View source for Willy van de Kerkhof

{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2021}}
{{Infobox football biography
| name = Willy van de Kerkhof
| fullname = Wilhelmus Antonius van de Kerkhof
| image = Willy van de Kerkhof 1975.jpg
| caption = Van de Kerkhof in 1974
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1951|9|16|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Helmond]], Netherlands
| height = 
| currentclub = 
| position = [[Midfielder]]
| youthyears1 = 1959–1966
| youthclubs1 = [[RKSV MULO]]
| youthyears2 = 1966–1970
| youthclubs2 = [[FC Twente|Twente]]
| years1 = 1970–1973
| clubs1 = [[FC Twente|Twente]]
| caps1 = 93
| goals1 = 14
| years2 = 1973–1988
| clubs2 = [[PSV Eindhoven]]
| caps2 = 418
| goals2 = 57
| totalcaps = 511
| totalgoals = 71
| nationalyears1 = 1974–1985
| nationalteam1 = [[Netherlands national football team|Netherlands]]
| nationalcaps1 = 63
| nationalgoals1 = 5
| medaltemplates = {{Medal|Sport|Men's [[Association football|football]]}}
{{Medal|Country|{{fb|NED}}}}
{{Medal|Comp|[[FIFA World Cup]]}}
{{Medal|RU|[[1974 FIFA World Cup|1974 West Germany]]|}}
{{Medal|RU|[[1978 FIFA World Cup|1978 Argentina]]|}}
{{Medal|Comp|[[UEFA European Championship|European Championship]]}}
{{Medal|3rd|[[UEFA Euro 1976|1976 Yugoslavia]]|}}
}}


'''Wilhelmus Antonius''' "'''Willy'''" '''van de Kerkhof''' ; born 16 September 1951) is a Dutch former professional [[footballer]]. He played as a [[midfielder]]. He played for [[FC Twente]] from 1970 to 1973 and then for [[PSV Eindhoven]] until 1988. With the Eindhoven club he was Dutch national champion six times.He won the [[UEFA Europa League|UEFA Cup]] in 1977–78 and the [[UEFA Champions League|European Cup]] in 1987–88. Van de Kerkhof and his twin brother [[René van de Kerkhof]] were squad members of the [[Netherlands national football team|Netherlands national team]] that made the [[FIFA World Cup|World Cup]] final in [[1974 FIFA World Cup|1974]]. They became key players in the team that made the [[1978 FIFA World Cup|1978]] final. He also played for the Netherlands at the [[UEFA Euro 1980|Euro 1980]]. Overall, van de Kerkhof appeared 63 times for his country, scoring five goals.<ref>{{Cite web|publisher=[[RSSSF]]|author=Stokkermans, Karel|title=Willy van de Kerkhof – International Appearances|url=http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/wvdkerkhof-intl.html|date=6 February 2008|access-date=1 September 2009}}</ref> Van de Kerkhof was a fast, much running midfielder. In addition to constructive and attacking, also did co-defensive work. He was nicknamed 'The Vacuum Cleaner' as a football player because of his achievements as a ball conqueror and defensive work, where he went after every ball. He was considered as one of the best Dutch midfielders ever in his position. 

He was named by [[Pelé]] as one of the [[FIFA 100|top 125 greatest living footballers]] in March 2004.<ref>{{Cite web|publisher=[[Associated Press]]|title=Article: FIFA top 120 list|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-91792917.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121026123918/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-91792917.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=26 October 2012|date=4 March 2004|access-date=1 September 2009}}</ref>

==Club career==
Van de Kerkhof and his [[twin]] brother played as [[Amateur|amateurs]] for RKSV MULO. They both made their professional [[Debut|debuts]] with FC Twente in 1970. Three years later they also went to PSV together . Their brother Gerard was also a professional football player. Father Renier van de Kerkhof (1910–1956), was an amateur footballer for Deurania, which was merged into SV Deurne in 1942. Van de Kerkhof played seventeen seasons with PSV, in ten from 1973 to 1983 together with René. The last two were with the PSV amateurs (1988–1990). He is also a member of merit of PSV. When PSV won the UEFA Cup in 1977–78, he scored the opening goal in the 3–0 final against [[SC Bastia|Bastia]].

==International career==
Van de Kerkhof made his debut for the [[Netherlands national football team|Dutch national team]] on 5 June 1974 in [[Rotterdam]], during a match against [[Romania]] in preparation for that year's [[1974 FIFA World Cup|World Cup in West Germany]]. Like his twin brother René, he was also selected for the final tournament. He did not play during that World Cup. At the [[1978 FIFA World Cup]], together with [[Ruud Krol]], he was the only player in the selection who did not miss a minute of the seven matches during the tournament. He played a total of sixty-three games for the Orange squad, in which he - just like his brother - scored five times. Van de Kerkhof also played at the 1976 European Championship and the European Championship 1980. He scored at the 1976 European Championship, in the qualification for the 1978 World Cup, at the 1978 World Cup, during the qualification for the European Championship 1980 and at the European Championship 1980. In 1978, the Van de Kerkhof brothers were the only twins ever to play both in the final of a football World Cup.

