Carlo de Leeuw (12 December 1960 – 13 February 2020) was a Dutch

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 ...

Club career

A talented forward, De Leeuw came through the youth system of hometown club

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the club changed to various names before settling on being called after its ...

and made his professional debut for them against Excelsior on 23 September 1979. He won a penalty and scored one of their goals in the 1980 Cup final against eternal rivals

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * ''Ajax'' (play), by the ancient Greek ...

. After four years he joined city rivals

Excelsior Excelsior, a Latin comparative word often translated as "ever upward" or "even higher", may refer to: Arts and entertainment Literature and poetry * "Excelsior" (Longfellow), an 1841 poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow * ''Excelsior'' (Macedo ...

for whom he had two different spells. He made his debut for them on 22 August 1982 against his former club Feyenoord. He scored 25 goals in 184 league and cup games for

Cambuur SC Cambuur, also known as Cambuur Leeuwarden, or simply Cambuur, () is a Dutch Association football, football club from the city of Leeuwarden formed on 19 June 1964. They currently play in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football league sy ...

between 1983 and 1989 and was voted best Cambuur midfielder of all-time in 2007. He played another 88 games for

FC Eindhoven FC Eindhoven is a Dutch football club based in Eindhoven, North Brabant. They currently play in the Eerste Divisie (second tier of Dutch football), and are one of two professional clubs which are based in the city of Eindhoven, the other one bei ...

between 1989 and 1993 and had a season at

FC Volendam Football Club Volendam () is a professional Association football, football club based in Volendam, Netherlands. They play in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football league system, Dutch football from the 2022–23 season following promotion ...

for whom he played 22 matches in the 1991–92 season. After being released by Eindhoven, he had a spell at amateur side Witgoor Dessel in Belgium.

International career

He played 7 games for the Netherlands U-19 team, scoring 2 goals, between July 1978 and April 1979.

Later years

After retiring as a player, he became

kit man An equipment manager is the person in charge of equipment used by a business or organization. Their duties include purchasing, maintenance, repair, inventory, transportation, storage, cleaning, and liquidation. They are responsible for providing t ...

at Feyenoord and the national team in 2002.

Personal life

In summer 2019, de Leeuw was diagnosed with

tongue cancer Oral cancer, also known as mouth cancer, is cancer of the lining of the lips, mouth, or upper throat. In the mouth, it most commonly starts as a painless white patch, that thickens, develops red patches, an ulcer, and continues to grow. When on ...

and he died on 13 February 2020.Carlo de Leeuw overleden
- Feyenoord He was survived by his wife Charlotte and their two daughters.

Honours

KNVB Cup The KNVB Beker (; en, KNVB Cup), branded as the TOTO KNVB Beker for sponsorship reasons, is a competition in the Netherlands organized by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. Ou ...

: 1 ::

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – ...

References

External links

In memoriam: Carlo de Leeuw (59)(Bio)
- Feyenoord

- Feyenoord-Online
Kind van de Kuip: Carlo de Leeuw, de stille kracht van Feyenoord én Oranje
- Panorama {{DEFAULTSORT:Leeuw, Carlo de 1960 births 2020 deaths Footballers from Rotterdam Association football wingers Dutch footballers Feyenoord players Excelsior Rotterdam players SC Cambuur players FC Eindhoven players FC Volendam players Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players Feyenoord non-playing staff Deaths from cancer in the Netherlands Deaths from oral cancer Netherlands youth international footballers