Marc Wilmots

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Marc Wilmots (born February 22, 1969 in Dongelberg, Belgium) is a former Belgian football player. He is considered by many as one of the best players in his country's history.

In his club career that started in 1987, Wilmots played for Sint-Truidense, Mechelen, Standard Liège, Schalke 04, and Bordeaux. He retired in 2003 after his second stint with Schalke. In Belgium, he received the nickname of the Taureau de Dongelberg (The Bull from Dongelberg). Wilmots was then nicknamed das Kampfschwein (The Fighting Pig) or Willi das Kampfschwein during his playing days in Schalke, in Germany.

For Belgium, Wilmots scored 28 goals in 70 caps, his first coming in 1994. He played in three World Cups, going scoreless in 1994, but getting two goals in 1998 and adding three in 2002. Wilmots also played in Euro 2000, when Belgium co-hosted the tournament.

After retiring as a football player, Wilmots went into politics, and became a member of the Belgian senate, for the French-speaking liberal party, the Reformist Movement (Mouvement Réformateur or MR). His political career is not considered very successful [1]. In 2005 he announced that he wanted to resign as a senator, a rather unconventional, and criticized constitutional move [2] ([3] in Dutch). He also declared that he would not accept his salary as senator anymore should his resignation be refused. His request is currently under examination.

He also became a football manager in summer 2004 for Sint-Truidense but was fired in February 2005.

[edit]