Nick Gillekens (born 5 July 1995) is a Belgian 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 plays as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

for

Belgian First Division A 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 ...

club

Westerlo Westerlo () is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Antwerp. The municipality comprises seven towns: * Westerlo centrum * * Tongerlo * Heultje * Voortkapel * Oosterwijk * In 2021, Westerlo had a total population of 25,288. The ...

Career

Gillekens debuted for OH Leuven in the

2014–15 Belgian Cup The 2014–15 Belgian Cup is the 60th season of Belgian's annual football cup competition. The competition began on 26 July 2014 and ended with the final on 22 March 2015. The winners of the competition will qualify for the 2015–16 UEFA Europa L ...

in the sixth round match against

Kortrijk Kortrijk ( , ; vls, Kortryk or ''Kortrik''; french: Courtrai ; la, Cortoriacum), sometimes known in English as Courtrai or Courtray ( ), is a Belgian City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Regio ...

, a 1–3 loss. However, that season he was part of the reserves and only fourth goalkeeper behind

Logan Bailly Logan Bailly (born 27 December 1985) is a Belgian retired professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Having started his career at Genk, Bailly has had spells at German Bundesliga side Borussia Mönchengladbach, Scottish Premiership club ...

, Yves Lenaerts and Senne Vits. Later that season he also played one match in the

2014–15 Belgian Second Division The 2014–15 season of the Belgian Second Division (also known as Belgacom League for sponsorship reasons) began on 1 August 2014 and ended on 26 April 2015. Team changes After promotion and relegation, only 12 teams of the previous season remai ...

against

Mons Mons (; German and nl, Bergen, ; Walloon and pcd, Mont) is a city and municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the province of Hainaut, Belgium. Mons was made into a fortified city by Count Baldwin IV of Hainaut in the 12th century. T ...

. Although Gillekens was promoted to third keeper for the 2015–16 season, he did not play a single match that season. Following the relegation from the

2015–16 Belgian Pro League The 2015–16 season of the Belgian Pro League (also known as ''Jupiler Pro League'' for sponsorship reasons) was the 113th season of top-tier football in Belgium. It started in the last week of July 2015 and finished in May 2016. Gent were the d ...

, first goalkeeper Rudy Riou was released, while second goalkeeper Yves Lenaerts had already signed for ASV Geel. As such, Gillekens was promoted to first goalkeeper for the 2016–17 season in the

Belgian First Division B The Challenger Pro League (previously known as ''1B Pro League'') is the second-highest division in the Belgian football league system, one level below the Belgian First Division A. It was created by the Royal Belgian Football Association in 201 ...

. During the winter 2017–18 transfer window OH Leuven signed

Kawin Thamsatchanan Kawin Thamsatchanan ( th, กวินทร์ ธรรมสัจจานันท์, ; born 26 January 1990) is a Thai professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Thai League 1 club Muangthong United and the Thailand national t ...

, captain of the

Thailand national football team The Thailand national football team ( th, ฟุตบอลทีมชาติไทย, , ) represents Thailand in senior international football and is controlled by the Football Association of Thailand. In the regional competition, Thail ...

and soon thereafter, Gillekens was demoted to reserve goalkeeper. Following Thamsatchanan's injury during the 2018–19 season, Gillekens again became the first goalkeeper for a few matches before being surpassed by

Laurent Henkinet Laurent Henkinet (born 14 September 1992) is a Belgian footballer who is playing for Standard Liège as a goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keep ...

. Towards the end of the season, Gillekens was even demoted to third goalkeeper, with Thamsatchanan now taking his place on the bench. After the season's final match, it became clear that Gillekens would not be signing a new deal at OH Leuven. After being a free-agent player for a few months, Gillekens was signed by

Mouscron Mouscron (; Dutch and vls, Moeskroen, ; Picard and Walloon: ''Moucron'') is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the Belgian province of Hainaut, along the border with the French city of Tourcoing, which is part of the Lille metropoli ...

in the beginning of November 2019, as their first goalkeeper Jean Butez had suffered a long-term injury.

Personal

During his period at

OH Leuven Oud-Heverlee Leuven (), also called OH Leuven or OHL, is a Belgian football club from the city of Leuven. It was created in 2002 from the merger of three clubs, '' F.C. Zwarte Duivels Oud-Heverlee'', whose registration number it inherited, ''D ...

, Gillekens played together with his younger brother

Jordy Gillekens Jordy Gillekens (born 18 February 2000) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays for Francs Borains in the Challenger Pro League. Gillekens made his professional debut for OH Leuven on 5 August 2017 in the home match against Lierse. Pe ...

References

External links

* * 1995 births Living people Belgian men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Oud-Heverlee Leuven players Royal Excel Mouscron players K.V.C. Westerlo players Belgian Pro League players Challenger Pro League players {{Belgium-footy-goalkeeper-stub