Jan van Roessel

Jan van Roessel

Jan van Roessel in 1952
Personal information
Full name	Joannes Cornelis Christianus van Roessel
Date of birth	(1925-04-07)7 April 1925
Place of birth	Tilburg, Netherlands
Date of death	3 June 2011(2011-06-03) (aged 86)
Place of death	Tilburg, Netherlands
Position(s)	Striker
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
	LONGA
1951–1957	Willem II	168	(152)
1957–1958	LONGA
International career^‡
1949–1955	Netherlands	6	(5)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 5 June 2011 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 5 June 2011

Jan van Roessel (7 April 1925 – 3 June 2011) was a Dutch football player.

Club career

A big striker and fierce header of the ball, Van Roessel was picked up at LONGA by local rivals Willem II in Tilburg in 1951, and won the 1952 Dutch (then still amateur) league title^[1] and in 1955 the first professional Eredivisie championship.^[2] He formed a potent strike force with Toon Becx and Piet de Jong and was reportedly linked to neighbours PSV Eindhoven and some Italian clubs, most notably Sampdoria and Torino, but Czech coach František Fadrhonc convinced him to stay in Tilburg.^[3]

Van Roessel was named Player of the Century of Willem II.^[4]

International career

Van Roessel made his debut for the Netherlands in a June 1949 friendly match against Finland and had earned a total of 6 caps, scoring 5 goals. He represented his country at the 1952 Summer Olympics,^[5] where he scored against Brazil.^[6]

His final international was a May 1955 friendly match against Switzerland.^[7]

International goals

Scores and results list Holland's goal tally first.

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	16 June 1949	Olympic Stadium, Helsinki, Finland	Finland	1–0	4–1	Friendly
2				3–0
3	16 July 1952	Kupittaa, Turku, Finland	Brazil	1–0	1–5	1952 Summer Olympics
4	21 September 1952	Idraetsparken, Copenhagen, Denmark	Denmark	1–0	2–3	Friendly
5	15 November 1952	Boothferry Park, Hull, England	England Amateurs	1–0	2–2

Personal life and death

Van Roessel married Louisa van Laarhoven in 1956 and the couple had one daughter, who died of leukemia in 1988. In his later years, he suffered from Alzheimer's disease. Van Roessel died on 3 June 2011 of a lung disease at the age of 86.^[8]

Honours

• Netherlands Football League Championship: 2

1951–52, 1954–55

References

1. Netherlands - Champions - RSSSF
2. Netherlands 1954/55 - RSSSF
3. Jan van Roessel, ooit een roemruchte midvoor - Voetbal International (in Dutch)
4. In memoriam: Jan van Roessel (1925-2011) Archived 2011-07-22 at the Wayback Machine - Willem II (in Dutch)
5. Netherlands roster - FIFA
6. "Jan van Roessel". Olympedia. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
7. National team stats - Voetbalstats (in Dutch)
8. Jan van Roessel (86) overleden - NOS (in Dutch)

External links

• Jan van Roessel at National-Football-Teams.com
• Obituary - Sportkwadraat(in Dutch)
• Profile - Voetbal Legends (in Dutch)