This month of December, KV Mechelen celebrate their 120th anniversary. In addition to an overview of the clubs fascinating storywe profile some of the legends from the club’s history. One of them is the famous Belgian goalkeeper Michel Preud’homme.
Preud’homme was born in 1959 in Ougrée, near Liège, in Seraing. It was without pretension that the goalkeeper began his career with the city’s biggest club, Standard de Liège. After spending his time with Standard’s youth team and making his debut in 1977, Preud’homme helped Standard win the cup in 1980/81 and the championship in 1981/82. After winning the cup, Standard qualified for the Cup Winners’ Cup the following season. Although they won the Belgian title, they narrowly missed out on the European trophy, losing in the final to Barcelona. Preud’homme will have to wait a few more years to get his hands on the trophy.
After a few successful years at Standard, Preud’homme joined Mechelen in 1986. Almost immediately, the team experienced the golden period of its history. With Preud’homme in goal, the team won their first Belgian Cup in 1986/87 before qualifying for the final of the 1987/88 Cup Winners’ Cup. Preud’homme kept a clean sheet as Mechelen beat Ajax 1-0 in Strasbourg. He was then able to win the league title again as Mechelen won their first title since the late 1940s at the end of the 1988/89 season.
At the end of his last season in Mechelen, Preud’homme participated in the 1994 World Cup with Belgium. Although they didn’t advance past the round of 16 after losing to Germany, Preud’homme impressed enough to win the Yashin Award for Goalkeeper of the Tournament. He returned from the tournament in the United States to join his new and final club, Benfica. He left Mechelen after 263 appearances. Preud’homme won the Portuguese Cup with Benfica before retiring at the age of 40 in 1999.
During his career, he twice received the Golden Boot for the best Belgian player (1987 and 1989), which is no small feat for a goalkeeper. He was also Belgian Goalkeeper of the Year four years in a row between 1988 and 1991. Recently, Preud’homme was inducted into the new Belgian Pro League Hall of Fame.
After his retirement, the goalkeeper moved into management quite quickly. After a brief stint as head coach of Standard de Liège in the early 2000s, he moved into a technical role before returning to the bench in 2006. He then led Standard to the title during the 2007/2008 season. He played for Ghent, Twente, Al-Shabab and Club Brugge. At the Club and at Ghent, he won the Belgian Cup and also won another league title as head coach of the Club.
One position that Preud’homme has been constantly associated with is that of head coach of the Belgian national team. In 2016, he rejected the idea of taking over. Since leaving Standard in 2020, he has not held another coaching position.
