Many modern fans would immediately think of names such as Johan Cruyff (as a player and manager), Pep Guardiola (as a manager), and Lionel Messi (as a player) as synonymous with the false nine roles.
While of course all of the above were extremely successful with the tactic, it would be a mistake to consider them to be the innovators.
The history of the false nine goes much deeper – with its roots beginning as early as the 1890s.
Most football fans know about the European Cup that came before the Champions League.
But even this was not the birth of organised competition between Europe’s elite.
There was for instance, the Mitropa Cup, contested by the successor states of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
However, probably most prominently (due to the Mitropa Cup’s post-World War Two decline) was the Latin Cup – for many the true predecessor to UEFA’s European Cup.
Catenaccio is one of the most famous and influential tactical ideologies that has ever been created, its influence can be seen in the defensive principles of many of the most effective teams of recent history.
It is a system of out-and-out defence. The word literally translates to ‘bolt’ in Italian.
Among the annals of football history, there have been many great teams who were tactically advanced beyond their time.
However, perhaps no side has been so tactically dominant in any era of football than Gustáv Sebes’ Hungary side of the 1950s – also known as the Golden Team.
