Former professional Jan Renders has passed away: won the first national title with PSV in 1963

Renders was a professional when Johan Cruijff played in Ajax’s first team. In 1964 he was even the direct opponent in the first match of the legendary number 14. Renders was a defender at GVAV, the current FC Groningen. Between 1964 and 1968 he played 122 games for the Groningen team.

He was also a fixture closer to home, at PSV, for many years. He played a total of 140 times for the Eindhoven team, with the first national championship of 1962/1963 as the absolute highlight of his career.

In 2015, the footballer looked back on that first championship with Omroep Brabant. “This is beautiful,” he said as he looked at the images. “It feels like I’m back on the field.”

PSV’s championship in 1963 was surprising. Ajax and Feyenoord were the top clubs at the time. PSV was not taken into account in advance. But still, thanks to a 5-2 win over Ajax, PSV took the title.

“We didn’t hate Ajax, but still: it was extra nice to win the title against those Amsterdammers,” Renders recalled in 2015. “We wanted them goddammit to take. We wanted to grab them and goddammit chasing the hell out of here. And so that worked.”

In this video from 2015, Jan Renders looks back on PSV’s first championship:

Renders predicted a ‘big’ championship for the 2015 PSV. And he was right. “They have a good team. Better than our team,” he said at the time. “They also earn a little more than us. But other than that, not much has changed. Because you will remain a champion for the rest of your life. Always.”

Renders ended his professional football career in 1971 at Helmond Sport. He then trained numerous amateur clubs, including vv Gemert for four years. Between 1976 and 1980 he was responsible for an ‘unprecedented rise’ of the first team, the club said in the obituary.

Gemert became champion three times in a row and thus jumped from the fourth to the first class. ‘These were heyday for the black and white selection corps’, writes the club on its website. ‘The bond with Gemert has always remained strong. Jan and his wife Mia still regularly came to the village and the club and still maintained close ties with many club people from back then.’