Marc Gabriel Degryse (born 4 September 1965), nicknamed ''Le Lutin d'Ardooie'' ("The

Lutin A () is a type of hobgoblin (an amusing goblin) in French folklore and fairy tales. Female lutins are called (). A ''lutin'' (varieties include the '' Nain Rouge'' or "red dwarf") plays a similar role in the folklore of Normandy to househo ...

/ Imp of Ardooie") and ''The Little One'',Degryse leaves his Marc
UEFA.com, 17 May 2002 is a Belgian retired professional footballer who played as a forward. In a 19-year professional career he played mainly for Club Brugge and Anderlecht (six seasons apiece), making his senior debuts at 17 and scoring nearly 200 official goals both clubs combined to win a total of ten major titles. He also competed briefly in England for

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an off ...

. A Belgium international for 12 years, Degryse represented the nation in two World Cups.

Club career

Born in

Roeselare Roeselare (; ; ) is a Belgian city and municipality in the Flemish province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Roeselare proper and the towns of Beveren, Oekene and Rumbeke. The name of the city is derived from two ...

West Flanders West Flanders is the westernmost province of the Flemish Region, in Belgium. It is the only coastal Belgian province, facing the North Sea to the northwest. It has land borders with the Dutch province of Zeeland to the northeast, the Flemis ...

, Degryse played with equal success in the

Belgian Pro League The Belgian Pro League (; ; ), officially the Jupiler Pro League () for sponsor Jupiler, is a professional association football league in Belgium and the highest level of the Belgian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs from the 2023 ...

with giants Club Brugge and Anderlecht, moving to the latter in 1989 for a then-record €2.25 million and proceeding to win five national championships combined, three in a row. He moved for £1.5 million to

in the 1995 summer, but left after just one season as an important unit in helping the English club's eventual escape from relegation, after a 15th-place finish. During his time in

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the north, the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north-east, Lincolnshire ...

, he and teammate Orlando Trustfull had a cameo role in Sheffield-based film '' The Full Monty'', but the scenes did not make the final cut. In the following two campaigns Degryse played in the Netherlands with

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional association football, football department, which has pla ...

, where he often struggled with injuries. He retired in 2002 at the age of nearly 37, after spells back in his country with K.A.A. Gent and Germinal Beerschot, having played 540 professional matches and scored 209 goals. Degryse returned to Club Brugge as a technical director the following year, before he eventually resigned due to bad results in late January 2007, alongside longtime former teammate, coach Franky Van der Elst.

International career

On the international level, Degryse played 63 matches with the Belgium national team and scored 23 goals. He was summoned for the squads at two

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

s: 1990 and

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

, netting twice in seven games. Degryse's debut came just one day after his 19th birthday, in a friendly with

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Belgium's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Degryse goal.''

Honours

Club Brugge *

Belgian First Division The Belgian Pro League (; ; ), officially the Jupiler Pro League () for sponsor Jupiler, is a professional association football league in Belgium and the highest level of the Belgian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs from the 2023– ...

: 1987–88 *

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 ...

: 1985–86 *

Belgian Super Cup The Belgian Super Cup ( ; ; ), ''Pro League Supercup'', is a Belgian club competition played as a single match between the Belgian Pro League champions (also received the Super Cup host) and the Belgian Cup winners. If both teams are the same, ...

: 1986 * Bruges Matins: 1984 Anderlecht *

: 1990–91, 1992–93, 1993–94, 1994–95 *

: 1993–94 *

: 1993 * European Cup Winners' Cup: runner-up 1989–90 PSV *

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 ...

: 1996–97 * Johan Cruyff Shield:

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

KNVB 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 ...

: runner-up 1997–98 Individual * Man of the Season (Belgian First Division): 1987–88, 2000–01 * Belgian Golden Shoe: 1991 * Belgian Professional Footballer of the Year: 1987–88, 1989–90, 1994–95, 1999–2000 * Sheffield Wednesday F.C. Player of the Year: 1995–96 * Belgian Fair Play Award: 2000–01, 2001–02 * Goal of the Season: 2000 *Golden Shoe Lifetime Achievement Award: 2001 * Platina Eleven (Best Team in 50 Years of Golden Shoe Winners) (2003)

References

External links

Club Brugge archives
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Degryse, Marc 1965 births Living people Footballers from Roeselare Belgian men's footballers Men's association football forwards Belgian Pro League players Club Brugge KV players R.S.C. Anderlecht players K.A.A. Gent players Beerschot A.C. players Eredivisie players PSV Eindhoven players Premier League players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players Belgium men's international footballers 1990 FIFA World Cup players 1994 FIFA World Cup players Belgian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in England Belgian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Belgian expatriate sportspeople in England 20th-century Belgian sportsmen