Wim Jansen, the midfielder who lost the 1974 and 1978 finals with the famous Dutch ‘Clockwork Orange’, died on Tuesday. He was 75 years old.
The Dutch club Feyenoord announced the death and highlighted the figure of Jansen, who suffered from dementia, as “one of the great players in the history of the club”.
Jansen was a key player as Feyenoord became the first Dutch team to win the European Cup after beating Celtic 2-1 in the 1970 final. Four years later, he captained the club to UEFA Cup glory, winning 4 -2 to Tottenham in a round-trip final.
“Feyenoord is my life,” Jansen once said.
Jansen also had a brief stint with the Washington Diplomats in the United States and completed his career with Ajax, Feyenoord’s classic rival. He made his debut for Ajax in a match against Feyenoord and was hit in the eye by a snowball thrown by a fan.
After retiring as a player, Jansen was manager of clubs such as Feyenoord and Celtic.
As a midfielder, Jansen made 476 appearances for Feyenoord and scored 39 goals.
After his international debut at the age of 20, he played 65 games for the national team. He participated in the 2-1 defeat to West Germany in the 1974 World Cup final, played in Munich. Four years later, he fell 3-1 against Argentina in Buenos Aires.
A Jansen foul on Bernd Hoelzenbein allowed Germany to equalize through a Paul Breitner penalty after Johan Neeskens had put the Netherlands ahead early. Gerd Mueller scored the winning goal for the hosts shortly before the break.
The late Dutch legend Johan Cruyff went so far as to say that Jansen was “one of only four men in the world worth listening to about football,” according to a story on the NOS television network.
Jansen’s funeral will be on Saturday.
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