Orange Revolution

In club football, the Dutch teams Ajax and Feyenord dominated Europe. Feyenord won the European Cup (the forerunner of the Champions League) in 1970 and the UEFA Cup in 1974. The future Holland manager Rinus Michels managed Ajax. They won the European Cup three successive times in 1971, 72 and 74.

Both Dutch teams played what became known as 'total football'. This was a revolutionary new approach to the game in which every player had a creative role. Defenders attacked and attackers defended and all players were comfortable with the ball.

The objective was to keep possession of the ball by continually 'passing and moving'. They also played the 'offside trap': defenders came out quickly to catch opposing forwards offside.

The greatest 'total footballer’ was the Ajax and Holland captain, Johan Cruyff. Cruyff was perhaps the greatest passer of the ball in the history of the game. He also invented a new technique now called the 'Cruyff turn'.