Paul Van Himst (born 2 October 1943) is a Belgian former

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 ...

player and a football manager who played as a forward, most notably for

R.S.C. Anderlecht ; french: Les Mauves et Blancs) , short name = R.S.C.A. , founded = , ground = Constant Vanden Stock Stadium , capacity = 22,500 , owntitle = Chairman , owner = Wouter Vandenhaute , manager = Brian Riemer ...

Career

Van Himst was nicknamed ''Polle Gazon'' (''Polle'' is Paul in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

dialect, and ''Gazon'' means lawn in

Dutch 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 ...

and

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

) due to the large number of fouls committed on him. In 1964, he played in the Belgium-

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 ...

match alongside 10 Anderlecht players after the substitution of goalkeeper Delhasse by Jean-Marie Trappeniers. Van Himst won the Belgian championship eight times, all of them with Anderlecht, the club for which he played his first professional season in 1959–60. With Anderlecht, he scored 233 goals in 457 matches (16 seasons). He then played for RWDM (another Brussels club) in 1975–76 and for Eendracht Aalst (then in the

second division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

) in the following season. Between 1960 and 1974, Van Himst scored 30 goals (in 81 matches) for the Belgian national team. This performance made him Belgium's second top scorer—along with

Bernard Voorhoof Bernard Voorhoof (10 May 1910 – 18 February 1974) was a Belgian footballer, for 34 years the Belgium national team top scorer with 30 goals in 61 matches. He was joined by Paul Van Himst in 1972 who needed 81 matches to score the same number ...

—and the tenth most capped player for his country. He made his debut on 19 October 1960 in a match against

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...

and he was part of Belgium's team which qualified for the 1970 World Cup. Van Himst then helped Belgium reach third place at the Euro 1972. As a football manager, Van Himst worked notably for Anderlecht and the national team which he led to the

1994 FIFA World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States ...

Paul Van Himst 1972 Ras al-Khaimah stamp

Family

His wife, Arlette Neckebroeck, died on 4 December 2013. Paul van himst-1464583760

Filmography

*''

Escape to Victory ''Escape to Victory'' (stylized as ''Victory'') is a 1981 American-British-Italian sports war film directed by John Huston and starring Sylvester Stallone, Michael Caine, Max von Sydow and Pelé. The film is about Allied prisoners of wa ...

'' (1981) - Michel Fileu - The Players: Belgium *''Max'' (1994) - Himself

Honours and awards

Van Himst holds the record of most Golden Shoe awards, having won it on four occasions. In November 2003, to celebrate

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs fo ...

's Jubilee, he was named the Golden Player of Belgium by the Belgian Football Association as their most outstanding player of the past 50 years. He has been an ambassador for the Belgian/South-African NGO "Born In Africa" since 2005. In 2009, Van Himst became honorary citizen of Dilbeek.

Player

Anderlecht * Belgian First Division: 1961–62, 1963–64, 1964–65, 1965–66, 1966–67, 1967–68, 1971–72, 1973–74 *

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 ...

: List of Belgian Cup finals, 1964–65, List of Belgian Cup finals, 1971–72, 1972–73, 1974–75 *

Belgian League Cup The Belgian League Cup was a Belgian association football cup created in 1973. The competition was held from 1973 by eleven clubs wanting to increase professionalism in Belgian football but lasted only three seasons before being disbanded. The tour ...

: 1973, 1974 * Tournoi de Paris: 1964, 1966 *

Inter-Cities Fairs Cup The Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, sometimes referred to as the European Fairs Cup, Fairs Cities' Cup, or simply as the Fairs Cup, was a European football competition played between 1955 and 1971. It is often considered the predecessor to the UEFA Cup ( ...

runner-up: 1969–70 International *

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 Individual * Belgian Golden Shoe: 1960, 1961, 1965, 1974 * Belgian First Division top scorer: 1963–64 (26 goals), 1965–66 (25 goals), 1967–68 (20 goals) *

Ballon d'Or The Ballon d'Or (; ) is an annual football award presented by French news magazine '' France Football'' since 1956. Between 2010 and 2015, in an agreement with FIFA, the award was temporarily merged with the FIFA World Player of the Year (f ...

: 1964 (5th place),

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is sworn in for a full term ...

(4th place) * Ballon d'Or nominations:

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Co ...

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo ...

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...

, 1972 * 1966 FIFA World Cup qualification: Group 1 top scorer (5 goals) * 1966–67 European Cup: top scorer (6 goals) * 1969–70 Inter-Cities Fair Cup: top scorer (10 goals) * Man of the Season (Belgian First Division): 1970–71 * Former Belgium's Most Capped Player: 1973–1989 (81 caps) *

Belgian National Sports Merit Award The Belgian National Sports Merit Award is an annual award handed out to a Belgian sportsperson or -team for exceptional merit. Players can only win the award once during their career, making this trophy one of the most prestigious in Belgian sports ...

: 1974 * Belgian Footballer of the 20th Century: 1995 * Planète Foot's 50 of the World's Best Players: 1996 *

IFFHS The International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) is an organisation that chronicles the history and records of association football. It was founded in 1984 by Alfredo Pöge in Leipzig. The IFFHS was based in Abu Dhabi for so ...

European Player of the Century (39th): 2000 * Platina 11 (Best Team in 50 Years of Golden Shoe Winners): 2003 * UEFA Golden Player Award: 2003 * The Best Golden Shoe Team Ever: 2011 * DH The Best RSC Anderlecht Team Ever: 2020 *

All Time Belgium Dream Team: 2021

Manager

Anderlecht * Belgian First Division: 1984–85 *

Belgian Super Cup The Belgian Super Cup ( nl, Belgische Supercup, ; french: Supercoupe de Belgique; german: Belgischer Fußball-Super Cup), ''Pro League Supercup'', is a Belgian club competition played as a single match between the Belgian First Division A champio ...

: 1985 *

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

: 1982–83; runner-up: 1983–84 *

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 i ...

: 1985 Individual * Belgian Professional Manager of the Year: 1982–83

References

External links

CV

Born In Africa – Ambassador of the NGO

{{DEFAULTSORT:Van Himst, Paul 1943 births Living people 1970 FIFA World Cup players 1994 FIFA World Cup managers Belgian football managers Belgian Pro League players Belgium international footballers Belgium national football team managers Footballers from Flemish Brabant People from Sint-Pieters-Leeuw R.W.D. Molenbeek managers R.W.D. Molenbeek players R.S.C. Anderlecht managers R.S.C. Anderlecht players S.C. Eendracht Aalst players UEFA Champions League top scorers UEFA Cup winning managers UEFA Euro 1972 players UEFA Golden Players Association football forwards Belgian footballers