Erwin Lemmens (born 12 May 1976) is a Belgian retired 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

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

, and is the goalkeeper coach of the Belgium national team. Lemmens won two caps for

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 ...

, both in 2004. On 24 January 2013, Lemmens was named the goalkeeping coach of the Red Devils.

Club career

Born in

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 ...

, Lemmens started his career at

K.S.K. Beveren KSK Beveren (''Royal Sporting Club of Beveren'') is a Belgian football club from Beveren in East Flanders with founded number 2300 and with yellow and blue as colors. The club became national champion twice in its existence and won the Belgian ...

in 1995, and was a regular in his last two years after which he signed for

Racing de Santander Real Racing Club de Santander, S.A.D. (), also known as Racing de Santander () or simply Racing, is a football club based in Santander, Spain, Santander, Cantabria, Spain, that currently competes in Segunda División, the second tier of the Spani ...

in Spain. After four seasons and 49

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

matches for the

Cantabria Cantabria (, ; ) is an autonomous community and Provinces of Spain, province in northern Spain with Santander, Cantabria, Santander as its capital city. It is called a , a Nationalities and regions of Spain, historic community, in its current ...

ns (adding 33 appearances in a 2002 promotion) he joined

RCD Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as RCD Espanyol, is a Spanish professional sports club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The club competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spa ...

also in the country, being first-choice during the 2003–04 campaign. The arrival of

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

international

Carlos Kameni Idriss Carlos Kameni (born 18 February 1984) is a Cameroonian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper. He spent the vast majority of his career in Spain, mainly with Espanyol for whom he appeared in 229 official games over eight La Li ...

the following season meant Lemmens was confined to bench duty, with just one

Copa del Rey The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanis ...

match to his tally. Subsequently, he signed with

Olympiacos F.C. Olympiacos Football Club ( ), known simply as Olympiacos or Olympiacos Piraeus, is a Greek professional Association football, football club based in Piraeus. Part of the major Sports club, multi-sport club Olympiacos CFP (''Olympiakós Sýnde ...

in the summer of 2005, competing with young Kleopas Giannou for the substitute role behind regular

Antonios Nikopolidis Antonis Nikopolidis (; born 14 January 1971) is a Greek professional Association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former player. He is regarded among the best Greek Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeepers of ...

. Lemmens did not manage to play one single game with the Greek side, being demoted to third-choice in 2006–07 upon the signing of

Tomislav Butina Tomislav Butina (; born 30 March 1974) is a Croatian former professional footballer who played as goalkeeper for Dinamo Zagreb, Club Brugge and Olympiacos. He was also capped 28 times for the Croatia national team in the period from 2001 to 200 ...

. On 31 January 2007, he was finally released by the club, quickly joining Dutch club

RKC Waalwijk RKC Waalwijk () is a Dutch professional association football, football club based in Waalwijk. They currently play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football league system, Dutch football, following relegation from the Eredivisie i ...

on a free transfer; on 10 February he played his first

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 ...

game, against

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 ...

. Lemmens moved to newly promoted F. C. Verbroedering Dender E.H. for 2007–08, and won the competition for first-choice with former

R.S.C. Anderlecht Royal Sporting Club Anderlecht, commonly abbreviated to RSC Anderlecht (, , ) or RSCA (, , ), is a Belgian professional football club based in Anderlecht, Brussels Capital-Region. Anderlecht plays in the Belgian First Division A and is the mos ...

Jan Van Steenberghe Jan Van Steenberghe (; born 4 July 1972) is a former Belgian football goalkeeper. He played most recently for F.C. Verbroedering Dender E.H., after being released from R.S.C. Anderlecht. His former clubs include Eendracht Aalst, R.A.A. Louvi ...

. After a

hip In vertebrate anatomy, the hip, or coxaLatin ''coxa'' was used by Celsus in the sense "hip", but by Pliny the Elder in the sense "hip bone" (Diab, p 77) (: ''coxae'') in medical terminology, refers to either an anatomical region or a joint on t ...

injury, however, his season came to an end. After one year out of football, 33-year-old Lemmens signed with first professional club Beveren, now in the second division. He helped the team finish comfortably in mid-table, but they would be relegated due to financial irregularities and he retired shortly after, going on to work as a goalkeeper coach with K.S.C. Lokeren Oost-Vlaanderen and

K.R.C. Genk Koninklijke Racing Club Genk (), commonly known as KRC Genk or Racing Genk, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Genk in Belgian Limburg. Racing Genk plays in the Belgian Pro League and have won four championship title ...

International career

Courtesy of his early solid performances for Espanyol, Lemmens won two caps for

, both in 2004. His debut came on 31 March, as he featured 32 minutes in a 3–0 friendly loss in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. On 24 January 2013, Lemmens was named the new goalkeeping coach of the Red Devils, replacing the departed Philippe Vande Walle.

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lemmens, Erwin 1976 births Living people Footballers from Antwerp Belgian men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Belgium men's international footballers Belgian Pro League players Challenger Pro League players K.S.K. Beveren players F.C.V. Dender E.H. players La Liga players Segunda División players Racing de Santander players RCD Espanyol footballers Olympiacos F.C. players Eredivisie players RKC Waalwijk players Belgian expatriate men's footballers Belgian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Belgian expatriate sportspeople in Greece Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Belgian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Association football goalkeeping coaches