Anthony Portier (ˈɑn.ˌtoː.ni ˈpɔr.tir) (born 1 June 1982 in Oostende) is a Belgian

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

 professional football

Football (soccer)

Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

 player. His best position is central in defence.

Portier started playing football at GS Middelkerke, where he was discovered by a neighbouring Belgian coast team, KV Oostende

K.V. Oostende

K.V. Oostende is a Belgian association football club, from the municipality of Ostend, West Flanders. It was created in 1904 as V.G. Oostende and it has the matricule n°31.- History :...

 where he eventually made it to the first team. Portier then moved on to Cercle Brugge. He was transferred to the Bruges

Bruges

Bruges is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located in the northwest of the country....

 side a half season after his previous team KV Oostende had relegated from the First division.

Trivia

• Anthony Portier has a Cercle Brugge fan club named after him, De Portiervrienden (English: The Friends of Portier). The fan club is located in Middelkerke
  Middelkerke
  Middelkerke is a municipality located in the Belgian province of West Flanders, on the North Sea, west of Ostend. The municipality comprises the towns of Leffinge, Lombardsijde, Mannekensvere, Middelkerke proper, Schore, Sint-Pieters-Kapelle, Slijpe, Westende and Wilskerke. On January 1, 2006...
  
  , where Portier grew up.