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. Via Joop Köhler, a friend of the family who was commissioner at Ajax, Michels was introduced to the club and became a junior member in 1940. When World War II started, and specially during the Dutch famine of 1944, Michels' career was set on hold.
French club Lille OSC had also wanted to contract him, but an international career did not go through as the Dutch Army did not let him go because he had to go on duty.
Read more about this topic: Rinus Michels
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