Michel Jean de Wolf (born 19 January 1958) is a Belgian

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 retired player who played as a

left back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

Club career

De Wolf was born in Nivelles, Walloon Brabant. During his career in his homeland, he played, always as first-choice safe for one season out of 17, for

R.W.D. Molenbeek R.W.D. Molenbeek, short for Racing White Daring Molenbeek, was a Belgian football club founded in 1909 as White Star Club de Bruxelles. It then became a member of the Belgian Football Association later the same year as White Star Athletic Club a ...

, K.A.A. Gent (winning the 1984 Belgian Cup),

K.V. Kortrijk Koninklijke Voetbalclub Kortrijk (often simply called KV Kortrijk or KVK) is a Belgian professional football club based in Kortrijk, West Flanders. They play in the Belgian First Division, and they achieved their best ranking ever during the 200 ...

and R.S.C. Anderlecht. He arrived at the age of 32, winning three leagues). In the 1994 summer, 36-year-old de Wolf moved abroad, signing with

Olympique de Marseille Olympique de Marseille (, ; oc, Olimpic de Marselha, ), also known simply as Marseille or by the abbreviation OM (, ), is a French professional men's football club based in Marseille, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. Founded in 1899, the club pl ...

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by Balkrishna Industries, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions ...

– the French club had just been relegated due to a match-fixing scandal – playing in more than 40 official games in one sole season after which he retired from professional football, still going on to appear for K.F.C. Avenir Lembeek and KSC Grimbergen at amateur level (and as player-coach).

International career

De Wolf was capped 42 times for the Belgium national team, his debut coming in 1980, and appeared at three FIFA World Cups: he played two matches in the 1986 edition, four in

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

scoring from 35 meters in the ''Diables Rouges 2–0 group stage win against South Korea and another four (at 36) in

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 ...

. De Wolf was also selected for UEFA Euro 1984, in France.

Honours

Gent * Belgian Cup:

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...

Anderlecht * Belgian First Division: 1990–91,

1992–93 Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 ''Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since th ...

, 1993–94 * Belgian Cup: 1994 * Belgian Super Cup: 1991, 1993 Marseille *

: 1994–95 Belgium * FIFA World Cup: fourth place

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...

Individual * Best Gent Player of the Season: 1985–86, 1986–87

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:De Wolf, Michel 1958 births Living people People from Nivelles Footballers from Walloon Brabant Belgian footballers Association football defenders Belgian Pro League players R.W.D. Molenbeek players K.A.A. Gent players K.V. Kortrijk players R.S.C. Anderlecht players Ligue 2 players Olympique de Marseille players Belgium international footballers UEFA Euro 1984 players 1986 FIFA World Cup players 1990 FIFA World Cup players 1994 FIFA World Cup players Belgian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in France Belgian expatriate sportspeople in France Belgian football managers K.V. Kortrijk managers Gabon national football team managers R.W.D.M. Brussels F.C. managers