Éric Deflandre (born 2 August 1973) is a Belgian former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

Club career

Deflandre was born in Rocourt. He first signed to Wandre Union but after one year he joined

Liège Liège ( , , ; wa, Lîdje ; nl, Luik ; german: Lüttich ) is a major city and municipality of Wallonia and the capital of the Belgian province of Liège. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east of Belgium, not far from b ...

side

RFC Liège Royal Football Club de Liège (more commonly known as RFC Liège) is a professional football club based in Liège, Belgium. It currently plays in the Belgian First Amateur Division. Its matricule is 4, meaning that it was the fourth club to regi ...

. He then left for

Germinal Ekeren Koninklijke Beerschot Antwerpen Club (), simply known as Beerschot AC, was a Belgian football club based in southern Antwerp. Beerschot played in the Belgian Pro League from 1999–2000 (as Germinal Beerschot) until 2012–13, when they were r ...

in 1995. In 1996, he signed for

Club Brugge (), known simply as Club Brugge (in English also: ''Club Bruges''), is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges, Belgium. It was founded in 1891 and its home ground is the Jan Breydel Stadium, which has a capacity of 29,062.

. In 2000, Deflandre moved to

Olympique Lyonnais Olympique Lyonnais (), commonly referred to as simply Lyon () or OL, is a men and women's French professional football club based in Lyon in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. The men play in France's highest football division, Ligue 1. Founded in 1950, th ...

in France, where he won three straight

national championships A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the best team, indi ...

. He returned to Belgium in 2004 and played for

Standard Liège Royal Standard de Liège, commonly referred to as Standard Liège (; nl, Standard Luik ; german: Standard Lüttich ) or simply Standard in Belgium, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Liège. They are one of the most ...

. In 2007–08, he split duty with

FC Brussels Racing White Daring Molenbeek Brussels F.C., often simply referred to as RWDM Brussels, F.C. Brussels or simply Brussels was a Belgian association football club based in the municipality of Molenbeek in the Brussels Capital-Region. They last pl ...

and F.C. Verbroedering Dender E.H. On 25 June 2009, he for

Lierse S.K. Koninklijke Lierse Sportkring (), often simply known as Lierse, was a Belgian professional football club from the city of Lier in the Antwerp province. Lierse have won four championship titles and two Belgian Cups. Lierse was one of the six Be ...

on a two-year deal. On 9 August 2010, it was announced he would return to RFC Liège, where he played for two more seasons before retiring.

International career

Deflandre played his debut match for the Belgium national team against

The Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

in the qualifying stage for the

1998 World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the football world championship for men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. The country was chosen as the host nation by FIFA for the ...

. In the competition's first match, he replaced

Bertrand Crasson Bertrand Crasson (born 5 October 1971) is a Belgian football manager and former player who played as a defender, in the position of right-back or centre-back. Most recently he was the manager of Luxemburger team F91 Dudelange. Club career Cras ...

after 22 minutes, and helped to a 0–0 draw against the Netherlands. He also appeared for the national side at

Euro 2000 The 2000 UEFA European Football Championship, also known as Euro 2000, was the 11th UEFA European Championship, a football tournament held every four years and organised by UEFA, the sport's governing body in Europe. The finals tournament wa ...

and

2002 World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

. In Euro 2000, he substituted as a goalkeeper after

Filip de Wilde Filip Alfons De Wilde (born 5 July 1964) is a former Belgian professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. During a 23-year professional career he played mainly with Anderlecht, appearing in nearly 400 official games in two different spe ...

was sent off against Turkey.

Honours

Club Brugge *

Belgian First Division The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 season and reduced to 16 team ...

: 1997–98 *

Belgian Supercup The Belgian Super Cup ( nl, Belgische Supercup, ; french: Supercoupe de Belgique; german: Belgischer Fußball-Super Cup), ''Pro League Supercup'', is a Belgian club competition played as a single match between the Belgian First Division A champion ...

: 1998 Lyon * French First Division: 2001–02, 2002–03, 2003–04 * French Supercup: 2003 Belgium * FIFA Fair Play Trophy:

References

External links

* * *
Eric Deflandre at Footgoal.net
1973 births Living people Footballers from Liège Belgian men's footballers Men's association football fullbacks Belgium men's international footballers RFC Liège players Beerschot A.C. players Club Brugge KV players Olympique Lyonnais players Standard Liège players UEFA Euro 2000 players 1998 FIFA World Cup players 2002 FIFA World Cup players R.W.D.M. Brussels F.C. players F.C.V. Dender E.H. players Belgian Pro League players Ligue 1 players Belgian expatriate men's footballers Belgian expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate men's footballers in France {{Belgium-footy-defender-stub