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Paul Van Himst
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Van Himst | ||
 |
||
| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Paul Van Himst | |
| Date of birth | October 2, 1943 | |
| Place of birth | Brussels, Belgium | |
| Nickname | Polle Gazon, The White Pelé | |
| Playing position | "Hole" | |
| Club information | ||
| Current club | Retired | |
| Youth clubs | ||
| ? | ? | |
| Senior clubs1 | ||
| Years | Club | App (Gls)* |
| 1959-75 1975-76 1976-77 |
R.S.C. Anderlecht R.W.D. Molenbeek K.S.C. Eendracht Aalst |
457 (233) 21 (1) - |
| National team | ||
| 1960-74 | Belgium | 81 (30) |
|
1 Senior club appearances and goals |
||
Paul Van Himst (born in Sint-Pieters-Leeuw, October 2, 1943) was a talented Belgian football midfielder and a football manager. He is now retired, and still supports R.S.C. Anderlecht, his former team. He was nicknamed Polle Gazon (Polle is Paul in Brussels dialect and Gazon means lawn in French) due to the large number of fouls committed on him. He played in the match Belgium-Netherlands in 1964 with 10 fellows from the Anderlecht team after the substitution of goalkeeper Delhasse by Jean Trappeniers.
Van Himst won the Belgian championship 8 times, all of them with Anderlecht. He played his first professional season in 1959-60, with that club, for which he scored 233 goals in 457 matches (16 seasons). He then played for RWDM (another club from Brussels) in 1975-76 and for Eendracht Aalst (then in second division) the next season.
"Polle Gazon" scored 30 goals in 81 matches (between 1960 and 1974) for the Belgian national team, which make him Belgium topscorer with Bernard Voorhoof and the fifth most capped player. He made his debut on October 19, 1960 in Sweden and was part of the team who qualified for the 1970 World Cup. Van Himst then helped Belgium to reach the third place of the Euro 1972. He also holds the record of Golden Shoe awards (with 4).
As a manager, Van Himst worked notably for Anderlecht and the national team which he led to the 1994 FIFA World Cup.
In November 2003, to celebrate UEFA's Jubilee, he was selected as the Golden Player of Belgium by the Belgian Football Association as their most outstanding player of the past 50 years. [1]
Van Himst played 'Michel Fileu' in John Huston's movie Escape to Victory (1981).
Eddy Merckx, another Belgian sport legend, is one of his closest friends.
Van Himst is also the owner of a coffee brand called Brésor.
| Preceded by Lucien Olieslagers |
Belgian Golden Shoe 1960 |
Succeeded by Paul Van Himst |
| Preceded by Paul Van Himst |
Belgian Golden Shoe 1961 |
Succeeded by Joseph Jurion |
| Preceded by Wilfried Puis |
Belgian Golden Shoe 1965 |
Succeeded by Wilfried Van Moer |
| Preceded by Maurice Martens |
Belgian Golden Shoe 1974 |
Succeeded by Johan Boskamp |
 |
Belgium squad - 1970 FIFA World Cup | |
|---|---|---|
|
1 Piot | 2 Heylens | 3 Thissen | 4 Dewalque | 5 Jeck | 6 Dockx | 7 Semmeling | 8 Van Moer | 9 Devrindt | 10 Van Himst | 11 Puis | 12 Trappeniers | 13 Beurlet | 14 Martens | 15 Van Den Daele | 16 Polleunis | 17 Verheyen | 18 Lambert | 19 Carteus | 20 Peeters | 21 Janssens | 22 Duquesne | Coach: Goethals |
||
|
Belgium squad - 1994 FIFA World Cup | |
|---|---|---|
|
1 Preud'homme | 2 Medved | 3 Borkelmans | 4 Albert | 5 Smidts | 6 Staelens | 7 Van Der Elst | 8 Nilis | 9 Degryse | 10 Scifo | 11 Czerniatynski | 12 De Wilde | 13 Grün | 14 De Wolf | 15 Emmers | 16 Boffin | 17 Weber | 18 Wilmots | 19 Van Meir | 20 Verlinden | 21 Van Der Heyden | 22 Renier | Coach: Van Himst |
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Categories: 1943 births | Living people | Belgian footballers | People from Brussels | R.S.C. Anderlecht players | R.W.D. Molenbeek players | Belgium international footballers | FIFA World Cup 1970 players | UEFA Euro 1972 players | Belgian football managers | R.S.C. Anderlecht managers | FIFA World Cup 1994 managers