Leo Ehlen (20 May 1953 – 10 February 2016) 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 tough-tackling defender or defensive midfielder, Ehlen started his professional career with Fortuna SC and joined

Roda JC Sportvereniging Roda Juliana Combinatie Kerkrade (; ), shortly as Roda JC Kerkrade () or commonly Roda JC or simply Roda, is a Dutch professional football club based in Kerkrade, Netherlands. Roda JC Kerkrade plays in the Eerste Divisie. The c ...

in 1975, where he played alongside

Dick Nanninga Dirk Jacobus Willem "Dick" Nanninga (17 January 1949 – 21 July 2015) was a Dutch footballer who played as a forward. At club level, he played for Dutch sides BV Veendam, Roda JC and MVV Maastricht. He also had a short spell with Hong Kong clu ...

Pierre Vermeulen Pierre Vermeulen (born 16 March 1956 in Kerkrade) is a Dutch footballer who was active as a forward. Vermeulen made his professional debut at Roda JC and also played for Feyenoord Rotterdam, MVV Maastricht, Paris Saint-Germain FC, Tours FC, and ...

and

Theo de Jong Theodorus Jacob de Jong (born 11 August 1947) is a Dutch former professional footballer and former football coach. During his career, he played for NEC Nijmegen and Feyenoord Rotterdam. He earned 15 caps and scored 3 goals for the Netherla ...

. Nicknamed the ''Neeskens of Roda'' after Holland hard man

Johan Neeskens RCH may stand for: * Radio Club de Honduras, an amateur radio organization * Railway Clearing House, the British financial clearing house and technical standards bureau for railways * The Royal Canadian Hussars (Montreal), a unit of the Canadian ...

, Ehlen scored 6 goals in 233 official matches for the club and left them after nine years for a spell with Belgian side Waterschei. He later played for amateur team EHC.

Personal life and death

After retiring, Ehlen owned a bar in

Broeksittard Broeksittard (; ) is a former village in the Dutch province of Limburg. It is now a neighbourhood of the town Sittard, and part of the municipality of Sittard-Geleen. It has partly kept its village character. Broeksittard was a separate municip ...

. He died in February 2016, aged 62. He had suffered from a kidney disease. He was survived by his wife and son. A minute silence was observed in his memory before kick-off of Roda's home game against FC Twente three days later.Voorafgaand aan Roda JC-FC Twente een minuut stilte
- Twente Insite

References

External links

- Roda JC Spelers
Career stats
- Elf Voetbal {{DEFAULTSORT:Ehlen, Leo 1953 births 2016 deaths Footballers from Sittard Men's association football defenders Dutch men's footballers Fortuna Sittard players Roda JC Kerkrade players K. Waterschei S.V. Thor Genk players Eredivisie players Belgian Pro League players Dutch expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Belgium EHC Hoensbroek players 20th-century Dutch sportsmen