Michaël Goossens (born 30 November 1973) is a Belgian retired 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 a striker.

Club career

Born in Ougrée, Seraing, Goossens started playing professionally with R.F.C. Seraing at the age of 16, then moved to

Standard Liège Royal Standard de Liège, commonly referred to as Standard Liège ( ; ; ) or simply Standard in Belgium, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Liège. They are one of the most successful clubs in Belgium, having won t ...

. In the 1992–93 campaign he won the Young Professional Footballer of the Year award whilst, alongside Philippe Léonard and Régis Genaux, being part of ''

The Three Musketeers ''The Three Musketeers'' () is a French historical adventure novel written and published in 1844 by French author Alexandre Dumas. It is the first of the author's three d'Artagnan Romances. As with some of his other works, he wrote it in col ...

'' generation (with Roberto Bisconti playing a smaller role), hailed for their sporting talent but with a troublesome character. In September 1996, after helping Standard to two league runner-up places and the 1993

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 ...

, Goossens signed for

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

in Italy, but only lasted there one season, as the

Liguria Liguria (; ; , ) is a Regions of Italy, region of north-western Italy; its Capital city, capital is Genoa. Its territory is crossed by the Alps and the Apennine Mountains, Apennines Mountain chain, mountain range and is roughly coextensive with ...

team failed to promote from

Serie B The Serie B (), officially known as Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had b ...

. In the following three years, he played in Germany with Schalke 04, being used sparingly during his spell and sharing team with compatriots Nico van Kerckhoven (two years) and

Marc Wilmots Marc Robert Wilmots (born 22 February 1969) is a Belgian professional football manager and former player who is the sporting director of Standard Liège. During his club career as an attacking midfielder, he won trophies with KV Mechelen, Stand ...

(three). With the

Gelsenkirchen Gelsenkirchen (, , ; ) is the List of cities in Germany by population, 25th-most populous city of Germany and the 11th-most populous in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia with 262,528 (2016) inhabitants. On the Emscher, Emscher River (a tribu ...

club, Goossens notably scored in the quarterfinals of the 1997–98 UEFA Cup against

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football ...

, but the defending champions were eventually ousted after losing 1–0 away and a 1–1 home draw; with three goals, he was the best scorer in European competition for Schalke, but only netted five times in two-and-a-half seasons combined in the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

. In the 2000 January

transfer window In association football, a transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club, club can add players to their squad who were previously under contract with another club. Such a Transfer (association football), transfer is comp ...

Goossens returned to Standard, exchanged for compatriot Émile Mpenza. He helped the team reach the final of the cup in 2000, regaining his previous form and scoring more than 40 official goals. Goossens then moved abroad again, aged nearly 30, spending one season in Austria with Grazer AK, who won the first – and only –

double Double, The Double or Dubble may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Multiplication by 2 * Double precision, a floating-point representation of numbers that is typically 64 bits in length * A double number of the form x+yj, where j^2=+1 * A ...

in its history, finishing one point ahead of Austria Wien which were also the losing side in the domestic cup. Subsequently, he returned home and played one year for Sint-Truiden, coached by former Standard and Schalke teammate Wilmots. Until his 2007 retirement, he would play in the lower and amateur leagues.

International career

Goossens first played with

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

on 13 February 1993 (aged 19), in a 3–0 win in

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

for the

1994 FIFA World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States w ...

qualifiers, entering the field after 87 minutes. In the following eight years he won a further 13 caps, scoring once against

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. Like Genaux and Léonard, Goossens would miss the final cuts after appearing during the qualifying stages, for three World Cups – 1994,

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

and

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

– not being selected for UEFA Euro 2000 due to injury.

Honours

Standard Liège *

: 1992–93; runner-up 1999–2000 * Intertoto Cup runner-up:

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 ...

Grazer AK *

Austrian Bundesliga The Bundesliga ( , "Federal League"), also known as Admiral Bundesliga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Austria and the highest level of the Austrian football league system. The competition decides the A ...

: 2003–04 * Austrian Cup: 2003–04 * Austrian SuperCup:

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

Individual * Young Professional Footballer of the Year: 1992–93

References

External links

Stats at Voetbal International
* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Goossens, Michael 1973 births Living people Sportspeople from Seraing Belgian men's footballers Men's association football forwards Belgian Pro League players Challenger Pro League players R.F.C. Seraing (1904) players Standard Liège players Sint-Truidense V.V. players K.A.S. Eupen players Serie B players Genoa CFC players Bundesliga players FC Schalke 04 players Austrian Football Bundesliga players Grazer AK players Belgium men's youth international footballers Belgium men's under-21 international footballers Belgium men's international footballers Belgian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Austria Belgian expatriate sportspeople in Germany R.F.C. Tilleur players Footballers from Liège Province