Björn Daelemans (born 11 December 1977) is a

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct language ...

former

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 ...

. He predominantly played as a forward, but later in his career he also appeared as

right back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

. Daelemans was born in

Ekeren Ekeren () is a northern district of the municipality of Antwerp in the Flemish Region of Belgium. The suburb celebrated its 850th birthday in 2005; the name of the town was first mentioned in 1155, as "Hecerna". The name possibly originates from ...

and made his debut in professional football in the 1995–96 season when playing for Germinal Ekeren in the

Belgian First Division A 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 tea ...

. The next season, he played for Cappellen F.C. in the

Belgian Second Division The Belgian Second Division (known as the Proximus League for sponsorship reasons) was the second-highest division in the Belgian football league system, one level below the Belgian Pro League. It was founded by the Royal Belgian Football Asso ...

. He then moved to

Verbroedering Geel K.F.C. Verbroedering Geel was a Belgian association football club from the city of Geel in Antwerp (province). History The club was born in 1921 as a merger of Flandria and Geel Sport, becoming Flandria Geel Sport, and registered in 1924 to the ...

from the same level, where he would play between 1997 and 2001. In the 1998–99 season, he helped them achieve promotion to the First Division A through play-offs, contributing 17 goals from 33 league appearances. After being relegated at the end of the following season, Daelemans played one more season for the club in the Second Division. In the summer of 2001, he moved to the

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 ...

, signing with

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (, en, First Division) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie and with the third-level Tweede Divisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as th ...

club

RBC Roosendaal RBC, commonly known under its previous official name RBC Roosendaal, is a football club based in Roosendaal, Netherlands. RBC currently plays in the seventh-tier Tweede Klasse after a bankruptcy in 2011, restarting the club in tenth tier Vijfde ...

. In his first season, he made 28 appearances (four goals) and saw the club promoted to the

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is ...

through

play-offs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

. During his time with RBC, Daelemans appeared frequently, both as a starter and from the bench, except between January 2005 and June 2005, when he was loaned out to his old club Verbroedering Geel. At the end of the 2005–06 season, RBC were relegated from the Eredivisie and Daelemans was released from the club. In May 2006, he signed for

Heracles Almelo Heracles Almelo is a Dutch professional football club based in Almelo, founded in 1903. The club has won the Dutch national title twice, in 1927 and 1941. Heracles won the Eerste Divisie title during the 2004–05 season, gaining promotion to t ...

, where he was asked to play as

rather than as a forward. After two seasons, in which he made 20 Eredivisie appearances, he was released. He ended his career with

Verbroedering Geel-Meerhout AS Verbroedering Geel is a Belgian association football club based in Geel, province of Antwerp. Currently, they play in the Belgian Provincial Leagues. History Founded in 1926 as Meerhout Sport, the club received the matricule number 893. In ...

in the

Belgian Fourth Division The Belgian Fourth Division was the lowest nationwide division in Belgian football. The division was split into four separate leagues, A, B, C and D. The team with the most points in the four leagues together was declared the overall winner. ...

, playing for them between 2008 and 2010.

References

1977 births Living people Footballers from Antwerp Belgian footballers Association football forwards Royal Cappellen F.C. players Belgian Pro League players Challenger Pro League players RBC Roosendaal players Heracles Almelo players Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players Belgian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Belgian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands People from Ekeren {{Belgium-footy-forward-stub