Armand Jurion

Jef Jurion

Jean Stockman, Georges Heylens and Jef Jurion (1964)
Personal information
Full nameJoseph Armand Jurion
Date of birth24 February 1937
Place of birthSint-Pieters-Leeuw, Belgium
Playing positionMidfielder
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps†(Gls)†
1953-1968R.S.C. Anderlecht
1968-1971K.A.A. Gent
1971-1974K.S.C. Lokeren
National team
1955-1967Belgium64(9)
Teams managed
1974-1975KSK Beveren
1975-1976La Louvière
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).

Armand Joseph Jurion (born 24 February 1937 in Belgium), nicknamed Jef, was a Belgian football player who played with the Belgium national team from 1955 to 1967. Jurion spent most of his club career at R.S.C. Anderlecht where he won 8 championship titles and one Cup and was awarded 2 Golden Shoe. He played in the match Belgium-Netherlands in 1964 with 10 fellows from the Anderlecht team after the substitution of goalkeeper Delhasse by Jean Trappeniers.

"Jef" began to play at Ruisbroek and earned an early interest by Brussels giants Union and Racing White, but he finally signed with Anderlecht. In November 1954, he played his debut game in the first team of Anderlecht against Olympic Charleroi (won 2-4) as a right winger. Jurion remained in the first team until he left for Gent in 1967, to work as a player/coach. His early breakthrough permitted him to play the first European game of Anderlecht, against Hungarian side Vörös Lobogó (currently MTK) in 1955.

Jurion achieved international fame after a memorable goal against Real Madrid in 1962 (a 1-0 win) which qualified Anderlecht for the second round of the Champions Cup after the 3-3 draw at Bernabeu. After this goal, he received the nickname of "Mister Europe". He began his international career in 1955 against France. During his 64 appearances, he played at 7 different positions and scored 9 times.

He is also remembered as one of very few notable football players, if not the only one, who constantly wore glasses during games.

Jurion then successively coached KSC Lokeren, KSK Beveren and La Louvière.

References