| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Georges Serge Grun | ||
| Date of birth | (1962-01-25)25 January 1962 (age 63) | ||
| Place of birth | Schaerbeek,Belgium | ||
| Height | 1.84 m (6 ft1⁄2 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Defender | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1982–1990 | Anderlecht | 212 | (27) |
| 1990–1994 | Parma | 109 | (9) |
| 1994–1996 | Anderlecht | 46 | (4) |
| 1996–1997 | Reggiana | 22 | (0) |
| Total | 389 | (40) | |
| International career | |||
| 1984–1995 | Belgium | 77 | (6) |
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Georges Serge Grün (born 25 January 1962) is a retiredBelgianfootballdefender, who currently works as atelevision presenter for theUEFA Champions League matches atRTL TVI.
Grün started his career withAnderlecht in Belgium, where he spent eight seasons, winning theUEFA Cup in1983, as well as three consecutiveBelgian First Division titles between 1984 and 1987, among other trophies; he also reached anotherUEFA Cup final with the club in 1984, where they lost out to English sideTottenham, however.[1][2] Grün joined Italian clubParma in 1990.[1] During his time with the club, he established himself as one of the best defenders in Serie A, winning theCoppa Italia in1992, and theCup Winners' Cup in1993 under managerNevio Scala.[3][4] Following a series of injury struggles during the1993–94 season, however,[3][5][6][7] he returned to his former club in 1994.[6] In 1996, he returned to Italy once again, to play forReggiana;[8] however, he was no longer paid by the club between February and May 1997, and retired at the end of the 1996–97 season.[9]
Grün made his international debut in a 2–0 win againstYugoslavia atUEFA Euro 1984, on 13 June, marking the occasion with a goal.[10] He is most famous in his home country for scoring theaway goal that qualified Belgium at the expense of their neighbours Netherlands in the1986 World Cup qualifying rounds. Belgium would go on to a very respectable fourth-place finish. He played in threeFIFA World Cups for theBelgium national football team (1986,1990 and1994). He made his World Cup debut againstMexico on 3 June 1986. Grün is the sixth–most–capped player for Belgium with 77 appearances between 1984 and 1995, also scoring six goals.
Usually a defender,[11] Grün was capable of playing both as a man-markingcentre-back, orstopper, and as asweeper, due to his elegance, as well as his ability carry the ball out from the back and advance into midfield, or play it out on the ground, which enabled him to start attacking plays with his passing after winning back possession. He was even deployed as adefensive midfielder in front of the back-line on occasion.[12][13][14][15]
Belgium
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