Michels invented the concept of ?total football?

Amsterdam: Rinus Michels, the Dutch coach who invented the concept of ?Total Football? and earned the nickname ?The General?, died on Thursday, the Dutch soccer association KNVB said. He was 77.

Michels was recently admitted to hospital for heart surgery. Michels died in a Belgian hospital, KNVB spokesman Frank Huizinga said. ?He was one of the best coaches we had in history,? Huizinga said.

Michels, named Coach of the Century by world governing body Fifa in 1999, played 269 matches as a centre forward for Ajax in the 1940s and 1950s and won five caps for the Netherlands. He scored 121 goals in all. After his army service he became a sports teacher before embarking on a career as a coach.

He started coaching Ajax in 1965 and by 1971 they were European champions for the first time, beating Panathinaikos of Greece in the final at Wembley. At the heart of that side was Johann Cruyff, and after Michels left for Barcelona, he returned to Amsterdam to sign the great forward for the Catalan club.

In 1974 Michels coached the Netherlands to the World Cup final, where they lost 1-2 to hosts West Germany in Munich. After further stints at Ajax and Barcelona, where he won the Spanish League championship in 1974, he moved to the Los Angeles Aztecs from 1978-1980 then onto Cologne from 1980-1983, before finishing his club coaching career with Bayer Leverkusen in Germany in 1989.

Michels was born Marinus Hendrikus Jacobus Michels on February 9, 1928 in Amsterdam near the Olympic Stadium. (Reuters)