Paul Van Himst

Who is Paul Van Himst?

Paul Van Himst is a former Belgian football forward and a football manager. Now retired, he still supports R.S.C. Anderlecht, his former team. He was nicknamed Polle Gazon due to the large number of fouls committed on him. In 1964, he played in the Belgium-Netherlands match alongside 10 Anderlecht players after the substitution of goalkeeper Delhasse by Jean Trappeniers.

Van Himst won the Belgian championship 8 times, all of them with Anderlecht, a club for which he started playing his first professional season in 1959-60. With Anderlecht, he scored 233 goals in 457 matches. He then played for RWDM in 1975-76 and for Eendracht Aalst in the following season.

Between 1960 and 1974, "Polle Gazon" scored 30 goals for the Belgian national team. This performance made him Belgium's topscorer—along with Bernard Voorhoof—and the fifth most capped player for his country. He made his debut on 19 October 1960 in a match against Sweden and he was part of Belgium's team which qualified for the 1970 World Cup. Van Himst then helped Belgium reach third place at the Euro 1972. He also holds the record of Golden Shoe, awarded to him four times.