Rinus Bennaars (14 October 1931 – 8 November 2021) was a Dutch 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

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

Club career

Bennaars started his career before professional football was established in the Netherlands. When professional football was introduced in the country, Bennaars and SV DOSKO began playing in the Dutch Second Division. After three years at DOSKO, Bennaars joined NOAD for one season before transferring to Feijenoord. In his second season with Feijenoord, Bennaars won his first trophy when the club won the

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 ...

. They retained the title the following season, and Bennaars was recalled to the Netherlands national team again, nine years after his last call-up. He left Feijenoord after five seasons and went to play another two years in the Second Division at DFC, where he won the championship of that division in his first season. After his second season at the club Bennaars retired from professional football.

International career

On 25 November 1951, while playing for DOSKO, Bennaars played his first match for the Netherlands national team in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

versus

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 ...

. The Netherlands lost the match 7–6, but Bennaars managed to score one of the Dutch goals. Until 19 May 1954, he played ten times for the national team. In 1963, he played in another five matches, bringing his total caps to 15. He played one match at the

1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics (, ), officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad (, ) and commonly known as Helsinki 1952, were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1952 in Helsinki, Finland. After Japan declared in ...

Personal life

Upon retiring, Bennaars worked for Dutch Railways. He and his wife, Corry, lost two daughters in infancy. His wife later died of Parkinson's disease in 2005.'Ik ben dankbaar voor alles wat het leven me heeft gebracht'
- BN De Stem Bennaars died in his home-town Bergen op Zoom on 8 November 2021, at the age of 90.

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bennaars, Rinus 1931 births 2021 deaths Footballers from Bergen op Zoom Dutch men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Netherlands men's international footballers Olympic footballers for the Netherlands Footballers at the 1952 Summer Olympics Eredivisie players DOSKO players NAC Breda players Feyenoord players FC Dordrecht players 20th-century Dutch sportsmen