Piet Fransen

Piet Fransen (5 July 1936 – 2 August 2015) was a Dutch footballer who played as a midfielder.

Piet Fransen
Fransen in 1965
Personal information
Date of birth (1936-07-05)5 July 1936
Place of birth Groningen, Netherlands
Date of death 2 August 2015(2015-08-02) (aged 79)
Place of death Groningen, Netherlands
Position(s) Midfielder
Youth career
Velocitas 1897
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1952–1957 Velocitas 1897
1957–1965 GVAV 190 (41)
1965–1966 Feyenoord 40 (6)
1967–1970 GVAV 101 (12)
1971–1973 FC Groningen 65 (5)
Total 331 (59)
National team
1964–1966 Netherlands 6 (1)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Club career

Nicknamed Mr. FC Groningen, Fransen played the majority of his career for FC Groningen and its predecessor GVAV. He totalled 484 official matches for the club, scoring 82 goals.[1] He started his career at Velocitas and was part of their first professional Tweede Divisie squad, when the third professional football league was introduced in the Netherlands in 1956.[2]

He also had a spell at Feyenoord.

International career

He made his debut for the Netherlands in an October 1964 FIFA World Cup qualification match against Albania and has earned a total of 6 caps, scoring 1 goal.[3] He represented his country in 3 FIFA World Cup qualification matches.[4]

His final international was a March 1966 friendly match against West Germany.

International goals
Scores and results list the Netherlands' goal tally first.
#DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
126 January 1965Bloomfield Stadium, Tel Aviv, Israel Israel1–01–0Friendly match

[5]

Death and legacy

He died on 2 August 2015 in Groningen.[6] A minute of silence was held ahead of the Johan Cruijff Shield match between Groningen and PSV Eindhoven later that day.[1]

In 2007 a street in Groningen at the former Oosterpark Stadion terrain was named after Fransen.[7] In 2011, the east stand of the Euroborg stadium was named Piet Fransen Stand.[8]

References
  1. Piet Fransen (79) overleden: vanavond minuut stilte Archived 2015-08-06 at the Wayback Machine - FC Groningen (in Dutch)
  2. Velocitas prominenten - Velocitas 1897 (in Dutch)
  3. National team stats - Voetbalstats (in Dutch)
  4. Piet Fransen – FIFA competition record
  5. National team stats - EU Football
  6. FC Groningen-icoon Fransen overleden (79) - Voetbal International (in Dutch)
  7. Oosterparkwijk krijgt roemruchte straatnamen - Trots van het Noorden (in Dutch)
  8. Piet Fransen Tribune in Euroborg Archived 2015-09-24 at the Wayback Machine - FC Groningen (in Dutch)
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