Franky Vercauteren

Vercauteren made his first team debut for Anderlecht in 1975 against Racing Mechelen, replacing Gilbert Van Binst. A double surgery in October 1975 and January 1976, however, later slowed down his development. Vercauteren won the five European titles with Anderlecht (two European Cup Winners' Cups, one UEFA Cup and two European Supercups). He also won two Belgian Cups, four Belgian Championship titles and won the Belgian Supercup twice. In 1987, he joined Nantes in France and came back to Belgium three years later to play with Molenbeek until 1993. While at Nantes, Vercauteren finished twice the championship with the most assists.

Vercauteren played 63 times with the Belgium national team. He was part of the squad that finished fourth at the 1986 FIFA World Cup, and also featured in the 1982 World Cup and at UEFA Euro 1984. Though he made his national team debut on 16 November 1977 (a 3–0 defeat to Northern Ireland national football team), he was not selected for the Euro 1980, where Belgium finished runner-up to West Germany.

At the end of his playing career, Vercauteren became the trainer of the youth team from C.S. Braine, a small club in Walloon Brabant. A year after, he moved to KV Mechelen, where he first trained the youth team, then the first team, beginning in 1997–98. At the end of this season, he signed as an assistant manager at his first club as a player, Anderlecht. He was briefly named manager along with his fellow Jean Dockx in the 1998–99 season after a disappointing start by manager Arie Haan (Anderlecht fell to the 18th and last place in the beginning of the season). The two men secured among others a nice 0–6 win at Sclessin against old rival Standard Liège and a 2–5 win at Genk, to finish in the European places. Anderlecht then hired Aimé Anthuenis as a manager, and Vercauteren became assistant once again. After coach Hugo Broos (the successor of Anthuenis) was dismissed in February 2005, Vercauteren signed on as the new manager and won twice the Belgian Championship. On 12 November 2007, after a string of poor and indifferent results, Vercauteren and Anderlecht parted company, with assistant coach Ariel Jacobs taking over until the end of the season. From 9 April 2009 to 10 September 2009, Vercauteren served as caretaker manager for the Belgium national team, resigning after Belgium's defeat to Armenia on 9 September 2009; he was replaced by the Dutchman Dick Advocaat. On 3 December 2009, Vercauteren signed a contract as head coach for Genk. On 17 May 2011, he celebrated…

Player

Anderlecht

Belgian First Division: 1980–81, 1984–85, 1985–86, 1986–87 Belgian Cup: 1975–76 Belgian Supercup: 1985, 1987 European Cup Winners' Cup: 1975–76, 1977–78; runners-up 1976–77 European Super Cup: 1976, 1978 UEFA Cup: 1982–83; runners-up 1983–84 Amsterdam Tournament: 1976 Tournoi de Paris: 1977 Jules Pappaert Cup: 1977, 1983, 1985 Belgian Sports Merit Award: 1978 Bruges Matins: 1985 Belgium

FIFA World Cup: 1986 (fourth place)

Manager

Anderlecht

Belgian First Division: 2005–06, 2006–07 Belgian Supercup: 2006, 2007 Genk

Belgian First Division: 2010–11 Belgian Supercup: 2011 Krylia Sovetov

National Football League: 2014–15 Cercle Brugge

Promotion to Belgian First Division A: 2017–18

Individual

Belgian Golden Shoe: 1983 Ballon d'Or nomination: 1983 Belgian Professional Manager of the Year: 2010–11 Meritorious resident of Dilbeek: 2011 Pro League Hall of Fame: 2026