Paul Van Himst

Football manager infobox
playername = Paul Van Himst


fullname = Paul Van Himst
nickname = "Polle Gazon", The White Pelé
dateofbirth = Birth date and age|1943|10|2|mf=y
cityofbirth = Sint-Pieters-Leeuw
countryofbirth = Belgium
currentclub = Retired
position = Forward
youthyears = ?
youthclubs = ?
years = 1959-75
1975-76
1976-77
clubs = R.S.C. Anderlecht
R.W.D. Molenbeek
K.S.C. Eendracht Aalst
caps(goals) = 457 (233)
21 (1)
-
nationalyears = 1960-74
nationalteam = Belgium
nationalcaps(goals) = 81 (30)
manageryears =
managerclubs =

Paul Van Himst (born in Sint-Pieters-Leeuw, October 2, 1943) was a talented Belgian football midfielder and a football manager. He is now retired, and still supports R.S.C. Anderlecht, his former team. He was nicknamed "Polle Gazon" ("Polle" is Paul in Brussels dialect and "Gazon" means lawn in French) due to the large number of fouls committed on him. He played in the match Belgium-Netherlands in 1964 with 10 fellows from the Anderlecht team after the substitution of goalkeeper Delhasse by Jean Trappeniers.

Van Himst won the Belgian championship 8 times, all of them with Anderlecht. He played his first professional season in 1959-60, with that club, for which he scored 233 goals in 457 matches (16 seasons). He then played for RWDM (another club from Brussels) in 1975-76 and for Eendracht Aalst (then in second division) the next season.

"Polle Gazon" scored 30 goals in 81 matches (between 1960 and 1974) for the Belgian national team, which make him Belgium topscorer with Bernard Voorhoof and the fifth most capped player. He made his debut on October 19, 1960 in Sweden and was part of the team who qualified for the 1970 World Cup. Van Himst then helped Belgium to reach the third place of the Euro 1972. He also holds the record of Golden Shoe awards (with 4).

As a manager, Van Himst worked notably for Anderlecht and the national team which he led to the 1994 FIFA World Cup.

In November 2003, to celebrate UEFA's Jubilee, he was selected as the Golden Player of Belgium by the Belgian Football Association as their most outstanding player of the past 50 years. [http://www.uefa.com/uefa/news/Kind=256/newsId=130150.html]

Trivia

Van Himst played 'Michel Fileu' in John Huston's movie Escape to Victory (1981).
Eddy Merckx, another Belgian sport legend, is one of his closest friends.
Van Himst is also the owner of a coffee brand called Brésor.

ee also

* List of UEFA Cup winning managers

References

* [http://www.beijen.net/frank/cvs/himst-p-van.htm CV]
* [http://www.uefa.com/uefa/history/associationweeks/association=13/newsId=140820.html UEFA.com - Golden Player of Belgium]