René van de Kerkhof

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René van de Kerkhof
Rene van de Kerkhof 1975c.jpg
René van de Kerkhof 1975
Personnel
Surname Rainier Lambertus van de Kerkhof
birthday September 16, 1951
place of birth Helmond ,  Netherlands
position Right winger
Juniors
Years station
FC Twente Enschede
Men's
Years station Games (goals) 1
1970-1973 FC Twente Enschede 99 (34)
1973-1983 PSV Eindhoven 278 (85)
1983-1984 Apollon Smyrni 23 0(3)
1984-1985 Seiko Hong Kong
1985-1988 Helmond Sport 61 0(8)
1988-1989 FC Eindhoven 30 0(3)
1989-1992 Jong PSV
National team
Years selection Games (goals)
1973-1982 Netherlands 47 0(5)
1 Only league games are given.

Reinier Lambertus "René" van de Kerkhof (born September 16, 1951 in Helmond ) is a former Dutch football player . He played in the Eredivisie for FC Twente from Enschede and PSV from Eindhoven , with whom he was multiple Dutch champions and cup winners and won the UEFA Cup . At two world and two European championships, he and his twin brother Willy, who were 30 minutes older, were in the squad of the Dutch national team and both times were runner-up in the world championship.

Club career

FC Twente

The career of the van de Kerkhof brothers is closely linked to coach Kees Rijvers . Rijvers discovered Willy and René van de Kerkhof at the Helmonder amateur club RKSV MULO. He actually only wanted to sign the younger René of the two strikers , but mother van de Kerkhof insisted on “both or neither”, so that the 18-year-old twins went to FC Twente in Enschede for the 1970/71 season . The association could probably afford the 1500 guilders additional costs, said Rijvers. Three years later, PSV paid 1.8 million guilders for the two.

While Willy initially had to make do with the second team, René - of whom his brother says he was already further than himself - got directly into the first team of the up-and-coming club - Twente was third in 1969, fourth in the Eredivisie in 1970 . Thanks to the van de Kerkhof brothers, striker Jan Jeuring , goalkeeper Piet Schrijvers and his defense around Epi Drost and Cees van Ierssel , FC Twente managed to establish itself behind the "big three" clubs Ajax , PSV and Feijenoord . Already in their first professional season the Kerkhof brothers played internationally; In the 1970/71 Messestädte-Pokal , Twente reached the quarter-finals against Juventus Turin , in which, as the then impressed René van de Kerkhof later recalled, the audience “even looked for a seat in the trees” around the Diekman stadium. With third place in the honor division in 1972, the Tukkers qualified for the first time for the UEFA Cup , from which the team only had to leave after the semi-finals with two defeats against Borussia Mönchengladbach . René van de Kerkhof appeared 99 times for FC Twente in the league; he scored 34 goals; there were also two goals in six KNVB Cup games and five in 17 international matches.

Despite their success, the van de Kerkhofs in Enschede were still semi-professionals; René worked part-time in the office of a building materials trade. That only changed with the move to PSV in 1973.

PSV Eindhoven

René van de Kerkhof, 1980

Kees Rijvers had already moved to Eindhoven as a coach in 1972 ( Spitz Kohn had taken over the position at FC Twente); the van de Kerkhof brothers followed him a year later. The beginning of two employment relationships that should develop into a long-term success story. As in his six years in Enschede, Rijvers built a young - and even more successful - team in Eindhoven. For René van de Kerkhof, this meant in the next ten years that he was under contract with PSV: three Dutch championships , two KNVB Cup wins and the UEFA Cup .

Globetrotter

René van de Kerkhof stayed in Eindhoven for ten years, interrupted by a few weeks in which he was under contract with the SS Lazio in Rome in 1980 , but then returned after the Italians were downgraded to Serie B due to a betting scandal . Then he gave in to his thirst for adventure, which his more down-to-earth brother Willy had already noted in the 17-year-old René, and first went to Greece for a season with Apollon Smyrnis . Stations at Seiko Hong Kong and in Canada with the Toronto Blizzards followed before he returned to Brabant and played for Helmond Sport in the Eerste Divisie for three years in his hometown . After a season at FC Eindhoven , he returned to PSV in 1988, where the twins played one more season with the amateurs and René ended his active career in 1992.

National team

Amateurs and youth

The Van de Kerkhof twins were the last national players to make it from the Dutch amateur national team to the senior national team. In the autumn of 1969, when they were still active at the fifth-rate MULO in Helmond, they were appointed to the squad for the qualifying games for the European Amateur Championship . On October 25, 1969, they made their debut in the match in Wales , at that time still both as strikers, René on the left wing position , Willy on the right wing. The team reached the finals in Italy, defeated the Yugoslav team in Forte dei Marmi 4-0 and had to face the Spanish representation in the final. The match ended with a 1-1 draw after extra time; the Netherlands lost the replay the following day with 1: 2.

