François Van der Elst

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Swat Van der Elst
François Van der Elst.jpg
Swat Van der Elst (1977)
Personnel
Surname François Van der Elst
birthday December 1, 1954
place of birth Opwijk ,  Belgium
date of death January 11, 2017
Place of death Aalst ,  Belgium
size 172 cm
position striker
Juniors
Years station
1965-1969 Eendracht Mazenzele
1969-1972 RSC Anderlecht
Men's
Years station Games (goals) 1
1971-1980 RSC Anderlecht 243 (82)
1980-1981 New York Cosmos 43 (12)
1981-1983 West Ham United 62 (14)
1983-1986 SC Lokeren 57 (12)
National team
Years selection Games (goals)
1971-1973 Belgium U-19 18 0(5)
1974 Belgium U-21 1 0(0)
1973-1983 Belgium 44 (14)
1 Only league games are given.

François "Swat" Van der Elst (born December 1, 1954 in Opwijk , † January 11, 2017 in Aalst ) was a Belgian football player .

career

Club career

Van der Elst began his career in the youth team at Eendracht Mazenzele. In 1969 he came to RSC Anderlecht . During his time with the men from Brussels he won the Belgian championship in 1972 and 1974 and was Belgian cup winner in 1972, 1973, 1975 and 1976 . Internationally, he was able to win the European Supercup in 1976 and 1978 and the European Cup Winners' Cup in the same years . In the 1976 final Van der Elst scored two goals to triumph for the Belgians. In 1977 he was the top scorer in the top Belgian league. In 1980 he came to New York Cosmos . After just a year he went back to Europe and signed with West Ham United . After three years in England , he let his career at SC Lokeren end.

International playing career

Internationally, Van der Elst played 44 times for Belgium and scored 14 goals. He took part in the 1980 European Championships in Italy , where he was runner-up with the team. At the 1982 World Cup in Spain he was eliminated with the Red Devils in the second group stage. Van der Elst played in all eight qualifying games for the 1980 European Championship against group opponents Austria, Portugal, Scotland and Norway, scoring five goals. It was the winning goal for the 2-1 win on September 12, 1979 in Oslo against Norway, the 2-0 in Brussels against Portugal, the 1-0 lead on November 21, 1979 in the first leg against Scotland and the 2: 0 and 3: 0 in the second leg on December 19, 1979 in Glasgow . Sandy Jardine , Graeme Souness , Kenny Dalglish and Joe Jordan had to acknowledge the superiority of coach Guy Thys' team in their 3-1 home defeat . In the European Championship finals from June 11 to 22, 1980 in Italy, the tricky offensive player was active in the three group matches against England (1: 1), Spain (2: 1) and Italy (0: 0) and stormed in the final on June 22nd in Rome against Germany in the Belgian attack alongside his strike partner Jan Ceulemans . In the 2-1 defeat, the two top midfielders with Julien Cools , René Vandereycken , Wilfried van Moer and Raymond Mommens were supported.

Belgium qualified for the 1982 World Cup in Spain without the injured Van der Elst, but in the finals he played in Elche against El Salvador and at the Camp Nou stadium on June 28, 1982 in the 3-0 defeat by Poland .

He died on January 11, 2017 after being hospitalized on New Year's Day due to his poor condition after a cardiac arrest.

successes

literature

  • German Sports Club for Football Statistics eV, Jürgen Bordihn: 50 Years of the European Football Championship , Volume 1: 1960–1996 . DSFS, Wiesbaden, Berlin 2008, DNB 997710888 .
  • Hardy Greens : Football World Cup Encyclopedia. 1930-2006. AGON Sportverlag, Kassel 2002, ISBN 3-89784-205-X .

Web links

Commons : Swat Van der Elst  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Ex-international François 'Swat' Van der Elst overleden . De Standaard , January 11, 2017 (Dutch).
personal data
SURNAME Van der Elst, François
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Van der Elst, Swat (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Belgian soccer player
DATE OF BIRTH December 1, 1954
PLACE OF BIRTH Lokeren , Belgium
DATE OF DEATH January 11, 2017
Place of death Aalst