René van de Kerkhof


Reinier Lambertus "René" van de Kerkhof is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a right winger for FC Twente, PSV Eindhoven and the Netherlands national team.

Career

Van de Kerkhof and his twin brother Willy were squad members of the Dutch national team that made the World Cup final in 1974 and became key players in the team that made the 1978 final, losing to hosts West Germany and Argentina, respectively. He also played for the Netherlands at the Euro 1976 and Euro 1980. Overall, van de Kerkhof appeared 47 times for his country, scoring five goals.
He is well remembered due to the incident before the [1978 FIFA World Cup Final|1978 FIFA World Cup|World Cup final], when the opponent Argentina national team objected to the cast he wore on his injured forearm since it could have injured an Argentinian player. Despite the bandage having been passed by FIFA and worn in previous matches, the referee, Italian Sergio Gonella vacillated. The Dutch players threatened to walk off the field in protest, delaying the kickoff of the game. Finally an extra layer of padding was applied to the bandage as a solution, and the match could start.
1978 was his most successful year, besides becoming runners-up at the World Cup, he also won the UEFA Cup, the Dutch championship and the KNVB Beker with PSV that year: "we had won everything possible – the title, the Dutch Cup and the UEFA Cup, and we had five or six players who had been runners-up at the FIFA World Cup in Argentina with the Netherlands. It was a beautiful period under coach Kees Rijvers", Van de Kerkhof later would tell to Berend Scholten.
Van de Kerkhof was named by Pelé as one of the top 125 greatest living footballers in March 2004.

Career statistics

International

No.DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
129 August 1973De Adelaarshorst, Deventer, Netherlands5–18–11974 FIFA World Cup qualification
210 September 1975Stadion Śląski, Chorzów, Poland1–41–4UEFA Euro 1976 qualification
326 October 1977Olympisch stadion, Amsterdam, Netherlands1–01–01978 FIFA World Cup qualification
418 June 1978Estadio Córdoba, Córdoba, Argentina2–22–21978 FIFA World Cup
521 November 1979Zentralstadion, Leipzig, German Democratic Republic3–23–2UEFA Euro 1980 qualification

Honours

PSV Eindhoven
Seiko
Netherlands
Individual