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 ...

who was played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

Club career

Bennaars started his career at the time that professional football in the Netherlands did not yet exist. At the time of the first professional football in the country Bennaars and SV DOSKO started in the Dutch Second Division. After three years of professional football at DOSKO Bennaars switched to NOAD, where he stayed one season before making another switch, towards

Feijenoord Feijenoord (), not to be confused with the Feijenoord (neighbourhood), Feijenoord neighbourhood (which is located in the Feijenoord district), is a district in Rotterdam and is located south of the Nieuwe Maas. As of 1 January 2004 there were 72,3 ...

. At his second season at Feijenoord Bennaars won his first trophy when the club won the

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is ...

. They retained their title in the following season and Bennaars was invited to join 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, when playing for DOSKO, Bennaars played his first match for the Netherlands national team in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

versus

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

. 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.

Personal life

At the time of his retirement, Bennaars worked for the Dutch Railways. He and his wife Corry lost two daughters in infancy and his wife 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 Sportspeople from Bergen op Zoom Dutch 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 Footballers from North Brabant