Paul Van Himst

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Paul Van Himst
Paul Van Himst 1964.jpg
Paul Van Himst in 1964
Personnel
birthday October 2, 1943
place of birth Sint-Pieters-LeeuwBelgium
size 181 cm
position striker
Juniors
Years station
1952-1958 RSC Anderlecht
Men's
Years station Games (goals) 1
1959-1975 RSC Anderlecht 457 (234)
1975-1976 RWD Molenbeek 21 00(1)
1976-1977 Eendracht Aalst
National team
Years selection Games (goals)
1960 Belgium U-19 4 00(0)
1960-1974 Belgium 81 0(30)
Stations as a trainer
Years station
1983-1986 RSC Anderlecht
1987-1988 RWD Molenbeek
1991-1996 Belgium
1 Only league games are given.

Paul Van Himst (born October 2, 1943 in Sint-Pieters-Leeuw ) is a former Belgian football player and coach . The offensive player won eight championships with RSC Anderlecht , won the trophy four times , made it to the finals of the Messestädte Cup in 1970 and was awarded the Golden Shoe four times in his home country . He was voted the best Belgian player of all time in August 1995.

career

Clubs, 1952 to 1977

At the age of nine, the student was already playing in Brussels for RSC Anderlecht, to which he remained loyal as a player until he was 32. He recommended himself for higher tasks early on in the club's offspring and made his debut in the senior team's league at the age of 16. Shortly after his 17th birthday, "Popol" Van Himst made his debut in the Belgian national team on October 19, 1960 in Stockholm in the international match against Sweden . In the same year, the Belgian sports journalists voted the talent for footballer of the year in their country. With the RSC Anderlecht he won the national championship for the first time in 1962 under the French coach Pierre Sinibaldi . The title formed the starting point for the exceptional status of the Royal Sporting Club for more than a decade. From 1964 to 1968 the outstanding technician, dribbler in a confined space and offensive player with a hard shot won the championship five times in a row with the RSC and in 1965 also celebrated the double success with the "Mauves". Thanks to his individual class, he scored many goals even without being a great fighter and was the top scorer in the Belgian first division in 1964, 1966 and 1968 . He mostly acted as a half or center forward. At a young age he benefited from the skills of his teammates Armand "Jef" Jurion , Jacques Stockman , Pierre Hanon , Georges Heylens and Jan Mulder , in his later years he found Hugo Broos and especially the Dutch attacker Rob Rensenbrink, a man of European class his side. In the 1969/70 series, he moved with Anderlecht after successes against Valur Reykjavík, Coleraine FC, Dunfermline Athletic, Newcastle United and him in the semifinals over Inter Milan in the finals of the Messestadtepokal against Arsenal. Van Himst and his team won the first leg on April 22, 1970 with 3-1 goals, where he was awarded "the top mark as a tireless driver", but the second leg resulted in a 3-0 defeat and thus the team's cup success from London. Van Himst scored the most hits in the competition with 10 goals.

As a mature expert, now he was far more of a technically brilliant playmaker than the center forward with scoring qualities, he was used to at a young age, he achieved the double in the championship and cup again in 1971/72 and also with the national team he was able to win an excellent European football championship in 1972 with the Contest "Rode Duivels". In 1973 he won the cup, in 1974 he was the eighth time champion and in 1975 he said goodbye to Anderlecht with the fourth cup win.

