Roger Claeys

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Personal information
Roger Claeys
Full name	Roger Claeys
Date of birth	March 6, 1924 (1924-03-06) (age 84)
Place of birth	Sint-Michiels, Bruges, Belgium
Playing position	midfielder
Youth clubs
	Cercle Brugge
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1939-1957 1957-1959	Cercle Brugge SK Roeselare	354 (46)
National team²
	Belgium	0 (0)
Teams managed
1957-1959	SK Roeselare
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 3 February 2008. ² National team caps and goals correct as of 3 February 2008. * Appearances (Goals)

Roger Claeys (born March 6, 1924) is a Belgian former football player. Claeys was usually fielded as midfielder. Apart from playing football, Claeys worked as a butcher.

Claeys made his début for the first team of Cercle Brugge at the age of 14 in a match against VG Oostende. This was only an unofficial début, as the match was played in an emergency competition, organised due to World War II. He scored the winning goal: 2-1. The other goal was scored Marcel Vanhalme, age 15 at that time, and just like Claeys only called up for the first team due to injuries.

Claeys would make his official début against Lierse on September 14, 1941 in a 0-1 loss. Roger Claeys is the player with the 4th most appearances for Cercle Brugge. He would also be captain of the team for a long time.

Claeys scored his first official goal in 1943 in a 2-7 surprise win over Standard Liège. Claeys was the direct opponent of Jean Capelle, his football teen idol.

After his Cercle Brugge career, Claeys became player-coach of SK Roeselare. He would remain in this position for two seasons, when he quitted football.