Hubertus Aegidius Hermanus "Berry" van Aerle (; born 8 December 1962) is a Dutch former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who played mainly as a

right back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

. A tough tackler, he was best known for his spell with PSV, which he helped capture the 1988 European Cup. A

Dutch international The Dutch International is an open international badminton tournament held in the Netherlands. The tournament annually held in Wateringen and organized by the VELO badminton since 2000. The Dutch International is a part of the European Badminton ...

for five years, he won the

Euro 1988 The 1988 UEFA European Football Championship final tournament was held in West Germany from 10 to 25 June 1988. It was the eighth UEFA European Championship, which is held every four years and supported by UEFA. The tournament crowned the Nethe ...

tournament.

Club career

Born in Helmond,

North Brabant North Brabant ( nl, Noord-Brabant ; Brabantian: ; ), also unofficially called Brabant, is a province in the south of the Netherlands. It borders the provinces of South Holland and Gelderland to the north, Limburg to the east, Zeeland to the w ...

, van Aerle spent 13 years with

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

giants

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; en, Philips Sports Association ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional football department, w ...

, helping them to five leagues. During most of his spell, he also played as a

defensive midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundari ...

as the

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

slot was occupied by veteran Belgian

Eric Gerets Eric Maria Gerets (, born 18 May 1954) is a Belgian football manager and former player who played as a right back. He started his playing career as an amateur for his local team AA Rekem, before achieving success with Standard Liège and PSV. ...

; incidentally, the Dutchman spent one year in that country, on loan to

Royal Antwerp FC Royal Antwerp Football Club, often referred to as Royal Antwerp or simply Antwerp, is a Belgian football club based in the city of Antwerp. Founded around 1880 as ''Antwerp Cricket Club'' by English students residing in Antwerp, 15 years before ...

. Van Aerle played the entire

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: * Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

of the

1987–88 European Cup The 1987–88 European Cup was the 33rd season of the European Cup club football tournament. The competition was won for the first time by PSV Eindhoven, who defeated two-time winners Benfica in the final at Neckarstadion in Stuttgart. PSV became ...

, won on penalties against

S.L. Benfica Sport Lisboa e Benfica (), commonly known as Benfica, is a professional football club based in Lisbon, Portugal, that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football. Founded on 28 February 1904 as ''Sport Lisboa'', Be ...

after a 0–0 draw. "It wasn't a particularly good match, with both teams very cautious, but it was exciting until the end and a tense penalty shoot-out. It does not matter how you win it, just as long as you do. Now we're in the history books forever: we lifted that trophy", van Aerle told Berend Scholten on UEFA.com. After Gerets retired in 1992, he began dealing with several injuries but still managed to appear regularly, collecting more than 300 overall appearances until his departure; he was also one of five European players to ever achieve the feat of winning four competitions – three with their club and one with the national team – in the same year, the others being teammates

Hans van Breukelen Johannes Franciscus "Hans" van Breukelen (; born 4 October 1956) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He was the technical director of the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) from 2017 until 2018. Van Breuke ...

Wim Kieft Willem Cornelis Nicolaas "Wim" Kieft (born 12 November 1962) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a centre forward. Kieft went into punditry in 2001, occasionally appearing on football talk show ''Voetbal Inside'' A prolific ...

Ronald Koeman Ronald Koeman (; born 21 March 1963) is a Dutch professional football manager and former player. He is the younger brother of his former international teammate Erwin Koeman and the son of former Dutch international Martin Koeman. Koeman was cap ...

and Gerald Vanenburg. Eventually, van Aerle retired from play after one sole season with hometown's

Helmond Sport Helmond Sport is a professional association football club based in the city of Helmond, North Brabant, Netherlands, that competes in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of the Dutch football league system. The club was founded on 27 June 1967, as ...

. After working as a mailman in his hometown, he returned to PSV, where he served in several capacities (talent scout, supporters coordinator).

International career

Van Aerle won his first

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

for the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

on 14 October 1987. In the following year's

UEFA European Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations ( UEFA). The competition is conte ...

, he was an undisputed starter as the national side lifted their first continental trophy, in

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

(all matches and minutes). In total, van Aerle appeared in 35 games in exactly five years, also being selected for the 1990 FIFA World Cup and Euro 1992. During those years, he formed an efficient fullback partnership with

Adri van Tiggelen Adrianus Andreas "Adri" van Tiggelen (born 16 June 1957) is a retired Dutch footballer who played as a left back. His career in football was intimately connected to Sparta Rotterdam, in which he began as a professional footballer, going on to ...

, also his clubmate in the early 90s.

Honours

Club

PSV *

: 1985–86, 1987–88, 1988–89, 1990–91, 1991–92 * KNVB Cup: 1987–88, 1988–89, 1989–90 *

Johan Cruijff Shield The Johan Cruyff Shield (, ) is a football trophy in the Netherlands named after Dutch footballer Johan Cruyff, also often referred to as the Dutch Super Cup. The winner is decided in one match only, played by the winner of the national footbal ...

: 1992; Runner-up 1991 * European Cup: 1987–88

International

Netherlands *

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...

References

External links

Beijen profile
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Aerle, Berry Van 1962 births Living people Sportspeople from Helmond Footballers from North Brabant Dutch footballers Association football defenders Association football utility players Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players PSV Eindhoven players Helmond Sport players Belgian First Division A players Royal Antwerp F.C. players Netherlands international footballers UEFA Euro 1988 players 1990 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 1992 players UEFA European Championship-winning players Dutch expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Belgium Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Belgium