Jan Villerius (8 February 19397 May 2013) was a Dutch

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 ...

player.

Club career

A big defender or midfielder, Villerius played for Xerxes with future

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Netherlands, Dutch professional association football, football club based in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football league system, Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the ...

-legend

Coen Moulijn Coenraadt "Coen" Moulijn (15 February 1937 – 4 January 2011) was a Dutch professional footballer. He spent nearly his entire club career with Feyenoord, winning several trophies. He also played for the Netherlands national team. Club career C ...

before making his debut for

Sparta Sparta was a prominent city-state in Laconia in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (), while the name Sparta referred to its main settlement in the Evrotas Valley, valley of Evrotas (river), Evrotas rive ...

in December 1958. He won the

1958–59 Eredivisie The Dutch Eredivisie in the 1958–59 season was contested by 18 teams. Sparta Sparta was a prominent city-state in Laconia in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (), while the name Sparta referred to ...

league title with them in his first year when he played alongside Sparta greats Tonny van Ede and

Tinus Bosselaar Martinus Bosselaar (January 16, 1936 – June 6, 2018) was a Dutch footballer who played as a left winger. Club career He became the head subject in the "Bosselaar-affair" in 1956. Bosselaar and Sparta both agreed on a return to the club as hi ...

. He later moved to ADO, whom he captained and for whom he played over 300 matches and was part of the ADO side that played as San Francisco Gales in the

United Soccer Association The United Soccer Association (USA) was a professional association football, soccer league featuring teams based in the United States and Canada. The league survived only one season before merging with the National Professional Soccer League ( ...

in 1967,

Dick Advocaat Dirk Nicolaas "Dick" Advocaat (; born 27 September 1947) is a Dutch former association football, football player and coach. He is currently the manager of the Curaçao national football team. Advocaat was successful as a football player and as a ...

being one of his teammates.

International career

Villerius earned his one and only cap for the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

in an October 1962 friendly match against

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 ...

Retirement and death

After his playing career, he became an amateur football coach. Villerius died after a long battle against cancer on 7 May 2013 at the age of 74.Oud-international Villerius overleden
- Elf Voetbal

References

External links

- Voetbal International
Biography
- Haagsche Voetbalhistorie {{DEFAULTSORT:Villerius, Jan 1939 births 2013 deaths Footballers from Rotterdam Men's association football midfielders Dutch men's footballers Netherlands men's international footballers Sparta Rotterdam players ADO Den Haag players San Francisco Golden Gate Gales players Dutch expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Deaths from cancer in the Netherlands United Soccer Association players 20th-century Dutch sportsmen