Odilon Polleunis (1 May 1943 – 20 September 2023), nicknamed Lon, was a Belgian footballer who won 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 1968 while at

Sint-Truiden Sint-Truiden (; french: link=no, Saint-Trond ; li, Sintruin ) is a city and municipality located in the province of Limburg, Flemish Region, Belgium, and has over 41,500 inhabitants, which makes it one of the largest cities in Limburg. The mun ...

. He played 22 matches and scored 10 goals for the Belgium national team between 1968 and 1975.

Club career

Lon Polleunis played most of his career for Sint-Truiden. The stylish attacker, also originating from

, became a real club icon. With 89 goals, he is still the club's top scorer in the first division. In the mid-1970s, "Lon" moved to

RWDM RWDM may refer to: * Royal White Daring Molenbeek, a former football club which dissolved in 2002 after financial difficulties. * RWDM47, a football club founded in 2015 to reinstate the history of the former club. See also * R.W.D.M. Brussels F.C. ...

, with which he won the Belgian title in 1975.

International career

Polleunis started in a 2–1 friendly win against the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

on 7 April 1968. He scored on his debut and the first of his seven goals in his first five International games, including a hat-trick against

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

and two against

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

in World Cup qualifiers in October 1968. At the 1970 FIFA World Cup Polleunis came on as substitute in Belgium's win against El Salvador and started against

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

in the third game replacing Raoul Lambert.

Death

Polleunis died of heart failure on 20 September 2023, at the age of 80.

Honours

Sint-Truiden

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 te ...

runner-up: 1965–66 *

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 ...

runner-up: 1970-71 RWD Molenbeek *

: 1974–75 *

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 ...

: 1975 *

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 A ...

: 1975 Belgium *

UEFA European Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations ( UEFA). The competition is conte ...

third place:

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using mean solar tim ...

Individual

: 1968 * Man of the Season (Belgian First Division): 1971–72 * Honorary Citizen of Sint-Truiden: 2021

References

External links

* 1943 births 2023 deaths Sportspeople from Sint-Truiden Belgian men's footballers Footballers from Limburg (Belgium) Men's association football forwards Belgium men's international footballers 1970 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 1972 players R.W.D.M. Brussels F.C. players Belgian Pro League players Sint-Truidense V.V. players R.W.D. Molenbeek (1909) players K.S.K. Tongeren players Sint-Truidense V.V. managers Deaths from congestive heart failure {{Belgium-footy-forward-stub