 Clijsters with the Golden Shoe in 1988 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Leo Albert Jozef Clijsters | ||
| Date of birth | (1956-11-06)6 November 1956 | ||
| Place of birth | Opitter, Belgium | ||
| Date of death | 4 January 2009(2009-01-04) (aged 52) | ||
| Place of death | Gruitrode, Belgium | ||
| Height | 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) | ||
| Position | Centre-back | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1968–1973 | Opitter | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1973–1975 | Club Brugge | 1 | (0) |
| 1975–1977 | Patro Eisden | 29 | (1) |
| 1977–1982 | Tongeren | 167 | (22) |
| 1982–1986 | Thor Waterschei | 119 | (6) |
| 1986–1992 | Mechelen | 174 | (13) |
| 1992–1993 | FC Liège | 21 | (0) |
| Total | 511 | (42) | |
| International career | |||
| 1983–1991 | Belgium | 40 | (3) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 1993–1994 | Patro Eisden | ||
| 1994–1997 | Gent | ||
| 1998 | Lommel SK | ||
| 1999–2000 | Diest | ||
| 2000 | Mechelen | ||
| 2000–2001 | Diest | ||
| 2007–2008 | Tongeren | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Leo Albert Jozef "Lei" Clijsters (6 November 1956 – 4 January 2009) was a Belgian professionalfootballer who played as acentre-back.
Throughout his extensive senior career, the tough stopper was mainly associated withKV Mechelen, with whom he won theUEFA Cup Winners' Cup and theUEFA Super Cup. Also a prominent member of theBelgium national team, he was the father oftennis playersKim[1] andElke Clijsters.[2]
Lei Clijsters was born on 6 November 1956 in Opitter, started his football career with local Opitter FC. Later, he played forClub Brugge KV, but left the club after a disappointing two-year stint; he started his career as amidfielder. Subsequently, Clijsters representedK.S.K. Tongeren,K. Patro Maasmechelen,K. Waterschei S.V. Thor Genk,KV Mechelen andR.F.C. de Liège. With Mechelen, he won theBelgian Cup in 1987, going on to conquerthe subsequentUEFA Cup Winners' Cup andEuropean Super Cup. He added theBelgian League in1988–89, always asclub captain.
In 1988, Clijsters also won theGolden Shoe award as league'sMVP, and eventually retired with Liège at almost 37. Immediately, he starting working as a manager with former club Patro Eisden, then moving toK.A.A. Gent,[3]K.F.C. Lommel S.K. (July–December 1998),K. Tesamen Hogerop Diest (two spells, in 1999–2000 and November 2000 – June 2001) and Mechelen (July–November 2000). Clijsters was endorsed byDiadora.[4]
Afterward, he managed the professionaltennis career of his daughterKim. After her retirement, "Lei" became coach ofthird division club Tongeren, with which he had also played, in October 2007. He resigned in January 2008, after his family announced that he was suffering from a serious illness. Details were kept secret, but in February the Belgian press reported it to bemetastaticmelanoma[5] and that treatment was not working.[2]
Clijsters played in 40 international matches for theBelgium national team, participating atUEFA Euro 1984 and the1986 and1990FIFA World Cups.
In the 1986 edition, as Belgium reached the last four, he only appeared in two matches (being used as asubstitute in the 2–1 win overIraq and the famousround of 16 4–3 victory over theUSSR.
In 1990, Clijsters saw action againstSouth Korea (2–0 win),Uruguay (in which he scored a header in a 3–1 triumph[6]) andEngland (1–0 loss afterextra time).
Clijsters was married to Els Vandecaetsbeek from 1982 until 2005.[7]
On 4 January 2009, Clijsters succumbed to an illness at age 52.[8][9] Upon his death, Belgian newspapers likeHet Laatste Nieuws revealed that he suffered from a recurrence ofmelanoma which had spread to the lungs and other organs, having already experienced a bout of this condition twenty-five years earlier.[10]
KV Mechelen[11]
Belgium
Individual
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