This Day in History: 2023-02-08

Nr. 400

RINUS BRINGS ‘TOTAL FOOTBALL’ TO AJAX (1964)

Marinus Michels, known as ‘Rinus’, was an Ajax man through and through. He played his entire career at the Amsterdam club and went on to coach a squad that produced some of the finest football of the time. The style was known as ‘total football’, a system that allowed any player to fill any position, ensuring that their structure on the pitch was never dragged out of shape. This required supreme fitness and skill, and Michels’ exacting training regime not only produced a squad of elite athletes, but also helped players argue for professional status and full-time wages.

Rinus Michels was a tactical genius whose football knowledge got the best out of a hugely talented generation of Dutch players at Ajax.