Daniel Edouward Boffin (born 10 July 1965) is a Belgian 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 lea ...

who played as a left winger and current football coach. During his professional career, which spanned nearly two decades, he played for four clubs in his country – most notably

Anderlecht Anderlecht (; ) is one of the List of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the south-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Forest, B ...

– and one in France, appearing in nearly 600 official games as a professional. Boffin represented

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

in three World Cups, the last of which occurred when he was 37.

Club career

Born in Sint-Truiden, Boffin began playing professionally for local Sint-Truidense VV, 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 ...

. After two solid years he moved to the Pro League with

RFC Liège Royal Football Club de Liège (more commonly known as RFC Liège) is a professional football club based in Liège, capital of Liège Province, Belgium. The team currently play in Challenger Pro League, the second tier in Belgian football. It ...

, appearing in European competition with the club and also being instrumental as it won its first-ever domestic cup, in 1990. At the age of 26, after more than 150 official games for Liège, Boffin signed with national giants R.S.C. Anderlecht, continuing to be an undisputed starter in his career: in his first two seasons combined he scored 13 goals, helping lead the

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

-based team to three leagues in a row as five managers were in charge of the team during his six-year spell. On 8 December 1993, he scored with his (weak) right foot to take a 3–0 lead at Werder Bremen in the UEFA Champions League group stage, but the German club made an unlikely recovery to take the match 5–3. Boffin moved abroad aged 32 as he signed with

FC Metz Football Club de Metz () is a Football in France, French association football club based in Metz, Lorraine. The club was formed in 1932 and plays in Ligue 1, the highest division in the French football league system, for the 2025–26 Ligue 1, ...

, where he was dubbed ''La mobylette'' due to his speed. In his debut campaign, which started on 2 August 1997 with a 1–0 win at Olympique Lyonnais, he helped to a best-ever finish in

Ligue 1 Ligue 1 (; ), officially known as Ligue 1 McDonald's France, McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de ...

, a second place; in spite of his age, he continued to feature regularly for the French side. In January 2001, Boffin returned to his first club, helping it always maintain its top flight status while the player posted the best scoring records of his career, with 11 and 12 goals in two separate seasons. He split his final year, 2003–04, with Sint-Truiden and

Standard Liège Royal Standard de Liège, commonly referred to as Standard Liège ( ; ; ) or simply Standard in Belgium, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Liège. They are one of the most successful clubs in Belgium, having won t ...

, and eventually called it quits at 39 years of age, with totals of – in the Belgian top level alone – 415 matches and 67 goals (he still played some amateur football with VV Real Nieuwerkerken).

International career

Boffin played 53 games for the Belgium national team, during 13 years. His debut came on 23 August 1989, in a 3–0 friendly win with

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

. In the following decade, Boffin would be an important offensive member for the ''Diables Rouges'', being selected for the

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

and

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea/Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

s, totalling five matches (only a squad member in the latter edition). Aged 35, he was overlooked for UEFA Euro 2000, played on home soil.

Honours

FC Liège *

Belgian Cup The Belgian Cup (; ; ) is the main knockout football competition in Belgium, run by the Royal Belgian FA. The competition started in 1908 with provincial selections as the "Belgian Provinces Cup". Starting from 1912 only actual clubs were allowed ...

: 1989–90 Anderlecht *

Belgian First Division 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– ...

: 1992–93, 1993–94, 1994–95 *

: 1993–94; runner-up 1996–97 * Belgian Supercup: 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995 Metz *

Coupe de la Ligue The Coupe de la Ligue (), known outside France as the French League Cup, was a knockout cup competition in French football organized by the Ligue de Football Professionnel. The tournament was established in 1993 and, unlike the Coupe de France ...

: runner-up 1998–99 'Sint-Truiden' *

: runner-up 2002–03 Belgium * FIFA Fair Play Trophy: 2002 World Cup Individual * Man of the Season (Belgian First Division): 2001–02, 2002–03

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Boffin, Danny 1965 births Living people Footballers from Sint-Truiden Belgian men's footballers Men's association football wingers Belgian Pro League players Challenger Pro League players RFC Liège players R.S.C. Anderlecht players Sint-Truidense V.V. players Standard Liège players Ligue 1 players FC Metz players Belgium men's international footballers 1994 FIFA World Cup players 1998 FIFA World Cup players 2002 FIFA World Cup players Belgian expatriate men's footballers Belgian expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate men's footballers in France 20th-century Belgian sportsmen