In the competitions of the European Cup - champions, trophies, trade fair cups - the Belgian player of the century did not experience a final victory, but nevertheless many highlights. In the 1962/63 European Cup , he and Anderlecht threw the great Real Madrid out of the competition in the first round (3: 3/1: 0) and failed in the quarter-finals against the Scots from FC Dundee . The "Dark Blues" had previously defeated 1. FC Köln 8-1 and Sporting Lisbon 4-1 in their home games. On March 6, 1963, in front of 64,703 spectators at the Stade du Heysel, Anderlecht lost their home game through two goalkeeping mistakes by Árpád Fazekas with 1: 4 goals. With the top performers Alan Gilzean , Ian Ure and Bert Slater , Dundee prevailed against the Belgian champions, who for a long time appeared at least on an equal footing. "Anderlecht offered a really strong performance, strongly directed by the huge talent Paul Van Himst." In the 1964/65 competition he prevailed with his club after three games against Helmut Haller's team , FC Bologna , and then failed at Liverpool FC. In the year of the football World Cup in 1966 he decided on February 23, 1966 with his goal to make it 1-0 in the home game against Real Madrid, but in front of 110,000 spectators Real prevailed in the second leg with 4-2 goals. In the 1966/67 round he scored five goals in a 10-1 first leg win on September 10, 1966 at Haka Valkeakoski. In the 1968/69 round, the 3-1 home win on November 27, 1968 against defending champions Manchester United was of no use, as in the first leg at Old Trafford the men around Bobby Charlton , Denis Law and George Best had already won 3-0 had made everything clear. In the 1969/70 round he made it to the finals against Arsenal with Anderlecht in the trade fair cup. In his last season for Anderlecht, 1974/75, he played six more games against Slovan Preßburg, Olympiacos and Leeds United in the national championship competition . With over 40 appearances and more than 20 hits, Van Himst has an impressive record in the European Cup.

Since Van Himst was never a great fighter, he was long nicknamed Das Fräulein , which sports journalists had given him. On the other hand, in the admiration of his class, he was called The White Pelé . He was a leader and thinker in the otherwise very physical Belgian football. His exceptional position in Belgian football was also demonstrated by the top ranks in the European Footballer of the Year election : in 1964, Van Himst finished fifth - behind Denis Law , Luis Suárez , Amancio , Eusébio , and in 1965 fourth, this time behind Eusébio, Giacinto Facchetti and Luis Suárez. On May 20, 1964 he was in the Europe selection which defeated the selection of Northern Europe in Copenhagen with 4-2 goals. The man from RSC stormed alongside José Augusto , Jimmy Greaves , Denis Law and Bobby Charlton . On March 26, 1975, his farewell game took place in Brussels. Anderlecht competed against a world selection in front of 35,000 spectators in Parc Astrid - with Jan Tomaszewski , Christian Piot , Wim Rijsbergen , Ramón Heredia , Johan Cruyff , Pelé, Gianni Rivera , Eusébio, Hugo Sotil , Willem van Hanegem , Jairzinho , José Altafini , Carlos Babington , on. At the side of his old companions Jan Ruister, Gilbert Van Binst, Jean Thissen, Hugo Broos, Erwin Van den Daele, Jean Dockx, Francois Van der Elst, Torsten Anderson, Ludo Coeck, Jan Verheyen, Attila Ladinszky, Guido Nicolaes and Rob Resenbrink Van Himst took the 1-0 lead in the 8-3 win in the second minute of the game.

After leaving Anderlecht, he played for a year at RWD Molenbeek and at the second division club Eendracht Aalst . Overall, Van Himst is led from 1959/60 to 1975/76 with 481 league matches with 236 goals.

National team, 1960 to 1974

Paul Van Himst made 81 international matches (30 goals) between 1960 and 1974 and took part in the 1970 World Cup and the 1972 European Championship , in which Belgium finished third. He made his debut for the Belgian national team on October 19, 1960, 14 days after his 17th birthday. It was a World Cup qualifier in Group 1 for the 1962 World Cup in Chile and was played against hosts Sweden in Solna. The young attacker played alongside his fellow club members from Anderlecht: Laurent Verbiest, Pierre Hanon, Martin Lippens, "Jef" Jurion and "Jacky" Stockman. Sweden won the game with 2-0 goals and finished the qualifying group games level on points with Switzerland with 6: 2 points each, ahead of Belgium with 0: 8 points. The great offensive hope of the "Rode Duivels" did not have a happy start in the national team. But already in his second international match, on October 30th, in a 2-1 home win in a friendly against Hungary, he scored his first goal for the national team. On March 8, 1961 - it was his fourth international match - he met the German national soccer team for the first time. The team of national coach Sepp Herberger won in Frankfurt with 1-0 goals. On April 24, 1963, he won a friendly with Belgium in Brussels against reigning world champions Brazil with 5-1 goals and scored one goal. On December 25, 1963, he distinguished himself in Paris as a two-time goalscorer in a 2-1 win against France.

