Christian Alfred "Kick" van der Vall (born 3 March 1946) is a Dutch former professional

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 an attacking midfielder for Feyenoord, DWS, Vitesse, and is best known for his longer spell at FC Twente.

Career

Van der Vall started playing youth football at Feyenoord. In 1963, he scored 3 goals against

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * Ajax (play), ''Ajax'' (play), by the an ...

in the final of the Dutch youth championship. He made his

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; "Honour Division" or "Premier Division") is a professional association football league in the Netherlands and the highest level of the Dutch football league system. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start o ...

debut on 13 December that year, scoring the winning goal against GVAV. He failed to win a regular starting position and after 4 years and 35 matches van der Vall moved to

FC Twente Football Club Twente (), sometimes known internationally as FC Twente Enschede, is a Dutch professional Association football, football club from the city of Enschede. The club was formed in 1965 by the merger of 1926 Dutch champions Sportclub E ...

. Coached by

Kees Rijvers Cornelus Bernardus Rijvers (27 May 1926 – 4 March 2024) was a Dutch association football, footballer who was active as a midfielder and later as coach for PSV Eindhoven and the Netherlands national football team, Netherlands national team. Pl ...

he immediately became a starter and scored 7 goals his first season at Twente. After only 1 year van der Vall moved to DWS. In Amsterdam he played his first international football in the

Inter-Cities Fairs Cup The Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, most commonly referred to as the Fairs Cup and sometimes as the European Fairs Cup or Fairs Cities' Cup, was a European football competition played between 1955 and 1971. The Fairs Cup was the idea of FIFA vice-presid ...

. In 1977, Twente won the

Dutch Cup The KNVB Beker (; ), branded as the TOTO KNVB Beker for sponsorship reasons, is a competition in the Netherlands organised by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. Outside the N ...

. In 1979, van der Vall had to move as Twente wanted to bring in younger players. He played 2 more years at Vitesse before retiring from professional football. Vitesse was relegated in 1980, so van der Vall played his final year in the

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (; ) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as the Keuken Kampioen Divisie due to sponsorship reasons, while ...

. In the 2019/2020 season FC Twente will play in the shirt of the brand Kick's 21. A new brand, exclusively developed for FC Twente, that bears the name of Kick van der Vall. The new brand is a tribute to the midfielder, who always played with number 21.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vall, Kick van der 1946 births Living people Footballers from Rotterdam Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players Dutch men's footballers Men's association football midfielders AFC DWS players Feyenoord players FC Twente players SBV Vitesse players 20th-century Dutch sportsmen