Lorenzo Jules Staelens (; born 30 April 1964) is a Belgian professional

football manager ''Football Manager'' (also known as ''Worldwide Soccer Manager'' in North America from 2004 to 2008) is a series of football management simulation video games developed by British developer Sports Interactive and published by Sega. The game beg ...

and former

player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who is ...

. He most recently coached Dutch club

HSV Hoek Hoekse Sportvereniging Hoek, known as HSV Hoek, is a football club based in Hoek, Zeeland, Netherlands, that competes in the Derde Divisie. History The club was founded in 1950. Indian football legend Syed Abdul Rahim has appeared with the clu ...

. Having started his career as a

defensive 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 ...

, he finished it as a sweeper at nearly 40, and scored more than 100 goals overall. Staelens appeared for the Belgium national team in three

World Cups A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

, adding the

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 wa ...

tournament played on home soil.

Club career

Born in Lauwe, Staelens started his professional career with K.V. Kortrijk at already 23, and his two solid seasons there attracted the attention of top division giants

Club Brugge KV (), known simply as Club Brugge (in English also: ''Club Bruges''), is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges, Belgium. It was founded in 1891 and its home ground is the Jan Breydel Stadium, which has a capacity of 29,062.

. There, he proceeded to form a legendary midfield partnership with

Franky Van der Elst Franky Van der Elst (born 30 April 1961) is a Belgian retired professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. He later worked as a manager. During a 21-year professional career he played mainly with Club Brugge, being regarded a ...

, that would last nearly a decade. Staelens played 369 games in all competitions for the club, scoring 105 goals. At already 34, and more often than not playing in the backline, he moved to

R.S.C. Anderlecht ; french: Les Mauves et Blancs) , short name = R.S.C.A. , founded = , ground = Constant Vanden Stock Stadium , capacity = 22,500 , owntitle = Chairman , owner = Wouter Vandenhaute , manager = Brian Riemer , ...

, still being instrumental in the club's back-to-back championships (

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

and

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

), and winning the

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 ...

in 1999; however, he did not finish his last year, moving to Japan's

Ōita Trinita is a Japanese football club currently playing in J2 League, having been relegated after the 2021 season after a three-year stint in J1 League. The club's home town is Ōita city, but the club draws support from Beppu, Saiki, and the entire ...

in early 2001 and retiring shortly after. Staelens took up coaching subsequently, first with

R.E. Mouscron Royal Excelsior Mouscron was a Football in Belgium, Belgian football club from the municipality of Mouscron, Hainaut (province), Hainaut. In December 2009 they were declared bankrupt and soon ceased to exist. A new club known as Royal Excel Mous ...

. After only two months at V.C. Eendracht Aalst, he returned to first club Kortrijk as its

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

, only returning to the benches in 2007, as assistant coach at

K.S.V. Roeselare Koninklijke Sport Vereniging Roeselare, abbreviated to KSV Roeselare (),''V.'' in isolation: ., also known in French as KSV Roulers, was a Belgian football club from the city of Roeselare in West Flanders. Its matricule was 134. It last played ...

. Staelens kept that role in the subsequent years, with the other team from

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 ...

, Cercle KSV.

International career

As an inexperienced international player, Staelens was selected to

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 ...

's squad for the

1990 FIFA World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second time (the first being Me ...

; there, he appeared in the 2–1 group stage loss against

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. From then on, Staelens became an essential national team member, representing it also at the

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

and 1998 World Cups and in

UEFA 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 ...

, totalling a further 10 complete matches.

Statistics

Club

National team

Honours

Club

Club Brugge *

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 team ...

: 1989–90, 1991–92, 1995–96, 1997–98 *

Belgian Cup The Belgian Cup (french: link=no, Coupe de Belgique; nl, Beker van België []; german: link=no, Belgischer Fußballpokal) is the main Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in Belgium, run by the Belgia ...

: 1990–91 Belgian Cup, 1990–91, 1994–95, 1995–96 Belgian Cup, 1995–96 *

Belgian Super Cup The Belgian Super Cup ( nl, Belgische Supercup, ; french: Supercoupe de Belgique; german: Belgischer Fußball-Super Cup), ''Pro League Supercup'', is a Belgian club competition played as a single match between the Belgian First Division A champion ...

: 1990, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1996 *

Bruges Matins The Matins of Bruges ( nl, Brugse Metten) was the nocturnal massacre of the French garrison in Bruges and their supporters, a political faction in favour of French rule, on 18 May 1302 by the members of the local Flemish militia. It has been ...

: 1990, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1996 *

Amsterdam Tournament The Amsterdam Tournament ( nl, Amsterdam Toernooi) was a pre-season association football competition, held in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The competition was hosted by Eredivisie club Ajax at the Amsterdam Arena. It was inaugurated in 1975 as the Ams ...

: 1990 *

Jules Pappaert Cup Trophy Jules Pappaert or Pappaert cup is a Belgian football trophy since 1953 and is awarded annually to a club in the first, second or third division of the Belgian Pro League with the longest uninterrupted series of unbeaten games. The award is ...

: 1991, 1995 Anderlecht *

: 1999–00 *

Belgian League Cup The Belgian League Cup was a Belgian association football cup created in 1973. The competition was held from 1973 by eleven clubs wanting to increase professionalism in Belgian football but lasted only three seasons before being disbanded. The tourn ...

: 2000 *

* Belgian Sports Team of the Year: 2000

Individual

* Belgian Professional Footballer of the Year: 1993–94 *

: 1999

References

External links

* * * *
Club Brugge archives

Lorenzo Staelens
at Footballdatabase {{DEFAULTSORT:Staelens, Lorenzo 1964 births Living people People from Menen Footballers from West Flanders Belgian footballers Association football midfielders Association football defenders Belgian Pro League players K.V. Kortrijk players Club Brugge KV players R.S.C. Anderlecht players J2 League players Oita Trinita players Belgium international footballers 1990 FIFA World Cup players 1994 FIFA World Cup players 1998 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2000 players Belgian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Japan Belgian expatriate sportspeople in Japan Belgian football managers Royal Excel Mouscron managers Cercle Brugge K.S.V. managers S.C. Eendracht Aalst managers