In 1965 he was part of the Belgian squad for the 1966 World Cup qualifiers against Israel and Bulgaria in Group 1. Belgium and Bulgaria each showed 6: 2 points after four games - Belgium's better goal difference of 11: 3 versus 9: 6 for Bulgaria did not count - and so on December 29, 1965 a play-off took place in Florence. Belgium lost with 1: 2 goals and Van Himst and his teammates Heylens, Verbiest, Jurion, Thio, Stockman and Puis could not take part in the 1966 World Cup in England. In his third World Cup qualification attempt for the 1970 World Cup in Mexico, he prevailed with Belgium for the first time. In Group 6 against the competition from Yugoslavia, Spain and Finland, Van Himst and his teammates prevailed with 9: 3 points in 1st place and thus belonged to the World Cup tournament in Mexico. There, coach Raymond Goethals' team met the Soviet Union, hosts Mexico and El Salvador. Van Himst and his teammates Christian Piot, Nicolas Dewalque, Jean Dockx, Georges Heylens, Wilfried Puis, Leon Semmeling, Jeon Thissen, Wilfried Van Moer, Johan Devrindt and Raoul Lambert only won double points against the outsider El Salvador. Against the sbornaja there was a clear 1: 4 and against Mexico in front of 108,192 spectators in the Estadio Azteca by a converted penalty in the 15th minute a 0: 1 defeat. Van Himst was unfortunately not at his best during the World Cup days.

In the qualifying games for the European football championships in 1964 and 1968, Van Himst could not prevail with Belgium. However, on November 11, 1966 in Brussels it was enough to score a 2-1 victory against eventual group winners France. The Anderlecht man scored both goals against France. The two defeats against Poland - 1: 3/2: 4 - made the 3: 1 points in the direct duels against France - the French failed on the way to the finals in the quarter-finals against Yugoslavia - and led to another non-qualification. Van Himst had scored four goals in four games.

After the unsatisfactory World Cup finals in Mexico in 1970, Van Himst made a new attempt with Belgium in the 1972 European Championship qualification. In Group 5, Belgium had to compete with Portugal, Scotland and Denmark. Two goals by Johan Devrindt against Denmark, which competed with Morten Olsen , led to the hoped-for success. On February 3, 1971, Van Himst directed brilliantly and also scored two goals in the unexpected gala performance in the 3-0 win of the Belgian rode duivels . Belgium defeated Eusébio's Portuguese "thanks to an outstanding Van Himst" and finally sealed the quarter-finals against Portugal on November 21, 1971 in Lisbon. With 9: 3 points Belgium led the group ahead of Portugal with 7: 5 points and thus advanced to the quarter-finals. There, Belgium faced defending champions Italy and traveled to Milan for the first leg on April 29, 1972. With a strong defensive performance, they defied the Italian attackers Domenghini, Mazzola, Causio, Anastasi and Riva from a goalless 0-0. In the second leg on May 13th in Brussels, goals from Wilfried van Moer and Paul Van Himst led to a sensational 2-1 win for Belgium. A by-product arose from the elimination of England against Germany: The small country was now also the host of the final tournament. In the semifinals, the "undisputed star of the host", Captain Paul Van Himst, met the clearly favored Germany with its superstars Franz Beckenbauer , Günter Netzer and Gerd Müller . Two goals by the Munich striker decided the game and meant that the Belgian captain had to face Hungary in the match for third place on June 17 in Liège. Lambert and Van Himst - it was his 30th goal in the national team - gave Belgium a 2-0 lead within four minutes, breaking the morale of the Magyar ball artists. Paul Van Himst crowned his career in the national team with 3rd place at the European Football Championship in 1972.

