Stéphane Auguste Ernest Demol (11 March 1966 – 22 June 2023) was a Belgian professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player and manager who played as a

central defender 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 ...

. Demol amassed

Belgian First Division A 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– ...

totals of 120 games and 11 goals over the course of seven seasons, mainly with

Anderlecht Anderlecht (; ) is one of the List of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the south-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Forest, B ...

and

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 ...

with which he won eight major titles combined. He also competed professionally in Italy, Portugal, France, Greece and Switzerland. At international level, he represented

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

in two

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

s. In 2000 he started a managerial career, going on to work in several countries.

Club career

Born in

Watermael-Boitsfort Watermael-Boitsfort (French language, French, ) or Watermaal-Bosvoorde (Dutch language, Dutch, ; ), often simply called Boitsfort in French or Bosvoorde in Dutch, is one of the List of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, 19 municipal ...

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

, Demol joined local R.S.C. Anderlecht's youth system at the age of 14, moving to the first-team setup four years later and scoring four

goals in just 17 matches in his first full professional season, as the

side renewed their domestic supremacy. Demol soon became noticed by several clubs abroad, moving to Italy for

Bologna FC Bologna Football Club 1909, commonly referred to as Bologna (), is an Italian professional football club based in Bologna, Emilia-Romagna that plays in Serie A, the top flight of Italian football. The club have won seven top-flight titles, thr ...

, but his breakthrough would arrive the following year, in Portugal with

FC Porto Futebol Clube do Porto, Order of Prince Henry, MHIH, Order of Merit (Portugal), OM (), commonly known as FC Porto or simply Porto, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Porto. It is best known for the professional association footbal ...

: he scored an astonishing 11

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (), also known as Liga Portugal Betclic for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Portugal and the highest level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga ...

goals, and helped his team win the national championship. Demol moved countries again after just one year, now signing with French side

Toulouse FC Toulouse Football Club () is a French professional association football, football club based in Toulouse. The club was founded in 1970 and currently plays in Ligue 1, the first division of Football in France, French football. Toulouse plays it ...

, but he returned in late 1991 to his country after joining

, where he helped to consecutive

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

qualifications, finishing second to Anderlecht in his second year. Aged 27, Demol signed with

Cercle Brugge Cercle Brugge Koninklijke Sportvereniging () is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges. They compete in the Belgian Pro League, the top flight of Belgian football. Their matricule number is 12. The club plays home games at the 29 ...

, but did not receive regular playing time. He subsequently returned for another abroad spell, being equally unsuccessful for S.C. Braga, Panionios GSS,

FC Lugano FC Lugano is a Swiss professional football club based in Lugano. The club was refounded as AC Lugano in 2004 as a result of relegation and the financial situation of FC Lugano, which was founded in 1908. In 2008, the club reverted to its origina ...

and

Sporting Toulon Var Sporting Club Toulon is a association football, football club from Toulon, France, that plays in the Championnat National 2, the fourth tier of the French football league system. The club was founded in 1944 and played under that name until ...

(the latter in the French second division). Demol ended his career in 2000 at 34, after playing one year apiece with FC Denderleeuw and amateurs SK Halle, in which he began his managerial career.

International career

Demol played 38 matches for the Belgium national team and scored one goal, heading home in the round-of-16 clash against the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

at the

1986 FIFA World Cup The 1986 FIFA World Cup was the 13th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in Mexico from 31 May to 29 June 1986. The tournament was the second to feature a 24-tea ...

in Mexico (4–3 after

extra time Overtime (OT) or extra time (ET) is an additional period of play to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only if the game is required t ...

Managerial career

In 2005, after several brief head coaching spells, Demol became assistant manager at former club Standard Liège, helping it to another runner-up position in the 2005–06 season, trailing, once again, Anderlecht. In 2006, his good friend and ex-teammate René Vandereycken became the Red Devils' coach, and he invited Demol to become its assistant manager. He left the post two years later, returning to club action. On 2 November 2009, Demol quit R. Charleroi S.C. due to poor results. On 15 February 2012, he was appointed at

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 ...

Death

Demol died from a cardiac arrest on 22 June 2023, at the age of 57.

Career statistics

:''Score and result list Belgium's goal tally first, score column indicates score after Demol's goal.''

Honours

Player

Anderlecht *

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– ...

: 1984–85, 1985–86, 1986–87 *

Belgian Cup The Belgian Cup (; ; ) is the main knockout football competition in Belgium, run by the Royal Belgian FA. The competition started in 1908 with provincial selections as the "Belgian Provinces Cup". Starting from 1912 only actual clubs were allowed ...

: 1987–88 * Belgian Supercup: 1985, 1987 Porto *

: 1989–90 Standard Liège *

: 1992–93 Belgium *

fourth place:

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. ** Spain and Portugal en ...

Individual

* Kicker FIFA World Cup All-Star Team:

* Best foreign player in the Primeira Liga: 1989-1990 * World Soccer Magazine World XI: 1990

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Demol, Stephane 1966 births 2023 deaths People from Watermael-Boitsfort Belgian men's footballers Men's association football defenders Belgian Pro League players Challenger Pro League players R.S.C. Anderlecht players Standard Liège players Cercle Brugge K.S.V. players F.C.V. Dender E.H. players Serie A players Bologna FC 1909 players Primeira Liga players FC Porto players S.C. Braga players Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players Toulouse FC players SC Toulon players Super League Greece players Panionios F.C. players Swiss Super League players FC Lugano players Belgium men's international footballers 1986 FIFA World Cup players 1990 FIFA World Cup players Belgian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in France Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland Belgian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Belgian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Belgian expatriate sportspeople in France Belgian expatriate sportspeople in Greece Belgian expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Belgian football managers K.V. Turnhout managers K.V. Mechelen managers F.C.V. Dender E.H. managers Royal Charleroi S.C. managers R.W.D.M. Brussels F.C. managers Egaleo F.C. managers PAS Giannina F.C. managers Ethnikos Achna FC managers Aris Limassol FC managers

Stephane Demol Stephane may refer to: * Stéphane, a French given name * Stephane (headdress) A stephane (''ancient Greek'' στέφανος, from ''στέφω'' (stéphō, “I encircle”), '' Lat.'' Stephanus = wreath, decorative wreath worn on the head; cro ...

Al Faisaly FC managers Hajer Club managers Belgian expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Cyprus Expatriate football managers in Saudi Arabia Expatriate football managers in Thailand Belgian expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Belgian expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia Belgian expatriate sportspeople in Thailand Footballers from Brussels 20th-century Belgian sportsmen