Gilbert Bodart (born 2 September 1962) is a Belgian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

and former player.

Playing career

Bodart was born in

Ougrée Ougrée (; ) is a town of Wallonia and a district of the municipality of Seraing, located in the Liège Province, province of Liège, Belgium. It was a separate municipality before the merging of municipalities in 1977. Olympic swimmers Béatric ...

, Belgium. 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 ...

, he played a long time with

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 ...

. Bodart also played 12 times with

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 ...

from 1986 to 1995. In 1996 the goalkeeper moved to the French team of

Girondins de Bordeaux Football Club des Girondins de Bordeaux (), commonly referred to as Girondins de Bordeaux () or simply Bordeaux, is a French football club based in the city of Bordeaux in Gironde, Nouvelle-Aquitaine. It competes in the Championnat National 2 ...

. He played few matches with the national team as he was in competition with

Jean-Marie Pfaff Jean-Marie Pfaff (born 4 December 1953) is a Belgian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper and spent most of his professional career with Beveren and Bayern Munich. Pfaff was capped 64 times playing for Belgium, and parti ...

and then with

Michel Preud'homme Michel Georges Jean Ghislain Preud'homme (born 24 January 1959) is a Belgian retired association football, footballer and Manager (association football), manager who played as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. Currently, he is vic ...

. Bodart was nevertheless part of the team in the

1986 World Cup The 1986 FIFA World Cup was the 13th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in Mexico from 31 May to 29 June 1986. The tournament was the second to feature a 24-team format. Colombia had ...

of which Belgium reached the semifinals. He collected 12 caps in 55 selections.

Managerial career

He worked as a manager for

La Louvière La Louvière (; ) is a city and Municipalities of Belgium, municipality of Wallonia located in the Hainaut Province, province of Hainaut, Belgium. The municipality consists of the following districts: Boussoit, Haine-Saint-Paul, Haine-Saint-Pie ...

in the Jupiler League from 2005 until 21 February 2006.

Personal life

Bodart is the uncle of the Belgian goalkeeper and youth international Arnaud Bodart. In August 2008, Bodart was arrested for his involvement in a robbery at the Caves of Han where he had been working in the marketing team since July.

Het Laatste Nieuws (''HLN''; ; in English ''The Latest News'') is a Dutch-language newspaper based in Antwerp, Belgium. It was founded by Julius Hoste Sr. on 7 June 1888. It is now part of DPG Media, and is the most popular newspaper in Flanders and Belgium. H ...

reported he had been the informant of the robber. It was revealed Bodart had financial problems due a gambling habit. He was also suspected of counterfeiting. In June 2018 Bodart was reported to have made death threats against former teammate

Eric Gerets Eric Maria Gerets (; born 18 May 1954) is a Belgian association football, football manager (association football), manager and former player. As a Forward (association football), striker, he started his playing career as an amateur for his local ...

after Gerets had started a relationship with his former girlfriend. On 11 March 2024, Bodart made a

suicide attempt A suicide attempt is an act in which an individual tries to kill themselves but survives. Mental health professionals discourage describing suicide attempts as "failed" or "unsuccessful", as doing so may imply that a suicide resulting in death is ...

by jumping in the river

Meuse The Meuse or Maas is a major European river, rising in France and flowing through Belgium and the Netherlands before draining into the North Sea from the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta. It has a total length of . History From 1301, the upper ...

. He had posted on Facebook that "he could not cope with life any longer".

Honours

Standard Liège *

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– ...

: 1981–82, 1982–83 *

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 ...

: 1980–81, 1992–93 *

European Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European association football, football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The competition's official name was originally the European Cup Winners' Cup; it was renam ...

: runner-up 1981–82 Belgium *

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

: fourth place

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. ** Spain and Portugal en ...

Individual * Belgian Goalkeeper of the Year: 1985, 1986, 1992, 1995

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bodart, Gilbert 1962 births 1986 FIFA World Cup players 1990 FIFA World Cup players Walloon people Footballers from Liège Province Belgian expatriate men's footballers Belgian Pro League players Belgian football managers Belgian men's footballers Belgium men's international footballers Sportspeople from Seraing Brescia Calcio players Expatriate men's footballers in France Expatriate men's footballers in Italy FC Girondins de Bordeaux players Men's association football goalkeepers K.S.K. Beveren players Ligue 1 players Serie B players Living people Standard Liège players R.A.A. Louviéroise managers Ravenna FC players C.S. Visé managers K.V. Oostende managers S.C. Eendracht Aalst managers Belgian expatriate sportspeople in France Belgian expatriate sportspeople in Italy 20th-century Belgian sportsmen