John Moelaert (14 January 1943 – 8 March 2023) was a Belgian

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

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

Career

Moelaert made his debut for hometown club

Cercle Brugge Cercle Brugge Koninklijke Sportvereniging () is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges. They compete in the Belgian Pro League, the top flight of Belgian football. Their matricule number is 12. The club plays home games at the 29 ...

on 23 December 1962 against FC Antwerp. In 1966, Cercle were relegated to

second division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

. But more disastrous were the corruption rumours spread by Lierse player Bogaerts, who said he had been approached by someone of Cercle. Although Cercle formally denied these rumours, they were sentenced to play in third division, back to where they were five years ago. Even though Cercle's vice-president won a

lawsuit A lawsuit is a proceeding by one or more parties (the plaintiff or claimant) against one or more parties (the defendant) in a civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today ...

against the

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, which declared him innocent in the corruption case, the damage had been done and Cercle remained at the third level of Belgian football. This caused Cercle to lose important players, a.o. Moelaert. He chose to leave Cercle for city rivals

Club Brugge (), known simply as Club Brugge (in English also: ''Club Bruges''), is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges, Belgium. It was founded in 1891 and its home ground is the Jan Breydel Stadium, which has a capacity of 29,042. They pl ...

alongside

Gilbert Bailliu Gilbert Bailliu (4 September 1936 – 2 April 2023) was a Belgian footballer who played as a striker, notably for Cercle Brugge and Club Brugge. Career Bailliu started his career at hometown club Cercle Brugge. He made his début for the fir ...

, a much-discussed transfer. He ended up playing 92 matches for Cercle in all competitions. He also became a regular at Club Brugge, totalling 141 matches for them. He won the

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 ...

with them in 1968, after defeating

Beerschot Koninklijke Beerschot Voetbalclub Antwerpen (), or simply Beerschot, is a Belgian professional football club located in Antwerp, that competes in the top tier Pro League after promotion from second tier in 2023–24 season. In 2013, KFCO Wil ...

with penalties and in 1970.

Personal life and death

After his playing career he worked as a representative in medical and physio equipment. Moelaert married Liliane Rosseel after his first wife died of an illness; with Rosseel he had two sons and a daughter. They lived in Jabbeke. He died of heart failure in the AZ Sint Jan Hospital in Bruges in March 2023, aged 80.John Moelaert (80), gedurende tien jaar linksback in eerste klasse bij Cercle én Club Brugge, overleden
- PZC

Honours

Club Brugge *

: 1968, 1970

References

External links

Cerclemuseum.be

Profile
- Club Brugge {{DEFAULTSORT:Moelaert, John 1943 births 2023 deaths Belgian men's footballers Footballers from Bruges Men's association football defenders Belgian Pro League players Cercle Brugge K.S.V. players Club Brugge KV players K.R.C. Zuid-West-Vlaanderen players 20th-century Belgian sportsmen