Nicolaas "Nico" Pieter Claesen (born 1 October 1962) is a former 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 ...

player who works as head coach of

RFC Liège Royal Football Club de Liège (more commonly known as RFC Liège) is a professional football club based in Liège, Belgium. It currently plays in the Belgian First Amateur Division. Its matricule is 4, meaning that it was the fourth club to regi ...

Career

Claesen was signed by

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

in October 1986 by

David Pleat David John Pleat (born 15 January 1945) is an English football player turned manager, and sports commentator. Pleat made 185 Football League appearances for five clubs, scoring 26 goals. He had two spells as manager of Luton Town, and four as ma ...

who bought him from

Standard Liège Royal Standard de Liège, commonly referred to as Standard Liège (; nl, Standard Luik ; german: Standard Lüttich ) or simply Standard in Belgium, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Liège. They are one of the most ...

for £600K. He made his debut against

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

Anfield Anfield is a football stadium in Anfield, Liverpool, Merseyside, England, which has a seating capacity of 53,394, making it the seventh largest football stadium in England. It has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since their formation in 1892. ...

. In August 1988, when

Terry Venables Terence Frederick Venables (born 6 January 1943), often referred to as El Tel, is an English former football player and manager, and an author. During the 1960s and '70s, he played for various clubs including Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Queen ...

arrived, Claesen fell out of favour and was sold for £550K to

Antwerp FC Royal Antwerp Football Club, often referred to as Royal Antwerp or simply Antwerp, is a Belgium, Belgian Association football, football club based in the city of Antwerp. Founded around 1880 as ''Antwerp Cricket Club'' by English students residi ...

. He also played for

VfB Stuttgart Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V., commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's football team is currently part of Germany's first division, the Bundesliga. VfB Stu ...

International career

He earned 36 caps and scored 12 goals from 1983 to 1990 for the

Belgium national football team The Belgium national football teamfrench: Équipe nationale belge de footballgerman: Belgische Fußballnationalmannschaft officially represents Belgium in men's international football since their maiden match in 1904. The squad is under the ...

, and was in the squad for three major tournaments:

UEFA Euro 1984 The 1984 UEFA European Football Championship final tournament was held in France from 12 to 27 June 1984. It was the seventh UEFA European Championship, a competition held every four years and endorsed by UEFA. At the time, only eight countries ...

, the

1986 FIFA World Cup The 1986 FIFA World Cup was the 13th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in Mexico from 31 May to 29 June 1986. The tournament was the second to feature a 24-team format. Colombia ha ...

, where he scored three goals as Belgium finished in fourth, and 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 ...

Honours

Club

FC Antwerp *

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 ...

: List of Belgian Cup finals, 1991–92

International

Belgium *

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

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 ...

( fourth place)

Individual

* Belgian First Division top scorer: 1983–84 (27 goals)

References

External links

* * 1962 births Living people Footballers from Limburg (Belgium) Belgian footballers Belgium international footballers Belgian Pro League players Bundesliga players K. Patro Eisden Maasmechelen players R.F.C. Seraing (1904) players Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players Royal Antwerp F.C. players Standard Liège players VfB Stuttgart players UEFA Euro 1984 players 1986 FIFA World Cup players 1990 FIFA World Cup players Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Germany English Football League players Belgian football managers K. Patro Eisden Maasmechelen managers K.V. Turnhout managers K. Beringen F.C. players People from Maasmechelen Belgian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Belgian expatriate sportspeople in England Association football forwards K. Sint-Niklase S.K.E. players FA Cup Final players {{Belgium-footy-forward-stub