Régis Hervé Genaux (31 August 1973 – 8 November 2008) was a Belgian 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

right 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 ...

. During his career he represented three clubs in three countries, mainly

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 ...

and Udinese. He died at the young age of 35 from the effects of a

pulmonary embolism Pulmonary embolism (PE) is a blockage of an pulmonary artery, artery in the lungs by a substance that has moved from elsewhere in the body through the bloodstream (embolism). Symptoms of a PE may include dyspnea, shortness of breath, chest pain ...

.Le joueur Régis Genaux est décédé (Footballer Régis Genaux passes away)
La Libre, 8 November 2008
UEFA.com, 8 November 2008

Club career

After having started playing football with R. Charleroi SC, Genaux began his professional career aged 17 at

, where he helped to win one

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 ...

and achieved two Pro League runner-up places. In 1996 Genaux moved to England, joining Coventry City. However, his spell at the club lasted just half a season, with only four

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

appearances before he signed, in January 1997, with Italy's

Udinese Calcio Udinese Calcio (; "Udinese Football") is a professional association football, football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy. The team currently competes in the Serie A, the first tier of Italian football league system, Italian fo ...

. Due to persisting injuries during the most part of his career, Genaux retired at just 29, after having returned to Standard for a final season. Afterwards he moved into coaching, starting with the youths at R.A.A. Louviéroise and R.C.S. Verviétois; for a few months in 2006, he took the reins of third division side RFC Sérésien (formerly Seraing).

International career

Genaux played 22 times (being selected 27) 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 ...

, the first being on 16 February 1992, in a

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sport, sporting event whose prize money and impact on th ...

against

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

, aged not yet 19. He seemed poised to be the successor of Eric Gerets in the ''Diables Rouges'', although he was not picked up 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 ...

. Genaux became a regular fixture in the following years, but Belgium failed to qualify for

UEFA Euro 1996 The 1996 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 96, was the 10th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament contested by European nations and organised by UEFA. It took place in ...

. With the arrival of Georges Leekens, he lost his place in the national team, and was also not selected for the

1998 FIFA World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 1 ...

in France at the expense of Éric Deflandre and Bertrand Crasson; regarded as one of the best

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

s in Belgium in the 1990s, he would not attend any major international tournaments, also missing

UEFA Euro 2000 The 2000 UEFA European Football Championship, also known as Euro 2000, was the 11th UEFA European Championship, a football tournament held every four years and organised by UEFA, the sport's governing body in Europe. The finals tournament was ...

due to injury.

Personal life

*Genaux's brother, Terrence, was also a footballer, with the pair being distantly related to Vivica Genaux, a

mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano (, ), or mezzo ( ), is a type of classical music, classical female singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the soprano and the contralto voice types. The mezzo-soprano's vocal range usually extends from the A bel ...

. *At Standard, alongside fellow internationals Philippe Léonard and Michaël Goossens, he was 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, hailed for their sporting talent but with a troublesome character (with Roberto Bisconti playing a smaller role).

Death

On 8 November 2008, Genaux died from

heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome caused by an impairment in the heart's ability to Cardiac cycle, fill with and pump blood. Although symptoms vary based on which side of the heart is affected, HF ...

due to a

, whilst in his house. He was only 35.

Honours

Standard Liège *

: 1992–93 Udinese *

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from , "between" and , " betting pool"),Most precisely, from ( football pool); cf. originally called the International Football Cup, was a summer football competition between European clubs. The competition was dis ...

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Genaux, Regis 1973 births 2008 deaths Footballers from Charleroi Men's association football defenders Belgian men's footballers Belgian Pro League players Royal Charleroi S.C. players Standard Liège players Premier League players Coventry City F.C. players Serie A players Udinese Calcio 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 England Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Belgian expatriate sportspeople in Italy