The first foundations for Total Football were laid by continental pioneer Jimmy Hogan, a Burnley native. Working with Austrian coach and his friend Hugo Meisl in the early 1930s, Meisl's Austrian national team (known as the "Wunderteam") became possibly the first side to play Total Football. Hogan's influence reached beyond the Austrian borders, as two decades later the Hungarian national team (also known as the "Golden Team") played a similar style of football under coach Gusztáv Sebes. The then president of the Hungarian Football Association, Sandor Barcs, said: "Jimmy Hogan taught us everything we know about football".
Another team who played a similar style as the Austrians, were Torino ("Grande Torino" as the team was called) in the 1940s. Between 1941 and 1947, Argentinian club River Plate formed a remarkable team, known as "La Máquina" (The Machine), whose famous front formed by Carlos Muñoz, José Manuel Moreno, Adolfo Pedernera, Ángel Labruna and Félix Loustau perfected the "false nine" style and the constant change of attack positions. "La Máquina" won several Argentine and international titles.
Also in the 1940s, English manager Jack Reynolds, implemented a Total Football style while at Dutch club Ajax. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Burnley were playing a renewed system in English football "where every player could play in every position" under manager Harry Potts. This Total Football system led the club to the 1959–60 First Division title and won many plaudits, including admiration from all-time English First Division top scorer Jimmy Greaves. Another pioneer was Vic Buckingham, manager of West Bromwich Albion, Ajax and Barcelona in the 1950s and 1960s, as his philosophy was later further developed by Rinus Michels and Johan Cruyff, a player who was introduced into the Ajax first team by Buckingham.
