Gilles De Bilde (born 9 June 1971) is a retired

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

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 ...

who played as a striker. He played club football for Eendracht Aalst, Anderlecht, PSV,

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot ...

, Aston Villa, Lierse and Willebroek-Meerhof. He was

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at international level.

Club career

At Eendracht Aalst, he won the 1994 Belgian Player of the Year and scored 21 goals in 33 league games during the 1994–95 season. He joined Anderlecht in the summer of 1995 and managed a further 22 goals in 46

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 te ...

matches. In a match between Anderlecht and Aalst in December 1996, he punched Krist Porte in the face, which broke his nose and injured his eye. Previously, De Bilde received a suspended two-year prison sentence in 1992 for head-butting two boy scout leaders and, four months before the Porte incident, he head-butted one nurse and punched another when he was denied access to a hospital room his father was in, having suffered a brain haemorrhage.

Johan Boskamp Johannes "Johan/Jan" Boskamp (born 21 October 1948) is a Dutch former football player and manager. He played the majority of his career for hometown club Feyenoord and Belgian side RWDM and managed primarily in the Belgian leagues. Currently he ...

, Anderlecht's head coach, suggested that De Bilde should see a psychiatrist. In January 1997, De Bilde was transferred to Dutch side PSV for £3m. During his time in Eindhoven, he scored 24 goals in 49

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

matches. His seven goals in eight league matches during the second half of the 1996–97 season helped PSV become Dutch champions. He joined

in August 1999 and scored ten league goals in his first season with the club, but was unable to prevent them from being relegated from the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

. In October 2000, he joined Aston Villa on loan for three months. He made four league appearances for the club, without scoring, and returned to Sheffield Wednesday in January 2001, where he stayed for the remainder of the season after a number of potential transfers failed to materialise. He returned to Anderlecht in July 2001 on a free transfer, having signed a three-year contract. Two years later, De Bilde joined Lierse, where he finished his professional career at the end of the 2003–04 season. He played for Willebroek-Meerhof of the Belgian Promotion between 2005 and 2007. De Bilde – who campaigned for a European ban on cat and dog fur – was fined by the club in 2006 for missing a match to mourn the death of one of his dogs.

International career

De Bilde was

25 times by

at international level. He was a member of the squad 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 was ...

and made one appearance at the finals, in a 2–0 defeat against

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

Post-retirement

After retiring, De Bilde became a regular football analyst on Belgian television, featuring on their domestic and Champions League coverage. He appeared as a model for Belgian fashion designer Dirk Bikkembergs, and has appearances on television shows involving celebrity challenges, including '' Dancing on Ice'' and ''Celebrity Shock''.

Honours

Club

Anderlecht * Belgian Supercup: 1995, 2001 PSV Eindhoven *

: 1996–97 * KNVB Cup: 1997–98 (

runners-up A prize is an award to be given to a person or a group of people (such as sporting teams and organizations) to recognize and reward their actions and achievements.

) *

Johan Cruijff Shield The Johan Cruyff Shield (, ) is a football trophy in the Netherlands named after Dutch footballer Johan Cruyff, also often referred to as the Dutch Super Cup. The winner is decided in one match only, played by the winner of the national footbal ...

: 1996,

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

Individual

* Belgian Second Division Top scorer: 1993–94 (16 goals) *

Belgian Golden Shoe In association football, the Belgian Golden Shoe ( nl, Gouden Schoen, french: Soulier d'Or) is an award given in Belgium at the beginning of each civil year to the best footballer of the Belgian First Division A for the past year. The trophy is spon ...

: 1994

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:De Bilde, Gilles 1971 births Living people Belgian footballers Belgium international footballers Flemish sportspeople Belgian Pro League players Belgian First Division B players Association football forwards S.C. Eendracht Aalst players R.S.C. Anderlecht players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players Aston Villa F.C. players PSV Eindhoven players Lierse S.K. players UEFA Euro 2000 players Premier League players English Football League players Eredivisie players Belgian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Belgian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Expatriate footballers in England Belgian expatriate sportspeople in England