Paul Van Himst

Paul Van Himst (born 2 October 1943) is a Belgian former football player and a football manager who played as a forward, most notably for R.S.C. Anderlecht.

Regarded as Anderlecht's ultimate club icon, Van Himst holds the record of four Belgian Golden Shoe awards and was named best "Belgian footballer of the twentieth century".

Van Himst was introduced to Anderlecht as a child because his father, who was an ardent fan of Jef Mermans, rarely missed a home match and regularly took his three children to the Émile Versé Stadium.

The young Van Himst himself started to play football in a neighborhood of Sint-Pieters-Leeuw and on the playground of the Sint-Niklaas Institute where national coach Bill Gormlie took care of the children.

He was fully noticed when he went to the training fields of the Anderlecht youth complex with his cousin.

Van Himst was able to keep a ball in the air for several minutes, which made such an impression on chairman Constant Vanden Stock that he promptly had the boy sign a membership card.

But given Van Himst was barely eight, the connection only became official two years later.

In the youth series, Van Himst was always allowed to compete with older teammates.

Under manager Pierre Sinibaldi, Paul Van Himst developed into a very refined player who would dominate Belgian football for 15 years with his exceptional technique, insight into the game and precise passing.

Following the example of Brazil, which had become world champions in 1958, Sinibaldi had Anderlecht play in a 4-2-4 system.

In that formation, Van Himst became one of the most important pawns on the field.

With his excellent technique and nose for goals, he became a standout at Anderlecht as a teenager.

In December 1959, the young striker was able to make his mark on the Beringen pitch with a promising performance.

At the age of 17, Paul Van Himst made his debut for the Belgian national team on 19 October 1960 in a match against Sweden.

11 days later, he scored his first goal in a 2–1 home victory over Hungary.

Between 1960 and 1974, Paul Van Himst scored 30 goals (in 81 matches) for the Belgian national team.

In the 1961–62 season, Paul Van Himst won his first trophy with Anderlecht, the national championship.

On his European debut against Real Madrid in 1962 at the Santiago Bernabéu stadium, he scored the opening goal in a 3–3 draw, immediately arousing the interest of Italian topclub Modena.

They made him an attractive offer, including his brother in the deal, but Anderlecht did not let its rising star leave.

At the time, in addition to football, Van Himst also represented the fuel company of chairman Albert Roossens The club would later also reject proposals from teams like Barcelona and Real Madrid, in their search for a successor of Alfredo Di Stéfano.

Van Himst became the Belgian First Division's top scorer three times in 1963–64, 1965–66 and 1967–68.

Van Himst was nicknamed Polle Gazon by Belgian football fans (Polle is Paul in Brussels dialect, and Gazon means lawn in Dutch and French) as he frequently lay on the field due to the large number of fouls committed on him.

Later, the nickname Le Pelé blanc (the white Pelé) was introduced by French newspaper L'Équipe after a convincing performance with Belgium in Paris against France.

In 1964, Van Himst played in the Belgium–Netherlands match alongside 10 Anderlecht players after the substitution of goalkeeper Guy Delhasse by Jean-Marie Trappeniers.

Despite Anderlecht an early exit in the second round of the 1966–67 European Cup, Van Himst became top scorer of the tournament.

His five goals in the match against Finish side FC Haka is still a (shared) record in a single European game.

Anderlecht reached the final of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup (considered as the predecessor to the UEFA Cup) in the 1969–70 season, but lost it to Liverpool.

Van Himst became top scorer of the tournament with 10 goals.

The lost final was a disappointment sportively and marked the end of the Sinibaldi era.

Most players retired or left Anderlecht, but Van Himst was one of the few to stay.

In a new team that relied on young players such as Hugo Broos, Ludo Coeck, Gilbert Van Binst and François Van der Elst, he was still important with all his experience.

Van Himst remained the leader on the field despite the generational change that had taken place.

With Anderlecht, Paul Van Himst would win the Belgian championship eight times.

He scored 309 goals in 566 matches during 16 seasons.

Van Himst was part of Belgium's team which qualified for the 1970 World Cup.

At the Euro 1972, organized in his home country, Van Himst helped the Red Devils to reach the third place.

This performance made him Belgium's second top scorer—along with Bernard Voorhoof—and the most capped player for his country between 1973 and 1989.

After he left Anderlecht, he played for RWDM, another Brussels club, in 1975–76 and for Eendracht Aalst (then in the second division) in the following season.

Two surgeries took their toll: neither at RWDM nor at Aalst Van Himst reached the same level as before.

About two months after his 16th birthday, Van Himst made his debut in the first team.