After their good performance with the amateurs, the twins would also play in the junior national team, which would compete in the UEFA youth tournament a few weeks later . René decided to go to Scotland, where the team also reached second place (after drawing lots in the final against the GDR selection); Willy, on the other hand, was closer to the club that was fighting for promotion to the Tweede class at the same time . Later the van de Kerkhofs played together in the juniors; Her teammates at that time included her later companions in the A-Elf, Johan Neeskens , Wim Rijsbergen and Johnny Rep .

A national team

René van de Kerkhof was already an international player during his time at FC Twente. At the end of 1970, the 19-year-old was part of the squad for the European Championship qualifier against the GDR team in Dresden, along with Johan Neeskens, who was the same age and made his Oranje debut in this match . On the intervention of Kees Rijvers, who did not want to see the young player burned, he was initially not used. Bondscoach František Fadrhonc used him for the first time more than a year later in a friendly against Austria on March 28, 1973; With his club-mate Jan Jeuring and team captain Piet Keizer from AFC Ajax he formed the storm that could not overcome the Austrian defense at 0-1 in the Prater Stadium . In his second international match, after moving to PSV five months later, he scored his first goal in an 8-1 win in World Cup qualification in Deventer against Iceland - which had given up his home right; from now on he was part of the squad and was used in three of six other games up to the 1974 World Cup . He was nominated early for the Dutch squad for the World Cup , while his brother Willy only came into the squad as a replacement with only one international appearance. René had to wait a long time for his performance in Germany: he was only allowed on the field after the half-time break for the ailing Rob Rensenbrink in the final . Many later saw him as the best Dutchman in this game; however, he could not prevent the 1: 2 defeat against the German team .

It was only after third place at the 1976 European Championship, however, that René van de Kerkhof became first choice in the Dutch team under bond coach Jan Zwartkruis . As a striker (with only five goals in his 47 international matches) he was not a born goal-scorer, but the preparer who usually caused danger from the right side. But when he scored, it was an important goal almost every time, like the goal to the 1-0 final against Belgium in qualifying for the 1978 World Cup , which opened the way for the Dutch to Argentina. Both twins were part of the regular formation there and were on the field in all seven games. René van de Kerkhof scored his only World Cup goal there in the game against Germany, equalizing the 2-2 final score. In the first match against the Iranian team , he had already broken his hand, so that in subsequent games he had a plaster cuff flown in from the Netherlands . It only became a problem before the final against hosts Argentina . At the instigation of the Argentine team captain Daniel Passarella, referee Sergio Gonella van de Kerkhof ordered back into the dressing room. Coach Ernst Happel then sent his entire team back to the catacombs. Only after the cuff had been wrapped in soft fabric and tape , Gonella showed understanding and van de Kerkhof was allowed to run up. He saw it as a pure chicane for the final opponent: “It was pure nonsense from Passarella. He consciously tried to get us out of our focus. "

In qualifying for the 1980 European Championship , it was René van de Kerkhof who shot the Netherlands to Italy - it was his goal to make it 3-2 at the Leipzig Central Stadium that turned the GDR's 2-0 lead into a victory for the Elftal and destroyed all hope of the East Germans for the second participation in a major tournament. René van de Kerkhof played in the national team until September 1982, but mostly as a substitute after the European Championship in mid-1980. His last appearance in the orange dress was in the European Championship qualifier against Ireland when he came on for John Metgod after half time .

Achievements and honors

  • From Pelé , René van de Kerkhof was added to the FIFA 100 list in March 2004, together with Willy , of the 125 best football players still alive.

literature

  • Johan Derksen et al., Het Nederlands Elftal 1905-1989. De historie van Oranje , Weekbladpers BV / Voetbal International, Amsterdam 1989, ISBN 90-236-7211-9 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ At that time, professional clubs had to pay 1,500 guilders as compensation to amateur clubs for each poached player. 1500 guilders in 1970 correspond to purchasing power of around € 2,630 in 2008; calculated with the purchasing power converter Waarde van de gulden / euro of the Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis
  2. ↑ The total corresponds to a purchasing power of around € 2.5 million in 2008; calculated with the purchasing power converter Waarde van de gulden / euro of the Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis
  3. ↑ For 1500 guilders sea we ons geen buil vallen, zei Rijvers, toen wij alleen seeds wild komen. Three years later betaalde PSV 1,8 miljoen voor ons tweeën. Willy van de Kerkhof, in: Johan Derksen et al., Het Nederlands Elftal 1905-1989. De historie van Oranje , Weekbladpers BV / Voetbal International, Amsterdam 1989, ISBN 90-236-7211-9 , p. 315.
  4. ↑ "René was verder en veel avontuurlijker dan ik." In: Johan Derksen et al., Het Nederlands Elftal 1905–1989. De historie van Oranje , Weekbladpers BV / Voetbal International, Amsterdam 1989, ISBN 90-236-7211-9 , p. 315.
  5. ^ Johan Derksen et al., Het Nederlands Elftal 1905–1989. De historie van Oranje , Weekbladpers BV / Voetbal International, Amsterdam 1989, ISBN 90-236-7211-9 , p. 305.
personal data
SURNAME Kerkhof, René van de
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kerkhof, Reinier Lambertus van de (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch soccer player
DATE OF BIRTH September 16, 1951
PLACE OF BIRTH Helmond , Netherlands