Ian Claes (born 16 July 1981 in

Sint-Truiden Sint-Truiden (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality located in the Provinces of Belgium, province of Limburg (Belgium), Limburg, Flemish Region, Belgium. With more than 41,500 inhabitants, it is on ...

) is a retired Belgian professional footballer. During his career, he played as a forward for

Heerenveen Heerenveen (, ) is a town and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Friesland (Fryslân), in the Northern Netherlands. In 2021, the town had a population of 29,790 (1 January) while the m ...

KV Mechelen Yellow Red Koninklijke Voetbalclub Mechelen (), often called KV Mechelen (, KVM) or simply by their former French name Malinois /ˌmalɪˈnwɑː/, is a Belgian professional association football, football club based in Mechelen in the Antwerp (pr ...

Oud-Heverlee Leuven Oud-Heverlee Leuven (), also called OH Leuven or OHL, is a Belgian professional football club from the city of Leuven. It was created in 2002 from the merger of three clubs, '' F.C. Zwarte Duivels Oud-Heverlee'', whose registration number it i ...

and

Tongeren Tongeren (; ; ; ) is a city and former municipality located in the Belgian province of Limburg, in the southeastern corner of the Flemish region of Belgium. Tongeren is the oldest town in Belgium, as the only Roman administrative capital wit ...

. As a promising youngster with Sint-Truiden, Claes was selected for two 2000 UEFA European Under-18 Football Championship qualifying matches in 1999 and signed by Dutch team

led by

Foppe de Haan Foppe Geert de Haan (, born 26 June 1943) is a Dutch football coach. He is known for his long association with Frisian club Heerenveen. De Haan was the manager of the Tuvalu national team during 2011 and then rejoined Heerenveen's youth prog ...

. As De Haan was impressed, Claes was immediately brought into the first team, playing the first two matches of the 2000-01 season. For unclear reasons, he never played any matches for Heerenveen thereafter, moving back to Belgium the next season at

Mechelen Mechelen (; ; historically known as ''Mechlin'' in EnglishMechelen has been known in English as ''Mechlin'', from where the adjective ''Mechlinian'' is derived. This name may still be used, especially in a traditional or historical context. T ...

. Although Claes gained 4 caps for the Belgium U21 during the 2002 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship qualification, scoring one goal against

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

, he only featured in three matches and during the 2002–03 season, Mechelen loaned him out to

Belgian Third Division The Belgian Third Division (, ) was the third highest level in Football in Belgium, Belgian football. It had two leagues of 18 teams each (Belgian Third Division A, A and Belgian Third Division B, B) at the same level. This competition, originall ...

team

OH Leuven Oh, OH, or Oh! is an interjection, often proclaiming surprise (emotion), surprise. It may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music Albums * Oh! (Girls' Generation album), ''Oh!'' (Girls' Generation album), 2010 * Oh! (ScoLoHoFo album), ''Oh!'' (S ...

. As a result of Mechelen being refused a Belgian professional football license after going into liquidation later that season, the contract of Claes was annulled, causing him to be a free player after his loan spell at OH Leuven. He played one more season at

, before quitting professional football.

References

1981 births Living people Belgian men's footballers Belgian Pro League players Sint-Truidense V.V. players SC Heerenveen players K.V. Mechelen players Oud-Heverlee Leuven players Eredivisie players Belgian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Belgian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Men's association football forwards Footballers from Sint-Truiden 21st-century Belgian sportsmen {{Belgium-footy-forward-stub