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Tonny van Leeuwen
	Van Leeuwen in 1962
Personal information
Full name	Teunis Pieter van Leeuwen
Date of birth	21 March 1943
Place of birth	Gouda, Netherlands
Date of death	15 June 1971 (aged 28)
Position(s)	Goalkeeper
Youth career
	Jodan Boys
	Vv ONA [nl]
Senior career*
Years	Team
1959–1963	Sparta Rotterdam
1963–1971	GVAV Groningen
International career
1961	Netherlands U19
1967	Netherlands
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Teunis Pieter van Leeuwen (21 March 1943 – 15 June 1971) was a Dutch footballer who played as a goalkeeper for GVAV Groningen and Sparta Rotterdam.^[1] He made two appearances for the Netherlands national team in 1967.^[2]

Club career

Early life and Sparta Rotterdam

Van Leeuwen was born in Gouda, South Holland, the son of a furniture maker, and grew up in the working-class neighbourhood of Korte Akkeren [nl].^[3] He played for local clubs Jodan Boys and Vv ONA [nl] before signing for Sparta Rotterdam.^[3]

At Sparta Rotterdam, van Leeuwen was brought in as an understudy to Andries van Dijk [nl].^[3] Due to van Dijk's injuries he got more playing time than planned and made his senior debut on 1 May 1960 against DWS at the age of 17, keeping a clean sheet in a 0–0 draw.^[3] Following an injury, van Leeuwen lost his place as number 1 goalkeeper to Pim Doesburg and wanted to leave the club.^[3]

GVAV Groningen

In 1963 van Leeuwen joined GVAV Groningen as a replacement for Otto Roffel [nl].^[3] Groningen paid a transfer fee of 87,500 guilders to Sparta Rotterdam.^[3] In the 1969–70 season, he suffered relegation from the Eredivisie with Groningen.^[3] Despite offers from other clubs such as Belgian side Anderlecht, he remained at Groningen.^[3] In the 1970–71 season he conceded just seven goals – record low number of goals conceded in a season of any major European division –,^[4] keeping 23 clean sheets^[3] while Groningen achieved promotion back to the Eredivisie.^[4] His performances earned him the 1971 Goalkeeper of the Year award.^[3]

International career

Van Leeuwen was first called up to the Netherlands national team in 1964.^[4] A long suspension he received for striking an opponent delayed his debut.^[4] He made his debut on 5 April 1967, in a match against East Germany.^[3] The Netherlands lost 4–3 after leading 2–0 with van Leeuwen being criticised for not dealing well with high balls played into the penalty area.^[3]^[4] He made his second appearance against Hungary, asking to be substituted at halftime with The Netherlands losing 2–0.^[3] Van Leeuwen claimed he had sustained an injury to his shoulder but it later transpired that he was nervous.^[3]^[4]

Style of play

Van Leeuwen was known for his exceptional reflexes, his control of the penalty area and his charisma.^[3]

Legacy

Van Leeuwen is considered a cultural icon of Groningen.^[3] A grandstand, a train and a street were named after him and a statue of him stands in front of FC Groningen's Euroborg stadium.^[3]

Personal life and death

Van Leeuwen had two children, Harold and Irma, with his wife Gerie.^[3] In the 1990s it was revealed that he had had a third child, Richard Vennema, with another woman called Karla Vennema.^[5] Richard also played football as a goalkeeper.^[5] A semi-professional footballer, van Leeuwen worked as a representative at sporting goods manufacturer Quick.^[3]

He died at the age of 28 after crashing his car head-on into a truck loaded with concrete pipes on the wrong side of the road in the early morning of 15 June 1971.^[3] He was on his way home from the ceremony where he received the 1971 Goalkeeper of the Year award.^[3] His wife survived the crash.^[3]

Career statistics

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition^[6]^[7]
Club	Season	League
Club	Season	Division	Apps	Goals
Sparta Rotterdam	1959–60	Eredivisie	2	0
	1960–61	Eredivisie	3	0
	1961–62	Eredivisie	16	0
	1962–63	Eredivisie	4	0
	Total		25	0
GVAV Groningen	1963–64	Eredivisie	25	0
	1964–65	Eredivisie	21	0
	1965–66	Eredivisie	30	0
	1966–67	Eredivisie	34	1
	1967–68	Eredivisie	34	0
	1968–69	Eredivisie	24	0
	1969–70	Eredivisie	34	1
	1970–71	Eerste Divisie	30	0
	Total		232	2
Career total			257	2

References

^ "Tonny van Leeuwen". National Football Teams. Retrieved 22 May 2021.
^ "Tonny van Leeuwen". EU Football. Retrieved 22 May 2021.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s ^t ^u ^v ^w Darwinkel, Geert Jan (4 June 2022). "Tonny van Leeuwen, de beste clubkeeper ter wereld" [Tonny van Leeuwen, the best club goalkeeper in the world]. Reporters Online (in Dutch). Retrieved 10 July 2023.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f "Tonny van Leeuwen – The Violent Death Of A Groningen Hero". Beyond The Last Man. 17 February 2015. Retrieved 10 July 2023.
^ ^a ^b Darwinkel, Geert Jan. "Richard Vennema, zoon van de Leeuw van Groningen" [Richard Vennema, son of the Lion of Groningen]. darch media (in Dutch). Retrieved 10 July 2023.
^ "Tonny van Leeuwen". GVAV Stats (in Dutch). Retrieved 9 August 2023.
^ "Tonny van Leeuwen » Club matches". worldfootball.net. Retrieved 10 July 2023.