Armand Seghers

Armand Seghers
Personal information
Date of birth	21 June 1926
Place of birth	Zelzate, Belgium
Date of death	15 March 2005
Place of death	Zelzate, Belgium
Playing position(s)	Goalkeeper
Senior career*
National team
	* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Armand Seghers (21 June 1926 – 15 March 2005), nicknamed Mance Seghers, was a keeper of AA Gent, then called AA La Gantoise. Seghers started in 1942 as a keeper at SLV Zelzate (Sint-Laurens Voetbalclub Zelzate), which merged in 2008 with FC Zelzate, hereafter called KVV Zelzate. In 1949, he was discovered by AA La Gantoise. He played 485 games in competition[1] for 'the Gantoise', as AA Gent was called in that time, played 18 cup games and 4 European games. During 12 seasons he played all the games, of which the first 158 without interruption.

Birthplace

Seghers was born in Zelzate. The town council of Zelzate honoured him on 18 November 2003 as honorary citizen, because of his contribution to local sport. In 2013, a street in the town was named after him.

National team

In 1964, he won the Cup with AA Gent. Thanks to this performance, he played in the Europe League (then called Europe Cup of Cup Winners). In May 1966, he finished his active playing career. Between 1951 and 1960, he was selected 20 times for the national team. In those 20 selections, he finally had 11 real performances as national keeper of the Rode Duivels. At the celebration of the centenary of AA Gent, he was elected "Buffalo of the century".

His selections:

Date	home team	result	away team	performance Seghers
17/06/1951	Portugal	1-1	Belgium	Substitute
14/10/1951	Belgium	1-8	Austria	Substitute
24/02/1952	Belgium	2 - 0	Italy	Substitute
23/03/1952	Austria	2 - 0	Belgium	Substitute
06/04/1952	Belgium	4 - 2	Netherlands	Substitute
22/05/1952	Belgium	1 - 2	France	Substitute
19/10/1952	Belgium	2 - 1	Netherlands	Substitute
26/11/1952	Engeland	5 - 0	Belgium	Substitute
25/12/1952	France	0 - 1	Belgium	Starting team – Goal
19/03/1953	Spain	3 - 1	Belgium	Starting team - Goal
19/04/1953	Netherlands	0 – 2	Belgium	Starting team – Goal
14/05/1953	Belgium	1 - 3	Yugoslavia	Starting team - Goal
25/05/1953	Finland	2 - 4	Belgium	Starting team - Goal
28/05/1953	Sweden	2 – 3	Belgium	Substitute
28/02/1960	Belgium	1 - 0	France	Starting team - Goal
27/03/1960	Belgium	3 - 1	Switzerland	Starting team – Goal
13/04/1960	Belgium	1 - 1	Chile	Starting team - Goal
24/04/1960	Belgium	2 - 1	Netherlands	Starting team – Goal
22/05/1960	Bulgaria	4 - 1	Belgium	Starting team - Goal
02/10/1960	Belgium	1 - 4	Netherlands	Starting team - Goal

The game on 25 December 1952 in Paris against France was his first cap. He made a good debut, as the Red Devils won 0-1, also thanks to his saves, one of which was a penalty. This gave him his nickname the hero of Colombes

Trademark

His trademark was his hat, which he always wore during every match. Every time he jumped, he lost his "klakke", as it is called in Dutch dialect, which provoked hilarity among the supporters. Nevertheless, he hardly ever missed a ball.

Golden Shoe

1959, he failed by one point to tie with Lucien Olieslaggers of Lierse to win the Golden Shoe, the prize for the best player in the league.

Death and legacy

On 15 March 2005, Seghers died at the age of 78 in his native town of Zelzate, after a lingering illness. His funeral service took place on 19 March 2005. One of his sons became a pharmacist and the other a neurologist-psychiatrist.

References

[2][3]

Belgiumsoccerhistory (Peter Mariën)
"KAA Gent". Kaagent.be. Retrieved 2015-09-20.
"Buffalozone". Buffalozone.be. Retrieved 2015-09-20.

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[1] Belgiumsoccerhistory (Peter Mariën)

[2] "KAA Gent". Kaagent.be. Retrieved 2015-09-20.

[3] "Buffalozone". Buffalozone.be. Retrieved 2015-09-20.