Folkert Velten (born 25 August 1964) is a Dutch former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player and coach. A

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

, he spent most of his career with

Heracles Almelo Heracles Almelo is a Dutch professional football club based in Almelo, founded in 1903. The club has won the Dutch national title twice, in 1927 and 1941. Heracles won the Eerste Divisie title during the 2004–05 season, gaining promotion to th ...

Career

After playing amateur football for Enter Vooruit, he turned professional at the age of 23 after signing with

. He had previously been offered a contract by the club at the age of 18, but he declined as matches were played on Sundays and this conflicted with his Christian beliefs. Between 1988 and 1997 he scored 221 goals in 377 games for the club. The club moved their games to Saturdays so he could play. He was top scorer in the

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (, en, First Division) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie and with the third-level Tweede Divisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as the ...

in 1989. He retired from playing after breaking his leg.

Later life

After working as a scout for Heracles, he became a football coach, managing amateur team VV Bergentheim in 2008. In 2012, he worked in the maintenance department at a petting zoo in Enter, and was coach of amateur team Blauw Wit'66.

Personal life

A practising Christian, Velten refused to play football on Sundays. A member of the

Dutch Reformed Church The Dutch Reformed Church (, abbreviated NHK) was the largest Christian denomination in the Netherlands from the onset of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century until 1930. It was the original denomination of the Dutch Royal Family and ...

, as a child his father wanted him to go to church twice on Sundays. Velten only went once, in the morning, because he would watch and play football in the evening with his siblings.

References

1964 births Living people People from Wierden Dutch footballers Men's association football forwards Eerste Divisie players Heracles Almelo players Dutch football managers Dutch Christians Footballers from Overijssel Heracles Almelo non-playing staff Association football scouts {{Netherlands-footy-bio-stub