Total Football

Manager Rinus Michels is generally credited with introducing this system during the 1970s,[1] at Dutch club Ajax and the Netherlands national football team.

Also in the 1940s, English manager Jack Reynolds implemented a style that was bearing similarities to Total Football at Ajax, leading the Dutch club to rise in importance and win trophies for the first time.

[21] Austrian coach Ernst Happel reworked the theory to introduce strength, encouraging his players to play tougher during his spells at ADO Den Haag and Feyenoord.

[25] The stark rise of Total Football and its attacking prowess was also linked with the "death of Catenaccio", an Italian system reliant heavily on defence promoted by Helenio Herrera's Internazionale during the 1960s.

[26] The Total Football system was prone to defeat, experienced notably in the final of the 1974 FIFA World Cup contested by the Dutch and West Germany.

This allowed Franz Beckenbauer, Uli Hoeneß, and Wolfgang Overath to gain a stronghold in midfield, thus, enabling West Germany to win 2–1.

[28] Building further on the foundations of Total Football, a new tactical system developed in FC Barcelona (particularly under manager Pep Guardiola) and the Spain national team during the late 2000s and early 2010s.