Ratko Vansimpsen (born 16 July 1989) 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 for

Dessel Sport Koninklijke Football Club Dessel Sport, or KFC Dessel Sport, is a Belgian association football club based in Dessel in the province of Antwerp. Current squad ''Updated 11 August, 2022''striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

Early and personal life

Vansimpsen was born in

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 muni ...

, Belgium. He was named after Serbian goalkeeper

Ratko Svilar Ratko Svilar (Serbian Cyrillic: Ратко Свилар; born 6 May 1950) is a Serbian retired footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Having played for Antwerp for nearly 20 years, he also coached the Belgian club on several occasions. Club ca ...

. He is half-Dutch, and from the age of 16 lived in

Tilburg Tilburg () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, in the southern province of North Brabant. With a population of 222,601 (1 July 2021), it is the second-largest city or municipality in North Brabant after Eindhoven and the seventh-larg ...

in the Netherlands. His wife is Dutch and he speaks with a Dutch accent. When not playing football, Vansimpsen cares for his young daughter.

Career

Vansimpsen played youth football with

and Willem II. Vansimpsen has played professionally with

FC Eindhoven FC Eindhoven is a Dutch football club based in Eindhoven, North Brabant. They currently play in the Eerste Divisie (second tier of Dutch football), and are one of two professional clubs which are based in the city of Eindhoven, the other one bei ...

Dessel Sport Koninklijke Football Club Dessel Sport, or KFC Dessel Sport, is a Belgian association football club based in Dessel in the province of Antwerp. Current squad ''Updated 11 August, 2022''Eendracht Aalst SC Eendracht Aalst is a Belgian football club based in Aalst, East Flanders. History During World War I, citizens from Aalst played football matches to raise money for prisoners of war. In 1919 Sport-Club Eendracht Aalst became an official f ...

and Beerschot Wilrijk. He was top scorer (with 10 goals) during his first season with FC Eindhoven, but his second season was interrupted by injury. He was also the top scorer (again with 10 goals) during his first season with Dessel Sport, although his second season was also marred by injury problems. He moved from Dessel Sport to Eendracht Aalst in May 2014, after rejecting a new contract offer from his former club. He returned to Dessel Sport in May 2016.

References

1989 births Sportspeople from Sint-Truiden Living people Belgian men's footballers Sint-Truidense V.V. players Willem II (football club) players FC Eindhoven players K.F.C. Dessel Sport players S.C. Eendracht Aalst players K Beerschot VA players Eerste Divisie players Challenger Pro League players Men's association football forwards Belgian expatriate men's footballers Belgian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Footballers from Limburg (Belgium) {{Belgium-footy-forward-stub