Michel Jean de Wolf (born 19 January 1958) is 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 ...

coach and retired player who played as a

left back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

Club career

De Wolf was born in

Nivelles Nivelles (; ; ) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the Belgian province of Walloon Brabant. The Nivelles municipality includes the former municipalities of Baulers, Bornival, Thines, and Monstreux. The Nivelles arrondissement ...

Walloon Brabant Walloon Brabant ( ; ; ) is a province located in Belgium's French-speaking region of Wallonia. It borders on (clockwise from the North) the province of Flemish Brabant (Flemish Region) and the provinces of Liège, Namur and Hainaut. Walloon Br ...

. During his career in his homeland, he played, always as first-choice safe for one season out of 17, for R.W.D. Molenbeek, K.A.A. Gent (winning the 1984

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 ...

K.V. Kortrijk Koninklijke Voetbalclub Kortrijk (often simply called KV Kortrijk or KVK) is a Belgian professional football club based in Kortrijk, West Flanders. They play in the Belgian First Division, and they achieved their best ranking ever during the 20 ...

and R.S.C. Anderlecht. He arrived at the age of 32, winning three leagues). In the 1994 summer, 36-year-old de Wolf moved abroad, signing with

Olympique de Marseille Olympique de Marseille (, ; , ), also known simply as Marseille, or by the abbreviation OM (, ), is a French professional Association football, football club based in Marseille which competes in Ligue 1, the French football league system, top f ...

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsorship reasons, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions making up the Ligue de Football Prof ...

– the French club had just been relegated due to a match-fixing scandal – playing in more than 40 official games in one sole season after which he retired from professional football, still going on to appear for K.F.C. Avenir Lembeek and KSC Grimbergen at amateur level (and as

player-coach A player–coach (also playing coach, captain–coach, or player–manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. Player–coaches may be head coaches or assistant coaches, and they may make chang ...

International career

De Wolf was capped 42 times for the Belgium national team, his debut coming in 1980, and appeared at three

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: he played two matches in the 1986 edition, four in

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

scoring from 35 meters in the ''Diables Rouges 2–0 group stage win against

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

and another four (at 36) in

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 ...

. De Wolf was also selected for

UEFA Euro 1984 The 1984 UEFA European Football Championship final tournament was held in France from 12 to 27 June 1984. It was the seventh UEFA European Championship, a competition held every four years and endorsed by UEFA. At the time, only eight countries ...

, in France.

Honours

Gent *

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

Anderlecht *

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– ...

: 1990–91, 1992–93, 1993–94 * Belgian Cup: 1994 *

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, ...

: 1991, 1993 Marseille *

: 1994–95 Belgium *

: fourth place

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. ** Spain and Portugal en ...

Individual * Best Gent Player of the Season: 1985–86, 1986–87

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:De Wolf, Michel 1958 births Living people Sportspeople from Nivelles Footballers from Walloon Brabant Belgian men's footballers Men's association football defenders Belgian Pro League players R.W.D. Molenbeek (1909) players K.A.A. Gent players K.V. Kortrijk players R.S.C. Anderlecht players Ligue 2 players Olympique de Marseille players Belgium men's international footballers UEFA Euro 1984 players 1986 FIFA World Cup players 1990 FIFA World Cup players 1994 FIFA World Cup players Belgian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in France Belgian expatriate sportspeople in France Belgian football managers K.V. Kortrijk managers Gabon national football team managers R.W.D.M. Brussels F.C. managers 20th-century Belgian sportsmen