Geert Broeckaert (;In isolation, ''Geert'' is pronounced . born 15 November 1960) is a former

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 ...

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 a football coach.

Career

Broeckaert was a youth product of

AA Gent Koninklijke Atletiek Associatie Gent (, English: ''Royal Athletic Association Ghent''), often simply known as Ghent or by their nickname ' ( en, The Buffalos), is a Belgian sports club, based in the city of Ghent, East Flanders. Their football ...

, but at the age of 17 he moved to

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 ...

after his father had bought off his contract. He would eventually stay 13 years in

Bruges Bruges ( , nl, Brugge ) is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium, in the northwest of the country, and the sixth-largest city of the countr ...

and play 375 matches for the green and black team, the second most someone ever has played for Cercle. Jules Verriest holds this record with 492 matches played. Broeckaert also won the ''Cercle Brugge Pop Poll'' 3 times. This is a record he shares with

Morten Olsen Morten Per Olsen (born 14 August 1949) is a Danish football manager and former player. He was the head coach of the Denmark national team for 15 years from 2000 until 2015, guiding Denmark to the 2002 FIFA World Cup, 2004 European Championshi ...

Josip Weber Josip Weber, nicknamed Joske, (born Josip Veber; 16 November 1964 – 8 November 2017) was a Croatian-Belgian professional football forward. He represented Croatia and Belgium at international level. Club career Weber began his senior career ...

and Yves Feys.

Position

He used to be a technically strong

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

International career

In 1990, Geert Broeckaert played his only match for

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

, a 0-2 loss against

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

. This also was the last match ever the national football team of

would play.

Coaching career

In 1991, Broeckaert moved to Exc. Mouscron, where he was

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

, assistant manager and youth coach. Due to the financial uncertainty at Mouscron, Broeckaert signed for

RAEC Mons R.A.E.C. Mons may refer to one of two Belgian football clubs A football team is a group of players selected to play together in the various team sports known as football. Such teams could be selected to play in a match against an opposing team, ...

, to become assistant manager for Rudy Cossey. Franky Vandendriessche made this same move only a bit earlier.

References

Cerclemuseum.be

External links

* Living people 1960 births Belgian footballers K.A.A. Gent players Cercle Brugge K.S.V. players Royal Excel Mouscron players Belgium international footballers Belgian football managers Royal Excel Mouscron managers Belgian Pro League players People from Zottegem Footballers from East Flanders Association football midfielders {{belgium-footy-midfielder-stub