Lorenzo Staelens

Lorenzo Jules Staelens (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈloː.rɛn.zo ˈstaː.ləns]) (born 30 April 1964 in Lauwe) is a retired Belgian footballer and a current manager of the Belgian Pro League side Cercle Brugge.

Having started his career as a defensive midfielder, he finished it as sweeper at nearly 40, and scored more than 100 goals overall.

Staelens appeared for the Belgian national team in three World Cups, adding the Euro 2000 tournament played on home soil.

Club career

Staelens started his professional career with K.V. Kortrijk at already 23, and his two solid seasons there attracted the attention of top division giants Club Brugge KV.

There, he proceeded to form a legendary midfield partnership with Franky Van der Elst, that would last nearly a decade. Staelens played 369 games in all competitions for the club, scoring 105 goals.

At already 34, and more often than not playing in the backline, he moved to R.S.C. Anderlecht, still being instrumental in the club's back-to-back championships (2000 and 2001), and winning the Belgian Golden Shoe in 1999; however, he did not finish his last year, moving to Japan's Oita Trinita in early 2001 and retiring shortly after.

Staelens took up coaching subsequently, first with R.E. Mouscron. After only two months at V.C. Eendracht Aalst, he returned to first club Kortrijk as its general manager, only returning to the benches in 2007, as assistant coach at K.S.V. Roeselare.

Staelens kept that role in the subsequent years, with the other team from Bruges, Cercle KSV.

International career

As an inexperienced international player, Staelens was selected to Belgium's squad for the 1990 FIFA World Cup; there, he appeared in the 1–2 group stage match against Spain.

From then on, Staelens became an essential national team member, representing it also at the 1994 and 1998 World Cups and in UEFA Euro 2000, totalling a further 10 complete matches.^[1]

Statistics

Club

International

Honours

• Belgian League: 1989–90, 1990–91, 1991–92, 1995–96, 1997–98, 1999–2000, 2000–01
• Belgian Cup: 1990–91, 1994–95, 1995–96
• Belgian Supercup: 1990, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1996, 2000

References

External links

• Club Brugge archives (Dutch)
• Weltfussball profile (German)
• Lorenzo Staelens at National-Football-Teams.com

v t e Belgium squad – 1990 FIFA World Cup 1 Preud'homme 2 Gerets (c) 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

v t 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 (c) 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

v t e Belgium squad – 1998 FIFA World Cup 1 De Wilde 2 Crasson 3 Staelens 4 Vidović 5 Borkelmans 6 Van der Elst 7 Wilmots 8 Oliveira 9 M. Mpenza 10 Nilis 11 Van Kerckhoven 12 Vande Walle 13 Verlinden 14 Scifo (c) 15 Clement 16 De Boeck 17 Verstraeten 18 Verheyen 19 Van Meir 20 E. Mpenza 21 Boffin 22 Deflandre Coach: Leekens

v t e Belgium squad – UEFA Euro 2000 1 De Wilde 2 Deflandre 3 Valgaeren 4 Staelens (c) 5 Clement 6 Vanderhaeghe 7 Wilmots 8 Goor 9 E. Mpenza 10 Strupar 11 Verheyen 12 De Vlieger 13 Herpoel 14 Walem 15 Peeters 16 Nilis 17 Léonard 18 Van Kerckhoven 19 Van Meir 20 De Bilde 21 M. Mpenza 22 Hendrikx Coach: Waseige