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Paul van Himst
Personal information
Full name	Paul van Himst
Date of birth	2 October 1943 (1943-10-02) (age 66)
Place of birth	Sint-Pieters-Leeuw, Belgium
Playing position	Forward
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps (Gls)^†
1959–1975	R.S.C. Anderlecht	457 (233)
1975–1976	R.W.D. Molenbeek	021 00(1)
1976–1977	K.S.C. Eendracht Aalst
National team
1960–1974	Belgium	081 0(30)
Teams managed
1983–1986	R.S.C. Anderlecht
1987–1988	R.W.D. Molenbeek
1991–1996	Belgium
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Paul van Himst (born in Sint-Pieters-Leeuw, 2 October 1943) was a talented Belgian football midfielder and a football manager. Now retired, he 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. In 1964, he played the match Belgium-Netherlands along with 10 Anderlecht fellow players after the substitution of goalkeeper Delhasse by Jean Trappeniers.

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

Between 1960 and 1974, "Polle Gazon" scored 30 goals (in 81 matches) for the Belgian national team. This performance made him Belgium's topscorer -- along with Bernard Voorhoof -- and the fifth most capped player for his country. He made his debut on 19 October 1960 in a match against Sweden and he was part of Belgium's team which qualified for the 1970 World Cup. Van Himst then helped Belgium reach third place at the Euro 1972. He also holds the record of Golden Shoe, awarded to him four times.

As a football manager, Van Himst has 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 named the Golden Player of Belgium by the Belgian Football Association as their most outstanding player of the past 50 years. [1]

He appeared in the 1981 film Escape to Victory, as Michel Fileu.

[edit] See also

List of UEFA Cup winning managers

Preceded by Sven-Göran Eriksson	UEFA Cup Winning Coach 1982-1983	Succeeded by Keith Burkinshaw

UEFA Jubilee Awards

Belgian First Division Top Scorers

v • d • e Belgium squad – 1970 FIFA World Cup

1 Piot • 2 Heylens • 3 Thissen • 4 Dewalque • 5 Jeck • 6 Dockx • 7 Semmeling • 8 Van Moer • 9 Devrindt • 10 Van Himst • 11 Puis • 12 Trappeniers • 13 Beurlet • 14 Martens • 15 Vandendaele • 16 Polleunis • 17 Verheyen • 18 Lambert • 19 Carteus • 20 Peeters • 21 Janssens • 22 Duquesne • Coach: Goethals

Belgian Golden Shoe Winners

v • d • e Belgium squad – UEFA Euro 1972 Third Place

GK Piot • GK Sanders • DF Dockx • DF Dolmans • DF Heylens • DF Martens • DF Thissen • DF Van Binst • MF Semmeling • MF Thio • MF Vandendaele • MF Verheyen • FW Janssens • FW Lambert • FW Polleunis • FW Teugels • FW Van Himst • Coach: Goethals

R.S.C. Anderlecht – Managers

Sullington (1908–10) · Howard (1910–15) · Growning (1920–28) · Howard (1928–36) · Defour (1936–38) · Defevere (1938–41) · Rage (1941–45) · Defevere (1945–46) · Perino (1946–47) · Smit (1947–50) · Gormlie (1950–60) · Sinibaldi (1960–66) · Béres (1966–67) · Deraeymaeker (1967–68) · Höfling (1968–70) · Deraeymaeker (1970) · Sinibaldi (1970–71) · Keßler (1971–72) · Van Den Bosch (1972–73) · Braems (1973–75) · Croon (1975–76) · Goethals (1976–79) · Braems (1979–80) · Ivić (1980–83) · Van Himst (1983–86) · Haan (1986–87) · Leekens (1987–88) · Goethals (1988–89) · de Mos (1989–92) · Peruzović (1992–93) · Boskamp (1993–95) · Neumann (1995–96) · Boskamp (1996–97) · Vandereycken (1997) · Haan (1997–99) · Dockx (1999) · Anthuenis (1999–02) · Broos (2002–05) · Vercauteren (2005–07) · Jacobs (2007–)

v • d • e R.W.D. Molenbeek managers

Royal Racing White Höfling (1964–67) · Vliers (1967–69) · Week (1969–73)

R. Daring Club Molenbeek Butler (1932–XX) · Riou (1958–61) · Denayer (19XX–XX) · Langrand (19XX–66) · Elliott (1966–68) · Renders (1968) · Béres (1968–69) · Höfling (1969–71) ·

R.W.D. Molenbeek Week (1973–76) · de Visser (1976–77) · Horváth (1977–79) · Borremans (1979–81) · Boskamp (1981) · Brom (1981–82) · Dockx (1982–83) · Vermeersch (1983–84) · Garot (1984–86) · Frivaldszky (1986–87) · Horváth (1987) · Van Himst (1987–88) · Vandendaele (1988) · Broos (1988–91) · Novák (1991) · Smets (1991–94) · Vandereycken (1994–97) · Renders (1997–98) · Vandersmissen (1998) · Jacobs (1998–2001) · Thairet (2001) · Ferrera (2001–02)

Belgium national football team – Managers

de Laveleye (on behalf of the Belgian FA) (1904–10) · Maxwell (1910–13) · Bunyan (1914) · de Laveleye (on behalf of the Belgian FA) (1914–20) · Maxwell (1920–28) · Löwenfelt (1928–30) · Goetinck (1930–34) · Turnauer (1935) · Butler (1935–40) · van Kesbeeck (on behalf of the Belgian FA) (1940–44) · Demol (1944–46) · Gormlie (1947–53) · Livingstone (1953–54) · Vandeweyer (1955–57) · Nicolay (Caretaker) (1957) · Toldi (1957–58) · Vanden Stock (1958–68) · Goethals (1968–76) · Thys (1976–89) · Meeuws (1989–90) · Thys (1990–91) · van Himst (1991–96) · van Moer (1996) · Leekens (1997–99) · Waseige (1999–02) · Anthuenis (2002–05) · Vandereycken (2006–09) · Vercauteren (a.i.) (2009) · Advocaat (2009–)

v • d • e Belgium squad – 1994 FIFA World Cup

1 Preud'homme • 2 Medved • 3 Borkelmans • 4 Albert • 5 Smidts • 6 Staelens • 7 Van der Elst • 8 Nilis • 9 Degryse • 10 Scifo • 11 Czerniatynski • 12 De Wilde • 13 Grün • 14 De Wolf • 15 Emmers • 16 Boffin • 17 Weber • 18 Wilmots • 19 Van Meir • 20 Verlinden • 21 Van Der Heyden • 22 Renier • Coach: Van Himst

[edit] References

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