Marinus Jacobus Hendricus "Rinus" Michels (February 9, 1928 - March 3, 2005) was a Dutch football player and coach.

Born in Amsterdam, he is credited with the invention of "Total Football" in the 1970s. As the Dutch national coach (1974, 1984-1985, 1986-1988, 1990-1992) he led the Netherlands to reach the final game of the 1974 World Cup and to win the 1988 European Championship.

As a player, Michels played 257 matches for Ajax Amsterdam and scored 120 times between 1946 and 1958. He became Dutch champion with Ajax in 1947 and 1957. He also won five caps for the Dutch national team.

He returned to Ajax as head coach in 1965, winning the national championship four times and the KNVB Cup three times in the next six years, and won the first of Ajax's three consecutive European Cups in 1971. He modernised the game by introducing Total Football and using the offside trap. Michels then moved to Barcelona in 1971, winning the Primera División title in 1974, before joining the Dutch national team. He later moved on to the United States where he coached in the ill-fated NASL. He ended his club coaching career with Bayer Leverkusen in 1989.

Due to his authoritarian style as coach and his statement that “football is war” Rinus Michels was called The General. Michels was named coach of the century by FIFA in 1999.

He died in the City of Aalst hospital in Belgium after a heart surgery (his second after 1986).

External Links

• UEFA.com obituary (March 3 2005)