He had undergone heart surgery in a hospital in the Belgian town of Aalst when he died.

Michels was one of Europe's finest coaches and took the Dutch national side, led by Johan Cruyff, to the 1974 World Cup final.

Michels was named coach of the century by soccer's world governing body FIFA in 1999 and, along with the gifted Cruyff, was responsible for Dutch football becoming synonymous with skilful, easy-on-the-eye soccer.

Michels, is one of very few European coaches to have led clubs and country to top prizes on the continent.

He piloted Ajax Amsterdam to the 1971 European Cup and Barcelona to the Spanish title in 1974, and he returned to the Dutch national side to win the European title in 1988.

After playing for the Dutch as a centre forward in the 1950s, Michels developed total football in the following decade.

The concept gave players freedom to move around the pitch and the confidence to swap positions - a defender could link up with the attack and wingers could drop back to defend.

Fortuitously, Michels's ideas coincided with a generation of skilled Dutch players led by incomparable playmaker Cruyff and including Ruud Krol, Jonny Rep and Johan Neeskens.

The Dutch side reached the 1974 World Cup final in Germany where they lost 2-1 to the more pragmatic hosts. The Netherlands, without Michels and Cruyff, also lost the 1978 final to Argentina.

Nicknames of the General and Iron Rinus demonstrated that despite his innovative thinking, Michels was no pushover. Stocky, with hair cropped short and a square jaw, the Amsterdam-born coach kept the bearing of a military man.

He was a man of few words and believed "Soccer makes itself on the field".

Michels was born Marinus Hendrikus Jacobus Michels on February 9, 1928, near the Olympic Stadium in the year of the Olympic Games in Amsterdam.

He played five internationals for the Netherlands and scored 121 goals in his career after 269 games for Ajax Amsterdam with whom he won two Dutch titles.

After army service he became a sports teacher before embarking on his career as a coach.

He started training Ajax in 1964/5 and by 1971 they were European champions for the first time, beating Panathinaikos of Greece in the final at Wembley. They also won four Dutch titles.

At the heart of that side was Cruyff, one of European soccer's post-war jewels whose vision and sublime skill made Michels' concept of total football come alive.

After Michels left for Barcelona later in 1971, he signed Cruyff and they won the 1974 Spanish title.

Michels moved to the Los Angeles Aztecs from 1978 to 1980 and Cologne (1980-1984) before finishing his club coaching career with Bayer Leverkusen in Germany in 1989.

A year earlier his tactical genius was finally rewarded at international level when the Netherlands beat the Soviet Union to win the European Championship, in the same Munich Olympic Stadium where they had lost the 1974 World Cup final.

This time his team was inspired by the trio of Ruud Gullit, Marco van Basten and Frank Rijkaard.

Van Basten, scorer of one of the most memorable goals in international soccer, is the current Dutch coach.