Jan Ceulemans

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jan Ceulemans
Personal information
Date of birth	February 28, 1957 (age 50)
Place of birth	Lier, Belgium
Nickname	Caje & Sterke Jan (Strong Jan)
Playing position	Manager
Club information
Current club	none
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1974-78 1978-92	Lierse SK Club Brugge	110 (39) 407 (191)
National team
1977-1990	Belgium	96(23)
Teams managed
1992-1996 1997-1999 1999-2005 2005-2006	K.S.C. Eendracht Aalst Ingelmunster Westerlo Club Brugge
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

Jan Ceulemans (born February 28, 1957 in Lier, Belgium) was a Belgian football player in the position of midfield.

He is his country's most capped player with 96 international appearances. He played for Belgium mostly under the guidance of Guy Thys and this was the strongest period of the team. They reached the finals of Euro 80. In the 1982 World Cup, they beat reigning champions Argentina 1-0 in the opening game of the tournament at Nou Camp en route to reaching the second round. Among one of Ceulemans' finest achievements was captaining his national side to fourth place in the 1986 FIFA World Cup, scoring three goals in the tournament including a beautiful diving header against Spain in the quarter-finals. His performance earned the nickname "Captain Courageous".[1]. He retired from international competition after the 1990 World Cup; Belgium was eliminated by England in the round of sixteen, with the winning goal being scored by David Platt in the 119th minute of extra time.

Professionally, he stayed at Club Brugge for 13 years, enduring himself to his country when he turned down an offer from Italian giant A.C. Milan.[2]

After retiring as a player due to knee injury, he became a manager at K.S.C. Eendracht Aalst in 1992. He won promotion to Jupiler League and even a qualification for UEFA Cup. He moved in 1998 to K.V.C. Westerlo where he also qualified for UEFA Cup. In 2005 he is back at 'his' Club Brugge where he would be the trainer for 3 years but after several bad results he was fired in April 2006. He currently lives in Kessel

He was named by Pelé as one of the top 125 greatest living footballers in March 2004.

Preceded by Jean Janssens	Belgian Golden Shoe 1980	Succeeded by Erwin Vandenbergh
Preceded by Vincenzo Scifo	Belgian Golden Shoe 1985	Succeeded by Jan Ceulemans
Preceded by Jan Ceulemans	Belgian Golden Shoe 1986	Succeeded by Michel Preud'homme
Preceded by Trond Sollied	Club Brugge Coach 2005-2006	Succeeded by Emilio Ferrera

	Belgium squad - 1982 FIFA World Cup
1 Pfaff | 2 Gerets | 3 L. Millecamps | 4 Meeuws | 5 Renquin | 6 Vercauteren | 7 Vandereycken | 8 Van Moer | 9 Vandenbergh | 10 Coeck | 11 Ceulemans | 12 Custers | 13 Van Der Elst | 14 Baecke | 15 De Schrijver | 16 Plessers | 17 Verheyen | 18 Mommens | 19 M. Millecamps | 20 Vandersmissen | 21 Czerniatynski | 22 Munaron | Coach: Thys

	Belgium squad - 1986 FIFA World Cup Fourth Place
1 Pfaff | 2 Gerets | 3 F. Van Der Elst | 4 De Wolf | 5 Renquin | 6 Vercauteren | 7 Vandereycken | 8 Scifo | 9 Vandenbergh | 10 Desmet | 11 Ceulemans | 12 Munaron | 13 Grün | 14 Clijsters | 15 L. Van Der Elst | 16 Claesen | 17 Mommens | 18 Veyt | 19 Broos | 20 Bodart | 21 Demol | 22 Vervoort | Coach: Thys

	Belgium squad - 1990 FIFA World Cup
1 Preud'homme | 2 Gerets | 3 Albert | 4 Clijsters | 5 Versavel | 6 Emmers | 7 Demol | 8 Van Der Elst | 9 Degryse | 10 Scifo | 11 Ceulemans | 12 Bodart | 13 Grün | 14 Claesen | 15 De Sart | 16 De Wolf | 17 Plovie | 18 Staelens | 19 Van Der Linden | 20 De Wilde | 21 Wilmots | 22 Vervoort | Coach: Thys