Maurice Willems (24 September 1929 – 4 December 1986) was a Belgian

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 who finished top scorer of the

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– ...

with 35 goals in 1957. As a center

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

he scored a total of 185 goals for

Gent Gent is a shortened form of the word gentleman. It may also refer to: * Ghent ( Dutch: Gent), a Belgian city ** K.A.A. Gent, a football club from Ghent ** K.R.C. Gent, a football club from Ghent ** Gent RFC, a rugby club in Ghent ** .gent, ...

. This makes Maurice still one of the greatest goalscorers AA Gent has ever known. He is also one of the 5 players from AA Gent who managed to become national top scorer. He played 3 times with the Belgium national team between 1956 and 1957. Willems made his international debut on 14 October 1956 in a 2–3 friendly defeat to 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 ...

and he scored. Born on 24 September 1929, he died on 4 December 1986, at the age of 57.

Honours

Club

KAA Gent

runners-up: 1954–55

Individual

* Belgian First Division top scorer: 1956–57 (35 goals)

References

External links

* 1929 births 1986 deaths Belgian men's footballers K.A.A. Gent players Belgium men's international footballers Belgian Pro League players Men's association football forwards K.M.S.K. Deinze managers Belgian football managers K.R.C. Gent players 20th-century Belgian sportsmen {{Belgium-footy-forward-stub