Paul Guillaume 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.[2] 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".[3]
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.[4]
Club career
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.
About two months after his 16th birthday, Van Himst made his debut in the first team. In December 1959, the young striker was able to make his mark on the Beringen pitch with a promising performance. 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.[5]
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[6] The club would later also reject proposals from teams like Barcelona and Real Madrid, in their search for a successor of Alfredo Di Stéfano.[4][7]
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.[8]
Anderlecht team in August 1967. Van Himst below, as second from right.
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 Arsenal F.C. Van Himst became top scorer of the tournament with 10 goals.[9]
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.[10] Van Himst became the Belgian First Division's top scorer three times in 1963–64, 1965–66 and 1967–68.[11]
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.[12]
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.[13]
International career
Van Himst with Belgium in 1964
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. 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.
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.
Between 1960 and 1974, Paul Van Himst scored 30 goals (in 81 matches) for the Belgian national team. 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.[14]
Van Himst reunited with Anderlecht in 1982 when he started to manage the U-17 team. He did such a good job that he was appointed head coach the following season, replacing Tomislav Ivić. In his debut season 1982–83, Anderlecht won the UEFA cup, after winning 2–1 on aggregate against Benfica, with Van Himst winning a European trophy after all. The following season, Anderlecht reached the UEFA cup final again, but lost it to Tottenham Hotspur after a penalty shootout.
After winning the Belgian first division in 1984–85 and the Supercup in 1985, the ways of Anderlecht and Van Himst split up. And, as he did as a player, Van Himst continued his managerial career at RWD Molenbeek.
In 1991, Paul Van Himst was appointed as manager of the Belgian national team. He led the squad to the 1994 FIFA World Cup, where the team was eliminated by Germany in the round of 16.[17] After Belgium didn't qualify for the Euro 1996, Van Himst was replaced by his assistant Wilfried Van Moer, and he quitted from professional football.
Style of play
"The hallmark of Paul Van Himst was obviously his technique, but he was also physically very strong. Van Himst was really solidly built. That combination made him a quite unique player." reporter Frank Raes mentioned in 2023. "And of course that light-footedness made everyone enjoy. The use of the outside of the foot for passing, dribbling ánd shooting was remarkable. He was so skilled in dribbling. As an opponent you just couldn't get the ball."[18]
Van Himst preferred to "slalom" between opponents, but never lost the overview of the game when doing so. He also liked to operate from the left, where he could regularly put in splitting actions with his friend Wilfried Puis, as well with Anderlecht as with the Belgian national team.
Paul Van Himst has three children (one son and two daughters) and five grandchildren.[20]
In 1990, Van Himst took over the Brésor coffee roasting company. But after he was contacted to become national coach in 1991, his son Frank became manager of the company.[21] From the moment the contract ended in 1996, the family man concentrated definitively on his coffee company, with his son keeping his position.[22]
His wife Arlette Neckebroeck died on 4 December 2013.[23]
Also in his later life, the link with Anderlecht kept present. For more than forty years, Van Himst is close friends with cycling legend Eddy Merckx. Both are regularly spotted together at Anderlecht's home games.[24] And in 2022, his grandson Amando Lapage signed a professional contract with the club.[25]
Van Himst holds the record of most Golden Shoe awards, having won it on four occasions. There could have been a few more in fact, but at a certain point the organizers decided that one could not win the Shoe more than once. A few years later, that decision was reverted with Van Himst winning a fourth award in 1974.[4]
He has been an ambassador for the Belgian/South-African NGO "Born In Africa" since 2005.
In 2009, Paul Van Himst became honorary citizen of Dilbeek.[31]
Decades after retiring from professional football, Van Himst is still consistently mentioned in both Anderlecht and Belgium's "Best Team Ever" and "Best Players" lists.[32][33][34]
To celebrate the 80th birthday of their club icon, Van Himst was extensively honored for the competition match of Anderlecht against Mechelen on 7 October 2023.[35] For the occasion, the team played in a complete white "limited edition" shirts, stylized like the ones of the Van Himst era.[36]
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