Roger Claeys

Roger Claeys
Personal information
Full nameRoger Claeys
Date of birth6 March 1924
Place of birthSint-Michiels, Bruges, Belgium
Playing positionmidfielder
Youth career
Cercle Brugge
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
1939-1957Cercle Brugge354(46)
1957-1959SK Roeselare
National team
Belgium0(0)
Teams managed
1957-1959SK Roeselare
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 3 February 2008.

† Appearances (Goals).

‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 3 February 2008

Roger Claeys (born 6 March 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 14 September 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 quit football.

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