Full name Albert Van Coile Name Albert Coile Role Footballer | Playing position | |
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Date of birth (1900-03-27)27 March 1900 Date of death 4 April 1927(1927-04-04) (aged 27) Died April 4, 1927, Bruges, Belgium | ||
Albert Van Coile (27 March 1900 – 4 April 1927) was a Belgian footballer. He never played for any other team than Cercle Brugge. He also appeared once in the Belgian shirt.
Van Coile is especially remembered by the Cercle Brugge fans because he is the only player who died because of injuries sustained in a Cercle Brugge match. During a tournament in Tourcoing, Van Coile was playing as centre forward by occasion. In the match against US Tourcoing, he collided with the local goalkeeper. Van Coile suffered no visible injuries, but when his situation deteriorated the day after the match, doctors discovered a tear in his bowels. A speedy operation had no result. Van Coile died 4 April.
His funeral received great attention in the media as well as in Bruges itself, with all the flags half-staff. Van Coile's team, Cercle Brugge, were namely on the verge of becoming national champions in 1927. Ironically, during the funeral, Cercle's chairman René de Peellaert caught pneumonia, of which he died 14 days later.