KV Mechelen favourite and former Stoke City manager among six former players nominated for the Belgian Pro League Hall of Fame | OneFootball

The Belgian Pro League has announced the next six nominees for the hall of fame. Johan Boskamp, ​​Lei Clijsters, Heleen Jaques, Raoul Lambert, Robbie Rensenbrink and Wilfried Van Moer have all been nominated to take up the next two spots. So far, Thomas Buffel, Jan Ceulemans, Eric Gerets, Vincent Kompany, Luc Nilis, Jean-Marie Pfaff, Michel Preud’homme, Wesley Sonck, Franky Van der Elst and Pär Zetterberg have been inducted into the leagues hall of fame.

Johan Boskamp spent most of his playing career in Belgium with RWDM, where he made over 200 appearances between 1974 and 1982. In 1975 he won the coveted Golden Shoe prize, which is awarded to the best player in the league. He retired after some time with Lierse before managing a number of sides in Belgium and abroad, such as Stoke City, Genk, Kortrijk and Anderlecht. Boskamp is currently a pundit for Dutch and Belgian TV.

KV Mechelen favourite Lei Clijsters was captain of the side that had European success in the 1980s. He also won the domestic cup and the league during his time with the side, while also picking up a Golden shoe in 1988. His daughter, Kim, was also a well-known professional tennis player. Sadly, Clijsters died at the age of 52 following an illness.

Heleen Jaques is the youngest of the nominees, having only hung up her boots in 2021. The Belgian defender played at the highest level of women’s international football for 13 years, having made her debut in 2007 and ending her career for the women’s national team in 2020. While she spent most of her career in the top flight of Belgian’s women’s league, she also had spells in the Bundesliga and in Italy with Fiorentina.

Raoul Lambert is considered one of the greatest strikers in Club Brugge history. The forward spent his entire career with the club and made 33 appearances for the Belgian national team, scoring an impressive 18 goals. At club level he was imperious. In 395 games across all competitions he scored 224 goals, with 184 of these coming in the Belgian Pro League. During his time in blue and black he won five league titles and three domestic cups.

Robbie Rensenbrink is another on the list with an incredible goal scoring record in Belgium. Rensenbrink played for both Club Brugge and Anderlecht, alongside spells in France with Toulouse and the USA with Portland. After 27 goals in 64 games for Club Brugge between 1969 and 1971 he moved to Brussels to join Anderlecht. What followed was a fantastic period for both player and club. Rensenbrink scored 202 goals in 352 games, which helped the club win two league titles, four Belgian Cups, two Cup winners Cups and two UEFA Super Cup trophies. In 1976, the winger was named footballer of the year in Belgium. He was also a member of the Dutch squad that came second in both the 1974 and 1978 World Cups.

Wilfried Van Moer is the final nominee for this round. The midfielder was a full Belgian international and spent his entire career in Belgium, playing for the likes of Beveren, Antwerp, Beringen FC and Standard Liege. During his time with the latter he helped the side win three titles in a row from 1968 to 1971. Van Moer was also part of the Belgian side that finished second in the 1980 Euros. He also won the Golden Shoe on three occasions, the first coming in 1966 and the others in 1969 and 1970. He made well over 400 appearances throughout his career, scoring over 60 goals. Van Moer also went on to coach the Belgian national team.

Clearly, these two positions in the hall of fame will be strongly contested between some real legends of the Belgian Pro League.

GBeNeFN | Ben Jackson