Rob de Wit
Encyclopedia
Rob de Wit is a former Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 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.

Career

De Wit made his debut for FC Utrecht in the 1982-83 season. He was transferred to Ajax Amsterdam two seasons later, July 1984, as successor of left wing attacker Jesper Olsen, who left to Manchester United. At Ajax, he quickly became a crowd favourite, and played nearly all of the matches, the 1984-1985 and 1985-1986 seasons. On 1985-05-01, still in his first season at Ajax, De Wit made his debut for the Dutch national team
Netherlands national football team
The Netherlands National Football Team represents the Netherlands in association football and is controlled by the Royal Dutch Football Association , the governing body for football in the Netherlands...

 in a World Cup qualifier
1986 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA)
Listed below are the dates and results for the 1986 FIFA World Cup qualification rounds for the European zone . For an overview of the qualification rounds, see the article 1986 FIFA World Cup qualification....

 against Austria
Austria national football team
The Austria national football team is the association football team that represents the country of Austria in international competition and is controlled by the Austrian Football Association ....

. Nearly two weeks later, De Wit scored the winning goal against Hungary
Hungary national football team
The Hungary national football team represents Hungary in international football and is controlled by the Hungarian Football Federation....

 (0-1 away win), which won the Netherlands a play-off match against Belgium for the 1986 FIFA World Cup
1986 FIFA World Cup
The 1986 FIFA World Cup, the 13th FIFA World Cup, was held in Mexico from 31 May to 29 June. The tournament was the second to feature a 24-team format. Colombia had been originally chosen to host the competition by FIFA but, largely due to economic reasons, was not able to do so and officially...

.

De Wit's career came to an abrupt end in 1986, due to a cerebral hemorrhage while on holiday in Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

. At first, the consequences didn't seem to be all that bad. De Wit's team mates at Ajax sent him a 'get well soon'-card with the words: "We didn't even know you had brains." After an unsuccessful treatment in Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

, it became clear that Rob de Wit would never play professional football again. He sustained two more cerebral hemorrhages later in life: one in 1993 and one in January 2005.

De Wit played 103 matches in four seasons, scoring 23 goals.

External links

  • Statistics of Rob de Wit for the Netherlands national football team
    Netherlands national football team
    The Netherlands National Football Team represents the Netherlands in association football and is controlled by the Royal Dutch Football Association , the governing body for football in the Netherlands...

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