Leon de Kogel (born 13 November 1991) is a Dutch

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 ...

coach and former professional player.

Early and personal life

De Kogel was born in

Alphen aan den Rijn Alphen aan den Rijn (; en, "Alphen upon Rhine" or "Alphen on the Rhine") is a city and municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. The city is situated on the banks of the river Oude Rijn (Old Rhine), where the r ...

. By December 2018 he had two young children.

Career

De Kogel began his career with the youth team of

FC Utrecht Football Club Utrecht () is a Dutch professional football club based in Utrecht. The club competes in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football, and plays its home matches at the Stadion Galgenwaard. The club was formed in 1970 as a merge ...

. He played senior football 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 ...

for

VVV-Venlo VVV-Venlo (, ''VVV'' stands for ''Venlose Voetbal Vereniging'' meaning "Venlo Football Club") is a Dutch football club from Venlo, a city on the border with Germany. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, following ...

Almere City Almere City Football Club is a Dutch professional Association football, football club based in Almere, Flevoland. Founded in 2001, plays in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football league system, Dutch football, and hosts home matches ...

Go Ahead Eagles Go Ahead Eagles () are a Dutch professional football club from the city of Deventer. They play in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football, having achieved promotion from the second tier Eerste Divisie in the 2020-21 season. The club's h ...

and Cornellà, scoring 53 goals in 168 league appearances. De Kogel's career ended following a serious car accident in Salini,

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

, on 11 June 2018. He was visiting the island on holiday with friends. De Kogel had to be cut out of the car he was travelling in by the fire service. He underwent hours of surgery, and doctors doubted that he would ever walk again, let alone play football. Four days after the accident his former club FC Utrecht paid for de Kogel to be flown back to the Netherlands, where he spent a further six weeks in hospital. Doctors suggested a prosthetic knee, although de Kogel was opposed to that. Following the accident his Spanish club Cornellà stopped paying his salary, and the insurance company of the taxi driver responsible for the accident did not make a payout. Settlement was reached with Cornellà in December 2018 following the intervention of both the Dutch and Spanish players' associations. However, de Kogel was still involved in legal proceedings related to the accident in March 2019. Six months after the accident, de Kogel was still undergoing rehabilitation at a military centre in Doorn, from Monday to Friday every week. In December 2018 he was considering his future, whether in or outside of football. Later that month he returned to football as a youth coach at SV Houten. Eight months after the accident de Kogel was still walking with crutches. Due to his financial difficulties, a FC Utrecht fan started a collection for de Kogel. There were donations from fans of numerous clubs, the sale of shirts and pennants, and a charity match between Jong FC Utrecht and

, which de Kogel symbolically 'kicked off'. The total raised was just under €24,000, from donations, sales, and match proceeds. Professional footballer

Hakim Ziyech Hakim Ziyech ( ar, حكيم زياش; ber, ⵃⴰⴽⵉⵎ ⵣⵉⵢⴰⵛ; born 19 March 1993) is a professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or winger for Premier League club Chelsea. Born in the Netherlands, he represent ...

later contributed.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kogel, Leon De 1991 births Living people Footballers from Alphen aan den Rijn Dutch footballers FC Utrecht players VVV-Venlo players Almere City FC players Go Ahead Eagles players UE Cornellà players Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players Segunda División B players Association football forwards Dutch expatriate footballers Dutch expatriates in Spain Expatriate footballers in Spain