John Cornelius Sleeuwenhoek (26 February 1944 – 20 July 1989) was an English professional

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 centre half. He made 269 appearances in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

, mainly for

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

, and was capped twice for England U23. Sleeuwenhoek was born in Wednesfield,

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

, the son of a Dutch paratrooper. He started his football career as a junior with Aston Villa, turning professional in 1961, and played regularly for the club for six seasons. While at the club he won two caps for England at under-23 level, and also played for a representative

Football League XI The English Football League XI was a representative side of the Football League. The team regularly played against the Scottish Football League XI and other national league select teams between 1891 and 1976. For a long period the annual fixture b ...

. He then moved to

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

, but recurrent knee problems dogged his later career. After spells at

Torquay United Torquay United Football Club is a professional football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the , the fifth tier of English football. They have played their home matches at Plainmoor since 1921 and are nicknamed ...

and Oldham Athletic he retired from professional football at the early age of 28. He was affectionately known as ' Tulip' due to his Dutch roots. He died in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

in July 1989, aged 45.

References

Club statistics * Specific 1944 births People from Wednesfield 1989 deaths English men's footballers Men's association football central defenders Aston Villa F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players Torquay United F.C. players Oldham Athletic A.F.C. players England men's under-23 international footballers English Football League players English Football League representative players English people of Dutch descent {{england-footy-defender-1940s-stub