Richard Orlans

First Division

Born in Ghent, Orlans joined K.A.A. Gent in 1946 at the age of 15 and played in all of the youth teams. In 1949 he debuted as a midfielder in the first team of the team. He acquired a place in the permanent team in the 1950–51 season and finished in second position in the league in 1955 and three times in third position (1954, 1957 and 1958). He remained a player until 1961. In between 1955 and 1958, the strongest era of K.A.A. Gent, Orlans played 21 games for the Belgium national team and scored five goals overall. In the same year, Orlans finished second in the Belgian Golden Shoe vote, honouring the best player in competition. The winner was Vic Mees. In 1961 Orlans went to the newly promoted team of Cercle Brugge and managed to ensure remaining in the Belgian First Division. He played a good season and was selected for the national team two more times, but he never played for the team. The strong performances of Orlans for Cercle caught the eye of coach Sinibaldi of R.S.C. Anderlecht, and Orlans transferred to the Brussels team. In his first season, Orlans played a strong European campaign. In the 1962–63 European Cup he and Anderlecht reached the quarterfinals setting aside, among others, Real Madrid. In the next season, he was Belgian champion with the team. After this, he ended his time in the First Division. He played 320 games all together and scored 50 goals.

Lower levels

Later on, Orlans played at a lower level for the team of SK…