Björn Daelemans (born 11 December 1977) is a Belgian former

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 lea ...

. He predominantly played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

, but later in his career he also appeared as

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

Career

Daelemans was born in

Ekeren Ekeren () is a northern district of the municipality of Antwerp in the Flemish Region of Belgium. The suburb celebrated its 850th birthday in 2005; the name of the town was first mentioned in 1155, as "Hecerna". The name possibly originates from ...

and made his debut in professional football in the 1995–96 season when playing for Germinal Ekeren in the

Belgian First Division A The Belgian Pro League (; ; ), officially the Jupiler Pro League () for sponsor Jupiler, is a professional association football league in Belgium and the highest level of the Belgian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs from the 2023– ...

. The next season, he played for Cappellen F.C. in the

Belgian Second Division The Belgian Second Division was the second-highest division in the Belgian football league system, one level below the Belgian Pro League. It was founded by the Royal Belgian Football Association in 1909 and folded in 2016, when it was replace ...

. He then moved to Verbroedering Geel from the same level, where he would play between 1997 and 2001. In the 1998–99 season, he helped them achieve promotion to the First Division A through play-offs, contributing 17 goals from 33 league appearances. After being relegated at the end of the following season, Daelemans played one more season for the club in the Second Division. In the summer of 2001, he moved to the Netherlands, signing with

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (; ) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as the Keuken Kampioen Divisie due to sponsorship reasons, while ...

club

RBC Roosendaal RBC, previously known as RBC Roosendaal, is a football club based in Roosendaal, Netherlands. RBC currently plays in the fifth-tier Vierde Divisie after bankruptcy in 2011, restarting the club in the tenth tier Vijfde Klasse. History 1912– ...

. In his first season, he made 28 appearances (four goals) and saw the club promoted to the

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; "Honour Division" or "Premier Division") is a professional association football league in the Netherlands and the highest level of the Dutch football league system. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start o ...

through

play-offs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

. During his time with RBC, Daelemans appeared frequently, both as a starter and from the bench, except between January 2005 and June 2005, when he was loaned out to his old club Verbroedering Geel. At the end of the 2005–06 season, RBC were relegated from the Eredivisie and Daelemans was released from the club. In May 2006, he signed for

Heracles Almelo Heracles Almelo is a Dutch professional football club based in Almelo, founded in 1903. The club has won the Dutch national title twice, in 1927 and 1941. Heracles won the Eerste Divisie title during the 2004–05 season, gaining promotion to t ...

, where he was asked to play as

rather than as a forward. After two seasons, in which he made 20 Eredivisie appearances, he was released. He ended his career with

Verbroedering Geel-Meerhout AS Verbroedering Geel is a Belgian association football club based in Geel, province of Antwerp. Currently, they play in the Belgian Provincial Leagues. History Founded in 1926 as Meerhout Sport, the club received the matricule number 893. In ...

in the

Belgian Fourth Division The Belgian Fourth Division was the lowest nationwide division in Belgian football. The division was split into four separate leagues, A, B, C and D. The team with the most points in the four leagues together was declared the overall winner ...

, playing for them between 2008 and 2010.

References

1977 births Living people People from Ekeren Belgian men's footballers Footballers from Antwerp Men's association football forwards Belgian Pro League players Challenger Pro League players Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players Royal Cappellen F.C. players RBC Roosendaal players Heracles Almelo players Belgian expatriate men's footballers Belgian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands {{Belgium-footy-forward-stub