Gilbert Bailliu (4 September 1936 – 2 April 2023) was a Belgian

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 striker, notably for

Cercle Brugge Cercle Brugge Koninklijke Sportvereniging () is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges. Cercle have played in the Belgian Pro League since the 2003–04 season, having previously spent several years in the Belgian Second Divisio ...

and

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.

Career

Bailliu started his career at hometown club

. He made his début for the first team in 1954 against FC Izegem. At that time, Cercle were playing in

third division In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football *Belgian Thir ...

, their lowest level ever. It would last until 1957 for Bailliu to play on a regular basis for the first team. This was due to his

conscription Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day un ...

and a

knee injury In humans and other primates, the knee joins the thigh with the leg and consists of two joints: one between the femur and tibia (tibiofemoral joint), and one between the femur and patella (patellofemoral joint). It is the largest joint in the hu ...

. But after these problems, Bailliu would become a key player for the green and black side, becoming top scorer of the team for five seasons. This way, he had a great deal in achieving promotion back to the highest level of Belgian football in 1961. And even at the highest level, Bailliu would remain a ''goal scoring machine''. In 1966, Cercle were relegated to

second division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

. But more disastrous were the corruption rumours spread by

Lierse 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 ...

player Bogaerts, who said he had been approached by someone of Cercle. Although Cercle formally denied these rumours, they were sentenced to play in third division, back to where they were five years ago. Even though Cercle's vice-president won a

lawsuit - A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil actio ...

against the

KBVB KBVB (95.1 FM, "Bob 95 FM") is a radio station broadcasting a country format. Licensed to Barnesville, Minnesota, it serves the Fargo-Moorhead metropolitan area. It first began broadcasting in 1980 under the call sign KDLM-FM on 95.3 Detro ...

which declared him innocent in the corruption case, the damage had been done, and Cercle remained at the third level of Belgian football. This caused Cercle to lose important players, a.o. Gilbert Bailliu. He chose to leave Cercle for city rivals

alongside John Moelaert, a much-discussed transfer. He ended up with 98 goals scored in 221 matches for Cercle. Also at Club Brugge, Bailliu kept on showing his goal scoring capacities, totalling 40 goals in 86 matches. Bailliu won the

Belgian Cup The Belgian Cup (french: link=no, Coupe de Belgique; nl, Beker van België []; german: link=no, Belgischer Fußballpokal) is the main Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in Belgium, run by the Belgia ...

in 1968 after defeating Beerschot with

penalties Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) * Penalty ...

Personal life and death

Bailliu lived close to the Club Brugge stadium and was married to Christiane Serry; the couple had two daughters and two sons who also played for Cercle. Bailliu died in a nursing home in Ostend on 2 April 2023, at the age of 86.In memoriam: Gilbert Bailliu (86), grapjas en doelpuntenmachine van Cercle én Club Brugge in de jaren ’60
- Het Laatste Nieuws

Honours

Club Brugge *

: 1968

References

External links

Cerclemuseum.be
1936 births 2023 deaths Footballers from Bruges Men's association football forwards Belgian men's footballers Cercle Brugge K.S.V. players Club Brugge KV players Belgian Pro League players Challenger Pro League players {{Belgium-footy-forward-stub