Belgian football was shocked by particularly sad news on Monday morning. Former Red Devil Glen De Boeck has died at the age of 54. The former defender and trainer fell victim to a brain haemorrhage.
It is De Boeck’s family themselves that announced the dramatic news to the ‘Belga’ press agency. On Friday he suffered a brain haemorrhage at home. De Boeck, who lost both his parents earlier this calendar year, was taken to hospital. There he ended up in a deep coma. Ultimately, he passed away in the company of his loved ones.
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Figurehead at Anderlecht
At the time, De Boeck took his first steps in football at FC Boom, the club from his native region. With that club he even managed to achieve promotion to the first division as a youngster. His good performances there eventually earned him a transfer to KV Mechelen. He would eventually be the strongman there for three seasons.
However, De Boeck spent the lion’s share of his playing career at RSC Anderlecht. He played more than 200 matches for the record champion. He even became captain and was good for three national titles. However, in 2005 he was forced to retire as a professional footballer due to injuries.
Turbulent career as an international
In the meantime, he also won 36 caps for the national team and took part in two World Cups. However, after his playing career, De Boeck remained active in football. More specifically as a trainer. After several seasons as an assistant coach at Anderlecht, he got his chance as a full-fledged T1 at Cercle Brugge. He did excellent work with Groen-Zwart.
After his successful visit to Bruges, De Boeck took his chance at Beerschot. However, that was not a great success. In the following years he was a trainer at VVV, Waasland-Beveren, Mouscron, KSC Lokeren and twice KV Kortrijk. Always with ups and downs. He also regularly worked as a television analyst.