== Career statistics ==
=== Club ===
{| class=wikitable style=text-align:center
|+ Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
|-
!rowspan=2|Club
!rowspan=2|Season
!colspan=3|League
!colspan=2|[[KNVB Cup]]
!colspan=2|Europe
!colspan=2|Total
|-
!Division!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals
|-
|rowspan="4"|[[FC Twente|Twente]]
|[[1970–71 Eredivisie|1970–71]]
|rowspan="3"|[[Eredivisie]]
|27||6||||||7{{efn|Appearances in [[Inter-Cities Fairs Cup]]}}||1||34||7
|-
|[[1971–72 Eredivisie|1971–72]]
|32||6||||||colspan="2"|–||32||6
|-
|[[1972–73 Eredivisie|1972–73]]
|34||2||||||10{{efn|name=UEC|Appearances in [[UEFA Cup]]}}||1||34||2
|-
!colspan="2"|Total
!93||14||||||17||2||110||16
|-
|rowspan="16"|[[PSV Eindhoven]]
|[[1973–74 Eredivisie|1973–74]]
|rowspan="15"|Eredivisie
|31||10||||||colspan="2"|–||31||10
|-
|[[1974–75 Eredivisie|1974–75]]
|32||7||||||7{{efn|Appearances in [[UEFA Cup Winners' Cup|European Cup Winners' Cup]]}}||2||39||9
|-
|[[1975–76 Eredivisie|1975–76]]
|33||6||||||8{{efn|name=EC|Appearances in [[UEFA Champions League|European Cup]]}}||2||41||8
|-
|[[1976–77 Eredivisie|1976–77]]
|31||1||||||4{{efn|name=EC}}||0||35||1
|-
|[[1977–78 Eredivisie|1977–78]]
|32||5||||||12{{efn|name=UEC}}||1||44||6
|-
|[[1978–79 Eredivisie|1978–79]]
|30||3||||||4{{efn|name=EC}}||0||34||3
|-
|[[1979–80 Eredivisie|1979–80]]
|30||2||||||4{{efn|name=UEC}}||1||34||3
|-
|[[1980–81 Eredivisie|1980–81]]
|27||4||||||4{{efn|name=UEC}}||0||31||4
|-
|[[1981–82 Eredivisie|1981–82]]
|29||8||||||4{{efn|name=UEC}}||1||33||9
|-
|[[1982–83 Eredivisie|1982–83]]
|26||2||||||2{{efn|name=UEC}}||1||28||3
|-
|[[1983–84 Eredivisie|1983–84]]
|23||3||||||4{{efn|name=UEC}}||0||27||3
|-
|[[1984–85 Eredivisie|1984–85]]
|33||2||||||4{{efn|name=UEC}}||0||37||2
|-
|[[1985–86 Eredivisie|1985–86]]
|29||0||||||4{{efn|name=UEC}}||0||31||0
|-
|[[1986–87 Eredivisie|1986–87]]
|19||3||||||2{{efn|name=EC}}||0||21||3
|-
|[[1987–88 PSV Eindhoven season|1987–88]]
|12||1||||||4{{efn|name=EC}}||0||16||1
|-
!colspan="2"|Total
!418||57||||||67||8||486||65
|-
!colspan="3"|Career total
!511||71||||||84||10||597||81
|}

{{noteslist}}

==Honours==
'''PSV Eindhoven'''
*[[Eredivisie]]: [[1974–75 Eredivisie|1974–75]], [[1975–76 Eredivisie|1975–76]], [[1977–78 Eredivisie|1977–78]], [[1985–86 Eredivisie|1985–86]], [[1986–87 Eredivisie|1986–87]], [[1987–88 Eredivisie|1987–88]]
*[[KNVB Cup]]: [[1973–74 KNVB Cup|1973–74]], [[1975–76 KNVB Cup|1975–76]], [[1987–88 KNVB Cup|1987–88]]
*[[UEFA Champions League|European Cup]]: [[1988 European Cup Final|1987–88]]
*[[UEFA Europa League|UEFA Cup]]: [[1978 UEFA Cup Final|1977–78]]

'''Netherlands'''
*[[FIFA World Cup]] runner-up: [[1974 FIFA World Cup|1974]], [[1978 FIFA World Cup|1978]]
*[[UEFA European Championship]] third place: [[UEFA Euro 1976|1976]]

'''Individual'''
*[[FIFA 100]]: 2004<ref name="Yashin Award6">{{cite web|title=FIFA 100|url=http://www.bestfootballplayersever.com/fifa100.php|access-date=20 October 2020|archive-date=20 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171220002720/http://www.bestfootballplayersever.com/fifa100.php|url-status=live}}</ref>
*[[FIFA World Cup awards#All-Star Team|FIFA World Cup All-Star Team]]: [[1978 FIFA World Cup|1978]]
*[[Ballon d'Or]] nominee: 1978

== References ==
{{Commons category}}
{{Reflist}}

{{FIFA 100}}
{{Navboxes colour
|title= Netherlands squads
|bg= #F1771D
|fg= white
|list1=
{{Netherlands Squad 1974 World Cup}}
{{Netherlands Squad 1976 UEFA Euro}}
{{Netherlands Squad 1978 World Cup}}
{{Netherlands Squad 1980 UEFA Euro}}
}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kerkhof, Willy}}
[[Category:1951 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Dutch footballers]]
[[Category:1974 FIFA World Cup players]]
[[Category:1978 FIFA World Cup players]]
[[Category:People from Helmond]]
[[Category:Association football midfielders]]


{{sports-bio-stub}}