Éric Deflandre (born 2 August 1973) is a Belgian 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 lea ...

who played as a

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

Club career

Deflandre was born in Rocourt. He first signed to Wandre Union but after one year he joined

Liège Liège ( ; ; ; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the Liège Province, province of Liège, Belgium. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east o ...

side

RFC Liège Royal Football Club de Liège (more commonly known as RFC Liège) is a professional football club based in Liège, capital of Liège Province, Belgium. The team currently play in Challenger Pro League, the second tier in Belgian football. It ...

. He then left for Germinal Ekeren in 1995. In 1996, he signed for

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 29,042. They pl ...

. In 2000, Deflandre moved to

Olympique Lyonnais Olympique Lyonnais (), commonly referred to as simply Lyon () or OL, is a French professional association football, football club based in Lyon, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France. With origins dating back to 1899, they were founded in 1950 and p ...

in France, where he won three straight national championships. He returned to Belgium in 2004 and played for

Standard Liège Royal Standard de Liège, commonly referred to as Standard Liège ( ; ; ) or simply Standard in Belgium, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Liège. They are one of the most successful clubs in Belgium, having won t ...

. In 2007–08, he split duty with

FC Brussels Racing White Daring Molenbeek Brussels Football Club, often simply referred to as RWDM Brussels, F.C. Brussels or simply Brussels, was a Belgian professional association football club based in the municipality of Molenbeek, in the Brussels, Bru ...

and F.C. Verbroedering Dender E.H. On 25 June 2009, he for Lierse S.K. on a two-year deal. On 9 August 2010, it was announced he would return to RFC Liège, where he played for two more seasons before retiring.

International career

Deflandre played his debut match for the Belgium national team against

The Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

in the qualifying stage for the 1998 World Cup. In the competition's first match, he replaced Bertrand Crasson after 22 minutes, and helped to a 0–0 draw against the Netherlands. He also appeared for the national side at

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 ...

and

2002 World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea/Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

. In Euro 2000, he substituted as a goalkeeper after Filip de Wilde was sent off against Turkey.

Honours

Club Brugge *

Belgian First Division The Belgian Pro League (; ; ), officially the Jupiler Pro League () for sponsor Jupiler, is a professional association football league in Belgium and the highest level of the Belgian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs from the 2023– ...

: 1997–98 * Belgian Supercup: 1998 Lyon * French First Division: 2001–02, 2002–03, 2003–04 * French Supercup: 2003 Belgium * FIFA Fair Play Trophy:

References

External links

* * *
Eric Deflandre at Footgoal.net
1973 births Living people Footballers from Liège Belgian men's footballers Men's association football fullbacks Belgium men's international footballers RFC Liège players Beerschot A.C. players Club Brugge KV players Olympique Lyonnais players Standard Liège players UEFA Euro 2000 players 1998 FIFA World Cup players 2002 FIFA World Cup players R.W.D.M. Brussels F.C. players F.C.V. Dender E.H. players Belgian Pro League players Ligue 1 players Belgian expatriate men's footballers Belgian expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate men's footballers in France {{Belgium-footy-defender-stub