About Ludo Coeck
Ludo Coeck (25 September 1955 – 9 October 1985) was a Belgian footballer who played as left winger or central midfielder. His clubs included Berchem Sport, Anderlecht, Inter Milan and Ascoli Calcio. First capped for the Belgium national team at the age of 19, he went on to play for his country 46 times, scoring four goals, over an international career which lasted a decade. Coeck was a member of the Belgium World Cup squad at España 82, where he played in all five of his country's games and scored with a long-range shot against El Salvador, and at Euro 84, where he appeared as a substitute in the defeats by France and Denmark. On 7 October 1985, while he was on his way back to Antwerp and taking part in a TV sports programme in Brussels, Coeck was badly injured when his BMW ploughed into crash barriers on a motorway near the town of Rumst. He died two days later, at the University of Antwerp Clinic in Edegem. He was 30 years old. Under the leadership of Urbain Braems, Coeck would prove crucial in winning the 1973–74 Belgian First Division title. Raymond Goethals, who discovered Coeck at 15, described him as a perfect player who proved his worth at a young age in a top class Anderlecht team. An injury in the 1976 final against West Ham after a tackle by Trevor Brooking would be the first of many for Coeck, with the player regularly missing matches.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.