André Van Maldeghem (19 October 1937 – 17 March 2024) was a Belgian football player and coach.

Career

Van Maldeghem was born in

Deinze Deinze () is a city and a municipality in the Belgian province of East Flanders. It comprises the city of Deinze, and the towns of Astene, Bachte-Maria-Leerne, Gottem, Grammene, Hansbeke, Landegem, Meigem, Merendree, Nevele, Petegem-aan-de-Lei ...

. Van Maldeghem started his football career in the youth ranks at SK Deinze. He joined the K.M.S.K. Deinze first team in 1954 and scored 23 goals that season. Van Maldeghem later transferred to SV Waregem. He played there for five years. At SV Waregem, he played as a defender and later became the leader of the team. Van Maldeghem played for SV Waregem until 1971. He played at KV Kortrijk for a year and retired in 1972. Van Maldeghem later worked as a sports monitor for the

Belgian army The Land Component (, ), historically and commonly still referred to as the Belgian Army (, ), is the Land warfare, land branch of the Belgian Armed Forces. The King of the Belgians is the commander in chief. The current chief of staff of the Land ...

at the airbase in

Gavere Gavere () is a municipality located in the Belgian province of East Flanders. The municipality comprises the towns of , Baaigem, , Gavere, and . In 2021, Gavere had a total population of 13,007. The total area is 31.35 km2. Sports The ...

. In 1980, he was appointed a coach at KRC Harelbeke and coached the team until 1988. Van Maldeghem coached SV Waregem for more than four seasons, the last of which was in the 1996–97 season. He coached

Mouscron Mouscron (; Dutch language, Dutch and , ; Picard language, Picard and Walloon language, Walloon: ''Moucron'') is a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality and City status in Belgium, city of Wallonia located in the Belgium, Belgian Hainaut Provinc ...

between 1990 and 1995. Van Maldeghem was the coach of

KV Kortrijk Koninklijke Voetbalclub Kortrijk (often simply called KV Kortrijk or KVK) is a Belgian professional football club based in Kortrijk, West Flanders. They play in the Belgian First Division, and they achieved their best ranking ever during the 20 ...

for six years and he returned to the club during the 1983–84 season, after eight years. He stayed there until . Van Maldeghem later coached at the RFBA and at the

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

Personal life and death

Van Maldeghem died at a nursing home in

Petegem-aan-de-leie Petegem-aan-de-Leie is a village in the Belgian province of East Flanders and a borough of Deinze. Petegem-aan-de-Leie is located on the south bank of the river Leie ( Lys). The village today forms a single urban core with that of Deinze itself, w ...

, on 17 March 2024, aged 86, following a period of ill-health.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Van Maldeghem, Andre 1937 births 2024 deaths People from Deinze Belgian men's footballers Men's association football defenders K.M.S.K. Deinze players SV Zulte Waregem players K.V. Kortrijk players Belgian football managers SV Zulte Waregem managers K.V. Kortrijk managers K.R.C. Zuid-West-Vlaanderen managers S.C. Eendracht Aalst managers Royal Excel Mouscron managers K.F.C. Vigor Wuitens Hamme managers 20th-century Belgian sportsmen