Gérard Kleinermann (15 November 1876 – 13 February 1962) was a Belgian

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

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

for Belgian clubs FC Liégeois between 1896 and 1900.

Early and personal life

Gérard Kleinermann was born in

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 ...

on 15 November 1876, as the son of Albert Kleinermann (1844–1923), a lawyer, Sophie Florentine Jeanne Marie Billon (1848–1921). Kleinermann married Jeanne Dallemagne (1882–1969) in Liège on 1 July 1902, and the couple had six children: Jean (1903–1984), Emile (1907–2003), Marguerite (1908–2003), Walther (1913–2006), André, and Denise. In 1904, his wife Jeanne purchased a castle from the Brixhe family, the so-called ''Château de Florzé'', which according to an old tradition was named by

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caesar's civil wa ...

himself, "Florzeias" meaning sea of flowers.

Career

Kleinermann began his football career at FC Liégeois in 1896, playing a crucial role in the Liégeois side that won back-to-back league titles in 1897–98 and 1898–99, starting in both legs of the 1899 championship final against FC Brugeois, in which he kept a clean-sheet in the first leg in an eventual 6–3 aggregate victory. During this period, Liégeois had an unbeaten run of 23 official matches that lasted over two years, between 28 February 1897 and 12 November 1899, coming to an end in a 5–3 loss to Antwerp FC; Kleinermann did not play this match.

Honours

FC Liégeois * Belgian Championship:

1898 Events January * January 1 – New York City annexes land from surrounding counties, creating the City of Greater New York as the world's second largest. The city is geographically divided into five boroughs: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queen ...

1899 Events January * January 1 ** Spanish rule formally ends in Cuba with the cession of Spanish sovereignty to the U.S., concluding 400 years of the Spanish Empire in the Americas.''The American Monthly Review of Reviews'' (February 1899), p ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kleinermann, Gérard 1876 births 1962 deaths Belgian men's footballers Footballers from Liège Men's association football goalkeepers Belgian Pro League players RFC Liège players