Wilhelmus Antonius "Willy" van de Kerkhof (; born 16 September 1951) is a Dutch former 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 played as a midfielder. Van de Kerkhof and his twin brother

René René (''born again'' or ''reborn'' in French) is a common first name in French-speaking, Spanish-speaking, and German-speaking countries. It derives from the Latin name Renatus. René is the masculine form of the name (Renée being the feminine ...

were squad members of the

Dutch national team Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

that made the World Cup final in

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...

and became key players in the team that made the

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd go ...

final. He also played for the Netherlands at the Euro 1980. Overall, van de Kerkhof appeared 63 times for his country, scoring five goals. He was named by

Pelé Edson Arantes do Nascimento (; born 23 October 1940), known as Pelé (), is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a forward. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time and labelled "the greatest" by FIFA, ...

as one of the FIFA 100, top 125 greatest living footballers in March 2004.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

PSV Eindhoven *Eredivisie: 1974–75 Eredivisie, 1974–75, 1975–76 Eredivisie, 1975–76, 1977–78 Eredivisie, 1977–78, 1985–86 Eredivisie, 1985–86, 1986–87 Eredivisie, 1986–87, 1987–88 Eredivisie, 1987–88 *KNVB Cup: 1973–74 KNVB Cup, 1973–74, 1975–76 KNVB Cup, 1975–76, 1987–88 KNVB Cup, 1987–88 *UEFA Champions League, European Cup: 1988 European Cup Final, 1987–88 *UEFA Europa League, UEFA Cup: 1978 UEFA Cup Final, 1977–78 Netherlands *FIFA World Cup runner-up:

*UEFA European Championship third place: UEFA Euro 1976, 1976

References

1951 births Living people FIFA 100 Dutch footballers Netherlands international footballers Eredivisie players FC Twente players PSV Eindhoven players 1974 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 1976 players 1978 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 1980 players Dutch twins Dutch beach soccer players Sportspeople from Helmond Footballers from North Brabant Twin sportspeople UEFA Cup winning players Association football midfielders Identical twins {{Netherlands-footy-midfielder-stub