Wesley Sonck (born 9 August 1978) is a Belgian professional

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 ...

manager and former player who manages the Belgium U19 national team. He played as a striker for Molenbeek, Germinal Ekeren,

Germinal Beerschot Koninklijke Beerschot Antwerpen Club (), simply known as Beerschot AC, was a Belgian football club based in southern Antwerp. Beerschot played in the Belgian Pro League from 1999–2000 (as Germinal Beerschot) until 2012–13, when they were r ...

Genk Genk () is a city and municipality located in the Belgian province of Limburg near Hasselt. The municipality only comprises the town of Genk itself. It is one of the most important industrial towns in Flanders, located on the Albert Canal, ...

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * ''Ajax'' (play), by the ancient Gree ...

Borussia Mönchengladbach Borussia Verein für Leibesübungen 1900 e. V. Mönchengladbach, commonly known as Borussia Mönchengladbach (), Mönchengladbach () or Gladbach (; abbreviated as Borussia MG, BMG), is a professional football club based in Mönchengladbach, Nort ...

and

Club Brugge (), known simply as Club Brugge (in English also: ''Club Bruges''), is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges, Belgium. It was founded in 1891 and its home ground is the Jan Breydel Stadium, which has a capacity of 29,062.

. He was

capped In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the ea ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

at international level. During his time with Genk, he was the top goalscorer in the Belgian First Division in the 2001–02 season with 30 goals, and joint top in the following campaign with 22 – sharing the award with

Cédric Roussel Cédric Roussel (born 6 January 1978) is a Belgian former professional footballer who played as a forward. Career Early career In 1997, Roussel took part in the FIFA World Youth Championship. In the season that followed the tournament, he w ...

Club career

Ajax

Sonck moved to Ajax in the summer of 2003, to replace departed striker Mido. He made his debut on 12 August against

Grazer AK Grazer AK, founded 18 August 1902 as Grazer Athletiksport Klub (in Austria the abbreviation GAK is more common), is an Austrian sports club, from the city of Graz in the federal state of Styria (''Steiermark''). The football section used to be on ...

. He scored his first goal for the club 13 September against RKC Waalwijk. Sonck never really made it in Amsterdam, partly because he was playing on the right wing a lot under coach

Ronald Koeman Ronald Koeman (; born 21 March 1963) is a Dutch professional football manager and former player. He is the younger brother of his former international teammate Erwin Koeman and the son of former Dutch international Martin Koeman. Koeman was capab ...

. He moved to

in the winter of 2004.

Borussia Mönchengladbach

Sonck's time with Borussia Mönchengladbach of the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footb ...

was hampered by injuries. Mönchengladbach signed him on a permanent contract, a deal initially arranged already at the start of his loan. In the summer of 2005, Sonck had three of his ribs broken after a horrific tackle by

Wilfred Bouma Wilfred Bouma (; born 15 June 1978) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played most notably for PSV Eindhoven, Aston Villa and the Netherlands national team. Club career Early career Born in Helmond, North Brabant, Bouma started his ...

in a goalless, meaningless friendly between Borussia Mönchengladbach and

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; en, Philips Sports Association ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional football department, w ...

. Sonck took six months to recover, marking his return to competitive

with a goal in a 3–1 defeat by Bayern Munich. He scored three more in 13 further Bundesliga games for Mönchengladbach until he was forced out for three months with an injury in the hollow of his knee at the start of the 2006–07 season.

Back to Belgium

Sonck left Gladbach at the end of the 2006–07 season, joining

on a year-long loan deal while Borussia Mönchengladbach began playing in the second tier of the Bundesliga. Following the 2007–08 season, Sonck joined Brugge permanently for an undisclosed fee. At the end of the 2009–10 season, Sonck left Brugge to join Lierse S.K. on a free transfer having fallen out with manager Adrie Koster over contract negotiations and lack of first team action. Amongst his first goals for the club was an excellent overhead kick. Sonck was released in the summer of 2012 and spent a few months unemployed before joining newly promoted

Waasland-Beveren Sportkring Beveren is a professional Belgian association football club located in the municipality of Beveren, East Flanders. They play in the Belgian First Division B. History The club was founded in 1936 as Red Star and registered to an amat ...

near the end of October 2012. In January 2014 signed with 1ste Provincial Oost-Vlaanderen club KE Appelterre-Eichem, before retiring just three months later.

International career

Sonck was called for the Belgium national team during the 2010 World Cup qualifiers. In the match versus

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

he scored Belgium's only goal in that match, thus ending Casillas and Reina's undefeated streak of 710 minutes.

Coaching career

On 3 August 2017, Sonck was hired as manager of the Belgian U18 national team. In March 2020, he was put in charge of the U-19 national team.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Belgium's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Sonck goal.''

Honours and awards

Genk *

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 ...

: 2001–02 Ajax *

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

: 2003–04 Individual *

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 ...

: 2001 *Goal of the Season: 2001 * Belgian Professional Footballer of the Year: 2001–02 * Belgian First Division A top scorer: 2001–02 (30 goals), 2002–03 (22 goals) * Honorary citizen of

Ninove Ninove () is a city and municipality located in the Flemish province of East Flanders in Belgium. It is situated on the river Dender, and is part of the Denderstreek. The municipality comprises the city of Ninove proper and since the 1976 merger ...

: 2021

References

External links

*
Belgium Stats
at Belgian FA {{DEFAULTSORT:Sonck, Wesley 1978 births Living people People from Ninove Footballers from East Flanders Association football forwards Belgian footballers R.W.D. Molenbeek players Beerschot A.C. players K.R.C. Genk players AFC Ajax players Borussia Mönchengladbach players Club Brugge KV players Lierse S.K. players S.K. Beveren players Belgian First Division A players Eredivisie players Bundesliga players Belgium international footballers 2002 FIFA World Cup players Belgian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Belgian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate footballers in Germany Belgian expatriate sportspeople in Germany