12 Golden Shoes and more than 3,000 matches in Belgium: this is the Pro League Hall of Fame

10 Football legends from the Belgian fields were officially inducted into the Pro League Hall of Fame tonight. They were elected from a list of 57 nominees and officially presented in the BOZAR. Discover the first 10 members of the Hall of Fame, which will see 2 additional players added each year, below.

The Belgian football league now has a Hall of Fame.

After a long search, 57 nominees were selected and then the fans could decide. Out of almost 40,000 votes, these 10 players (in alphabetical order with a link to their YouTube video) received the largest number:

Aline Zeler is the 11th name to receive a tribute on stage, but she had already been inaugurated before. How many votes each person received remained a secret. Ceulemans, Preud’homme and Kompany made up the top 3. Robbie Rensenbrink, Enzo Scifo, Branko Strupar and Gert Verheyen fell just outside the top 10.

All Hall of Famers received their official gold suit vests tonight. Only Vincent Kompany was not present because he had Champions League obligations, but the Bayern coach received his blazer in Munich.

“During the Hall of Fame campaign, the Pro League worked closely with its clubs to teach younger fans a part of our football history and place its legends on a pedestal. This has been achieved with Belgian fans who have watched the heroes of their club and our league voted.”

“They were the Kevin De Bruyne or Thibaut Courtois of the past 50 years and are our ambassadors par excellence. We must embrace them and give them the respect they deserve,” said Lorin Parys, CEO of the Pro League.

The Hall of Fame is a nice mix of generations, field positions and backgrounds.

Lorin Parys

“Fan voting is always exciting, but the 10 names are each without a doubt
their deserved place in the Hall of Fame. It’s a nice mix of generations,
field positions and backgrounds.”

“These 10 legends are loved by a wide audience and transcend club colours. From now on, we will include two legends in the list every year during our Pro League Awards. One will be chosen by the fans, and one by the professional jury.”

This project also included an important social component with the Alzheimer League. During the campaign, the Pro League called on all voters to make donations to its social partner in order to support the Football Memories project.
to support. That raised a nice amount.

“With the help of this support, the Alzheimer League can set up even more football discussion groups. By the end of 2024, 4 will have been installed, at STVV, KRC Genk, KVC Westerlo and Club Brugge. In these Football Memories sessions, people with dementia bring back football memories. In this way we slow down the disease and remove this vulnerable group from isolation. All content we collect for the Hall of Fame is gratefully used for this purpose,” says Lorin Parys.

Following the inauguration of the Hall of Fame, the Pro League is working on even more activities to celebrate its 50th anniversary. “We will of course continue to tell great stories of our history on our digital channels. But we will soon also be launching the first Pro League clothing line on the market: nice t-shirts that pay tribute to our Hall of Famers.”

“At the end of the season we organize the biggest football quiz in Europe, maybe even the world, in which all fans can participate. And we also have a unique surprise for this season’s new national champion. The Pro League is 50 but still very young,” Parys already gave a glimpse of the veil.

The selection procedure was as follows:

• Each club sent at least one candidate. Clubs with one or more national titles
  since 1974 received additional nominees. For example, Club Brugge and RSC Anderlecht (6 each) were main suppliers in the list of 57 candidates.
• A panel consisting of Evert Winkelmans, Frank Raes, Mbo Mpenza and Christine Schréder added 8 more wildcards to the list of 49.
• The fans chose the final 10 names on the Pro League site. A total of 39,030 votes were collected.
• All Hall of Famers are highlighted on www.proleaguehof.be with portrait, photo,
  video and statistics.

These were the conditions:

• At least 75 matches in the first national since 1974 (Belgian Cup does not count). Paul Van Himst and Odilon Polleunis played more matches, but mainly before 1974 and were therefore eliminated. Fellaini and Conceiçao did not collect enough matches and were therefore ineligible.

• Candidates must be retired from football (or playing recreational football at a non-significant level). Think of Kevin De Bruyne, Romelu Lukaku, … but also Sammy Bossut or Teddy Chevalier (still active at national level).
• Candidates must be an example to the youth.