Servaas "Faas" Wilkes (; 13 October 1923 – 15 August 2006) was a Dutch football forward, who earned a total of 38

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for the Netherlands national team, in which he scored 35 goals (average 0.92 goals per game). However, for a prolonged period of his career, June 1949 through till March 1955, he was banned from the national team since the

KNVB The Royal Dutch Football Association (, ; KNVB ) is the governing body of football in the Netherlands. It organises the main Dutch football leagues (Eredivisie and Eerste Divisie), the amateur leagues, the KNVB Cup, and the Dutch men's and women ...

did not allow professional players to participate. He also played for the Netherlands at the

1948 Summer Olympics The 1948 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XIV Olympiad and officially branded as London 1948, were an international multi-sport event held from 29 July to 14 August 1948 in London, United Kingdom. Following a twelve-year hiatus cau ...

Career

Wilkes played for Xerxes Rotterdam, before moving to

Internazionale Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Since 1 ...

in the summer of 1949. There he played 95 matches, scoring 47 goals. After his stay in

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

ended in 1952, he had a one-season spell at

Torino Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

. At age 30 he moved to

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

in Spain, scoring a total of 38 goals in 62 appearances between 1953–54 and 1955–56, making him the first foreign idol of the club. He also played for VVV, Levante, and Fortuna '54. He died of a cardiac arrest in 2006, aged 82. He is considered one of the best footballers the Netherlands ever produced, being especially known for his creative style of play and brilliant dribbling. Wilkes was the 4th Dutch player (after Gerrit Keizer, Bep Bakhuys and Gerrit Vreken) who moved to play abroad. He held the record of most goals scored for the Netherlands national team from 1959 until 1998. The Dutch cartoon character Kick Wilstra was named in part after Faas Wilkes (Wilstra was also named after two other Dutch men's footballers,

Kick Smit Johannes Chrishostomus "Kick" Smit (3 November 1911 – 1 July 1974) was a Dutch footballer who played as a striker. He earned 29 caps and scored 26 goals for the Netherlands national team, and played in the 1934 and 1938 Events January ...

and

Abe Lenstra Abe Minderts Lenstra (; 27 November 19202 September 1985) was a Dutch footballer and national football icon in the 1950s who played as a forward. He is regarded as one of the greatest players ever to hail from the Netherlands. He was also a Fri ...

Gallery

1949 Milan XI - Faas Wilkes.jpg Voetbal Rotterdam tegen Valencia 2-3, Wilkes, Bestanddeelnr 906-2083.jpg Puskas bezocht Faas Wilkes in Rotterdam, Bestanddeelnr 918-1524.jpg Amsterdam tegen Real Madrid 1-4 in het Olympisch Stadion te Amsterdam, vlnr, Gento, Leo Horn , Di Stefano en Wilkes; Bestanddeelnr 910-4823.jpg Xerxes tegen SVV 2-0 Faas Wilkes veertig jaar, aanvoerder van Meeteren overhand, Bestanddeelnr 915-6517.jpg Laatste training Nederlands elftal Wilkes, van der Kuil , Groot, Swart, Berghol, Bestanddeelnr 912-4043.jpg Wilkes Port 3.jpg Faas Wilkes.jpg Faas Wilkes muurschildering.jpg

Career statistics

Player

International

:''Scores and results list Netherlands's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Wilkes goal.''

Honours

; Internazionale *

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

runner-up: 1950–51 *

third place: 1949–50, 1951–52 ; Valencia *

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 ...

Third Place: 1953–54 *

Copa del Generalísimo 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 Spanish f ...

1954 Events January * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown–IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a machine translation system is held in New York, at the head ...

* Concepción Arenal Trophy: 1954 ; Levante *

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...

Runner-up: 1958–59 Individual * Netherlands All-Time Top Scorer: 1959–1998 * Spanish Player of the Year: 1954 * Valencia Top Scorer: 1953–54, 1955–56 * Levante Top Scorer: 1958–59

References

External links

Faas Wilkes
at

Voetbal International ''Voetbal International'' (VI) is a Dutch football magazine. It is the oldest Dutch football magazine that is still running. History and profile ''Voetbal International'' was established in 1965. VI was one of the founding members of ESM. It l ...

* *
In memorial for Faas Wilkes
(Dutch) {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilkes, Faas 1923 births 2006 deaths Dutch men's footballers Netherlands men's international footballers Men's association football forwards Dutch expatriate men's footballers Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Spain Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Eredivisie players Serie A players XerxesDZB players Inter Milan players Torino FC players La Liga players Valencia CF players VVV-Venlo players Levante UD footballers Fortuna Sittard players Footballers at the 1948 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers for the Netherlands Footballers from Rotterdam 20th-century Dutch sportsmen