In qualifying for the 1974 World Cup in Germany, Belgium faced competition from the Netherlands, Norway and Iceland. As expected, everything turned out to be a close race with the Dutch neighbor. The two rivals scored 8-0 points against Norway and Iceland, and the two goalless 0-0 draws between Belgium and the Netherlands meant that the goal difference was decisive. And there the men around Johan Cruyff, Rob Rensenbrink , Johnny Rep and Arie Haan had to show the better with 24: 2 goals compared to the 12: 0 goals of Belgium. Paul Van Himst was therefore unable to take part in the 1974 World Cup in Germany with equal points and without a defeat and the Netherlands made it into the final in Munich with an inspiring offensive game and lost just 1: 2 goals against the DFB-Elf of national coach Helmut Schön .

With the three European Championship qualifiers against Iceland, France and the GDR in 1974, Paul Van Himst ended his 14-year international career after 81 international matches.

Trainer

After he had ended his active career in 1978, he became youth coach at RSC Anderlecht and from 1982 to 1985 coach of the professional team. His greatest successes during this time were winning the UEFA Cup in 1983 ( again participation in the final in 1984 ) and the championship in 1985. In 1987 he was coach of RWD Molenbeek. After that he temporarily retired from football and only worked for his coffee wholesaler.

When Belgian football was in crisis in 1991, he took over the Belgian national team . At the 1994 World Cup in the USA, the team reached the second round. After failing to qualify for the European Championship in 1996 , he was released.

The owner of a coffee wholesaler played a supporting role as a soccer player in the film Escape or Victory in 1981 .

literature

  • Michael Horn: Lexicon of international soccer stars. Verlag Die Werkstatt, Göttingen 2004, ISBN 3-89533-466-9 , p. 273.
  • International Federation of Football History & Statistics / IFFHS (Ed.): 211 world's top first division goal scorers of the century. Wiesbaden 1998, pp. 192-193.
  • Jordan, Lenz (ed.): The 100 of the century. Soccer player. Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag, Reinbek 1996, ISBN 3-499-16458-2 , pp. 74-75.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Matthias Weinrich: The European Cup. Volume 1: 1955 to 1974. AGON Sportverlag, Kassel 2007, ISBN 978-3-89784-252-6 , p. 132
  2. ^ Matthias Weinrich: The European Cup. Volume 1: 1955 to 1974. AGON Sportverlag, Kassel 2007, ISBN 978-3-89784-252-6 , p. 281
  3. ^ Matthias Weinrich: The European Cup. Volume 1: 1955 to 1974. AGON Sportverlag, Kassel 2007, ISBN 978-3-89784-252-6 , p. 320
  4. ^ Matthias Weinrich: The European Cup. Volume 1: 1955 to 1974. AGON Sportverlag, Kassel 2007, ISBN 978-3-89784-252-6 , p. 182
  5. ^ Matthias Weinrich: The European Cup. Volume 1: 1955 to 1974. AGON Sportverlag, Kassel 2007, ISBN 978-3-89784-252-6 , p. 206
  6. ^ Wieland Becker: The long way to the finals. Volume I. Pro BUSINESS, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86805-613-6 , p. 53
  7. ^ Wieland Becker: The long way to the finals. Volume I. Pro BUSINESS, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86805-613-6 , pp. 54-55.
  8. Hardy Greens : Football World Cup Encyclopedia. 1930-2006. AGON Sportverlag, Kassel 2002, ISBN 3-89784-205-X , p. 223.
  9. ^ German Sports Club for Football Statistics (DSFS): 50 years of the European Football Championship. Volume 1, 1960 to 1996. Berlin 2008, pp. 35-36.
  10. a b Hardy Greens: Football EM Encyclopedia. 1960 to 2012. 2nd edition. AGON Sportverlag, Kassel 2008, ISBN 978-3-89784-350-9 , p. 81.
  11. Hardy Greens: Football EM Encyclopedia. 1960 to 2012. 2nd edition. AGON Sportverlag, Kassel 2008, ISBN 978-3-89784-350-9 , p. 85.
predecessor Office successor

Lucien Olieslager's
Wilfried Puis
Maurice Martens
Belgium's footballer of the year
1960 , 1961
1965
1974

Fons Van Brandt
Jef Jurion
Johan Boskamp