Lei Clijsters

Leo ("Lei") Clijsters (born November 9, 1956) is a Belgian former professional football (soccer) defender. He played for the club KV Mechelen, with whom he won the European Cup Winners Cup and the European Super Cup. He was a member of the Belgian national team. He is the father of tennis players Kim and Elke Clijsters.

Clijsters, a native of in Opitter, started his football career with Opitter FC. Later, he played for Club Brugge, SK Tongeren, Patro Eisden, Thor Waterschei, KV Mechelen and FC Liège. With KV Mechelen, he won the Belgian Cup in 1987, the European Cup Winners Cup and the European Super Cup in 1988 and the Belgian League Championship 1989 as captain of the team. In 1988, he also won the Golden Shoe award as MVP of the Belgian First Division.

He played in 40 international matches for the Belgian national team, participating at the Euro 84, the 1986 World Cup and the 1990 World Cup. At the 1986 World Cup, Belgium reached the World Cup semi-finals, though he only played in two matches (he was used as a substitute in the 2-1 win over Iraq and the famous 4-3 victory over the USSR. In 1990 he saw action against South Korea (won 2-0), Uruguay (won 3-1 in which he scored a stunning header) and England (lost 0-1 after extra-time).

Since his playing career came to an end, he has worked as manager with Patro Eisden, AA Gent, Lommel SK, KV Mechelen and Diest. Afterwards, he managed the professional tennis career of his daughter Kim. After her retirement from professional tennis, "Lei Clij" became coach of third division club KSK Tongeren. He resigned in January 2008 from that position after being announced by his family that he is victim of a serious illness. More details on that were kept secret but in February the Belgian press reported that the illness was lung cancer and that treatment wasn't working.