Jean-Louis Straetmans (26 September 1931 – 9 October 2016) 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
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 made five appearances for the
Belgium national team from 1952 to 1956.
Club career
Straetmans was born in
Woluwe-Saint-Pierre
Woluwe-Saint-Pierre () or Sint-Pieters-Woluwe () is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the eastern part of the region, it is bordered by Etterbeek, Auderghem and Woluwe-Saint-Lambert, as well as th ...
. He scored 151 goals in 273 matches in the
Belgian Second Division
The Belgian Second Division (known as the Proximus League for sponsorship reasons) was the second-highest division in the Belgian football league system, one level below the Belgian Pro League. It was founded by the Royal Belgian Football Associa ...
for White Star, ranking fifth in the list of the league's top scorers as of 2008.
He never played in the first tier.
He retired from playing in 1959,
after breaking his heel when he fell from a scaffolding while working as a painter.
International career
Named in Belgium's squad for the
Group 2 qualification tournament for the
1954 FIFA World Cup
The 1954 FIFA World Cup was the fifth edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football tournament for senior men's national teams of the nations affiliated to FIFA. It was held in Switzerland from 16 June to 4 July. Switzerla ...
,
he scored goals that helped Belgium achieve qualification for the World Cup before missing out on the tournament through injury.
Personal life and death
After his retirement from playing Straetmans worked as a sporting director for White Star and Racing White.
He was married to Monique Noël and owned a painting shop.
He died on 9 October 2016, at the age of 85.
References
External links
*
*
1931 births
2016 deaths
Belgian men's footballers
Footballers from Brussels
Men's association football forwards
Belgium men's international footballers
Challenger Pro League players
RWS Bruxelles players
Place of birth missing
{{Belgium-footy-bio-stub