home.[5] Via Joop K�hler, a friend of
the family who was commissioner at Ajax, Michels was introduced to the club and
became a junior member in 1940.[5] When World War II started, and specially during
the Dutch famine of 1944, Michels' career was set on hold.[5]

French club Lille had also wanted to contract Michels, but a playing career abroad
did not materialize as the Royal Netherlands Army did not allow him to go because
he had to serve on active duty.[5]

Ajax first team

Rinus Michels (1954)

On 9 June 1946, Michels was invited into Ajax's first team squad to replace the
injured Han Lambregt. In his debut, Ajax beat ADO 8�3 and Michels scored five
times.[5] That season, Ajax won their 14th division championship and a year later
they won the Dutch national championship.[5] Although there were doubts about
Michels' technical skills, team members like Cor van der Hart and captain Joop
Stoffelen were enthusiastic about his strength and heading capabilities.[5] Indeed,
Michels was characterized for his hard work rather than for his technical
qualities.[6]

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.[5] 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.[5]

National team
Michels' international playing
five matches, making his debut
also lost all of his remaining
Belgium, 6�1 to Sweden and 3�1
career with the Netherlands national team lasted
on 8 June 1950 away to Sweden, a 4�1 defeat.[7] He
matches as an Oranje player, 4�1 to Finland, 4�0 to
to Switzerland.[7]

Coaching career
Michels returned to Ajax as head coach in 1965. Under his tenure and along with
great players such as Johan Cruyff and Johan Neeskens, Ajax went from relegation
candidates to a team that won the national championship four times and the KNVB Cup
three times in the following six years. In 1969, they reached the final of the
European Cup for the first time, being defeated 4�1 by Italian side Milan. In 1971,
he managed Ajax's to the first of three consecutive European Cups, a feat only
achieved previously by the great Real Madrid team of Alfredo Di St�fano and Ferenc
Pusk�s. While at Ajax, Michels modernized the game by introducing what became known
as "Total Football" and using the Offside trap. He then moved to Barcelona in the
second part of 1971, being joined by Johan Cruyff in 1973. With Michels and Cruyff,
the team won the Primera Divisi�n title in 1974 before Michels became manager of
the Dutch national team.[1]

1974 World Cup

Michels was appointed national coach by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB)
after the Netherlands had qualified for the 1974 FIFA World Cup. His first game as
the Netherlands' coach was on 27 March 1974 in a 1�1 draw against Austria. 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
defeated Argentina and the defending world champions Brazil, 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 against West Germany in the final, 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.

Later years
Michels later moved on to the United States where he coached in the ill-fated North
American Soccer League. He ended his club coaching career with Bayer Leverkusen in
1989. He had his jour de gloire, however, when he coached the Dutch team to
European glory at the 1988 UEFA European Championship.

European champions

Rinus Michels (right) with his assistant manager Nol de Ruiter at UEFA Euro 1988
Michels returned to coach the team for the Euro 1988 tournament. After losing the
first group match against the Soviet Union (1�0), the Netherlands went on to
qualify for the semi-final by defeating England 3�1 (with a hat-trick by the
tournament's top scorer Marco van Basten), and the Republic 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, including Ronald Koeman, who, in front of the German supporters,
provocatively pretended to wipe his backside with the shirt of Olaf 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 by Ruud Gullit and a remarkable volley by Van Basten. This
was the national team's first 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.

Death
Michels died on 3 March 2005 at a hospital in Aalst, Belgium, after a heart surgery
in the hospital of Gareth, Spain (his second since 1986).

Personality and legacy

Michels became known as a person who was 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 actually know the color of Michels' wallet?".[5] His IQ was high and during
foreign trips he always brought a book with him, which he wanted to have read
completely before coming home.[5] 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.[5] 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 friend Hans Boskamp climbed up the stages to sing
some duets.[5] After matches, he was always soaping himself down in the showers of
the changing rooms as well, even when the match was lost.[5]

Michels was also known as a practical joker. At a hotel he once borrowed a fur coat
of a lady and pretended to be a lady to his teammates.[5] During a training session
in Lille, the players went fishing and Michels, who did not enjoy himself, jumped
into the water.[5]

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."[8] 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.[9]
Michels was named coach of the century by FIFA in 1999.[1]

The Rinus Michels Award, which rewards the best managers in Dutch football, is
named in his honour.

Quotes
Professional football is something like war. Whoever behaves too properly, is lost.
Often misquoted in the form "Football is war".[1][9]
It is an art in itself to compose a starting team, finding the balance between
creative players and those with destructive powers, and between defence,
construction and attack � never forgetting the quality of the opposition and the
specific pressures of each match.[10]
About Michels
"Both as a player and as a trainer there is nobody who taught me as much as him. I
will miss Rinus Michels. ... I always greatly admired his leadership." Johan
Cruyff[11]
Career statistics
Club performance League
Season Club League Apps Goals
Netherlands League
1945�46 Ajax 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
Country Netherlands 264 122
Total 264 122
Honours
Player
Ajax[12]

Eredivisie: 1946�47, 1956�57

Manager
Ajax[12]

Eredivisie: 1965�66, 1966�67, 1967�68, 1969�70

KNVB Cup: 1966�67, 1969�70, 1970�71
European Cup: 1970�71; Runner-up: 1968�69
UEFA Intertoto Cup: 1968
Barcelona[12]

La Liga: 1973�74
Copa del Rey: 1977�78
Inter-Cities Fairs Cup Trophy: 1971
1. FC K�ln[12]

DFB Pokal: 1982�83

Netherlands[12]

UEFA European Championship: 1988

FIFA World Cup Runner-up: 1974
Other
Invested as a Knight of the Order of Orange-Nassau: 1974
Elevated as an Officer of the Order of Orange-Nassau: 1988
Named World Soccer Awards Manager of the Year: 1988[13]
Named World Soccer Magazine 2nd Greatest Manager of All Time: 2013
Named Dutch manager of the century: 1999
Named FIFA Coach of the Century: 1999[1]
Named Knight of the KNVB: 2002
UEFA Lifetime Award: 2002[14]
Best Manager in 50 years of professional football in the Netherlands: 2004
References
Scholten, Berend (3 March 2005). "Michels � a total footballing legend". UEFA.
Retrieved 29 January 2007.
Matt Dickinson, september 2007,
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/article2437525.ece
"Coaching greats in profile". UEFA. 13 January 2017. Retrieved 15 January 2017.
Matt Dickinson, september 2007,
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/article2437525.ece
"Droomland". rinus-michels.info. Retrieved 30 January 2007.
The Times Online (4 March 2005). "Rinus Michels obituary". The Times. London.
Retrieved 1 February 2007.
"Rinus Michels � 09 februari 1928" (in Dutch). voetbalstats.nl. Archived from the
original on 28 January 2007. Retrieved 30 January 2007.