Eric Van Meir (; born 28 February 1968) is a Belgian football manager and former player who played as a defender. His former clubs include Lierse, Charleroi and

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 ...

. Van Meir played for

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 th ...

and was in the squad for the

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

and 2002 World Cups and also for the

Euro 2000 The 2000 UEFA European Football Championship, also known as Euro 2000, was the 11th UEFA European Championship, a football tournament held every four years and organised by UEFA, the sport's governing body in Europe. The finals tournament was ...

but played only a few matches. Van Meir won the Belgian First Division Title with Lierse in 1997, and the Belgian Cup in 1999, also with Lierse. In 1997, he scored 17 goals and won second place in the Belgian Golden Shoe award.

Club football

Van Meir played in his career for Hoboken SK, Berchem Sport,

Sporting Charleroi Royal Charleroi Sporting Club, often simply known as Charleroi or Sporting Charleroi, is a Belgian football club based in the city of Charleroi, in the province of Hainaut. Charleroi plays in the Belgian Pro League and their current spell at ...

, Lierse SK and

, enjoying the most successful spell in his career at Lierse, winning the

Belgian League 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 Belgian First Division A, 2020 ...

in 1997, the

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 ...

in 1999 and the Belgian Supercup in 1997 and 1999. He also finished second in 1997 in the Golden Boot voting behind Pär Zetterberg. He also played several times in European club football, including the Champions League in season 1997–98. Meir scored exceptionally high for a defender. He was in top scorer for his club in 1997, 1998 and 2000. At the 100-year anniversary of Lierse in 2006, Van Meir was elected by supporters as a player in the "Lierse team of the century".

International career

Van Meir played for the Belgium national team for almost ten years. He attended three World Cups (1994, 1998, 2002) and one European Championship (2000), but each time he only played a few matches. In total he won 35 caps for the national team.

Coaching career

Following his retirement as a player in 2003, Van Meir was appointed an assistant coach at Lierse SK. Following the dismissal of

Aimé Anthuenis Aimé Anthuenis (born 21 December 1943) is a Belgian former professional football player and manager. He managed the Belgium national football team between 2002 and 2005. After a career as a defender, Anthuenis moved into coaching, first as the ...

in September 2010 in the club's first season back in the Belgian First Division, Van Meir took over as head coach of the club, assisted by Chris Janssens, but was replaced in the beginning of 2011 by

Trond Sollied Trond Johan Sollied (born 29 April 1959) is a Norwegian football manager and former player. He last managed Lokeren. During his playing career, Sollied was a defender who won the Norwegian top flight five times. He also played for Norway's nat ...

. In March 2020, Van Meir was hired as an assistant manager for Belgium U-19 under manager

Wesley Sonck Wesley Sonck (born 9 August 1978) is a Belgian professional football manager and former player who manages the Belgium U19 national team. He played as a striker for Molenbeek, Germinal Ekeren, Germinal Beerschot, Genk, Ajax, Borussia Mönch ...

Honours

Lierse *

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 ...

: 1996–97 *

: 1998–99 Belgian Cup, 1998–99 * Belgian Supercup: 1997, 1999 Belgium * FIFA World Cup awards#FIFA Fair Play Trophy, FIFA Fair Play Trophy:

2002 World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial football world championship for men's national teams organized by FIFA. It was held from 31 May to 30 June 2002 at sites in South Korea an ...

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Van Meir, Eric 1968 births Living people Belgian footballers Association football defenders Flemish sportspeople K. Berchem Sport players Lierse S.K. players R. Charleroi S.C. players Standard Liège players Belgian Pro League players Belgium international footballers UEFA Euro 2000 players 1994 FIFA World Cup players 1998 FIFA World Cup players 2002 FIFA World Cup players Lierse S.K. managers Belgian football managers