Florimond Vanhalme

Who was Florimond Vanhalme?

Florimond Vanhalme was a Belgium football midfielder, who still is record Belgian international for Cercle Brugge, the team where he spent all of his career. After his playing career, Vanhalme stayed in football as coach.

Vanhalme debuted at the highest level on 5 May 1912, in a match against Excelsior Brussel. The match was won 1–4, with Vanhalme scoring once. One season later, Vanhalme was part of the squad that played the cup final against Union SG. After 90 minutes, the score was 2–2, and with no rules about what should be done, officials of the KBVB/URBSFA decided on the spot that extra time had to be played. This would be the first time in Belgian football history that a match would be decided this way. Union SG eventually won the match with 3–2.

Vanhalme was twice champion of Belgium with Cercle Brugge, in 1927 and in 1930. He also was called up for Belgium at the 1924 and 1928 Summer Olympics. He did not come into action in 1924. In 1928, he played the matches against Luxembourg and Argentina.