Félix Balyu

Félix Balyu

Personal information
Date of birth	(1891-08-05)5 August 1891
Place of birth	Liège, Belgium
Date of death	15 January 1971(1971-01-15) (aged 79)
Place of death	Liège, Belgium
Position(s)	Goalkeeper
Youth career
1908–1910	Club Brugge
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1911–1923	Club Brugge
1923–1925	FC Rouen
1925–1930	US Tourquennoise
International career
1916	Belgium (unofficial)	4	(+8)
1917	Belgian Front Wanderers	+2	(0)
1920	Belgium	1	(0)
Medal record Men's football Representing Belgium Olympic Games 1920 Antwerp Team
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Félix Balyu (5 August 1891 – 15 January 1971) was a Belgian footballer who played for Club Brugge, US Tourquennoise, and he represented the Belgian national team at the 1920 Olympic Games in Antwerp, winning a gold medal.

Club career

Balyu began his football career in the youth ranks of Club Brugge in 1908, aged 17, making his senior debut in 1911. He helped the club reach the 1914 Belgian Cup final at Stade du Vivier d'Oie, which ended in a 2–1 loss to Royale Union Saint-Gilloise. Balyu played a crucial role in helping Brugge win its first-ever Belgian Championship in 1919–20, scoring 23 goals. He stayed loyal to the club for over a decade until 1923, when he left for FC Rouen. In 1925, he moved to US Tourquennoise, where he was also in charge of training young people. In 1928, the French newspaper L'Auto described the 37-year-old Balyu as "the oldest player in France".

International career

In early 1915, Balyu, together with a small group of Belgian players who had retreated to France because of WWI, formed a committee of the Belgian FA in Paris, which organized one match against France every year. Even though this Belgian team had some former internationals, such as Balyu, Emile Hanse, Jan Van Cant, or Maurice Vandendriessche, its games and its results are recognized as official only by the CFI, but not by FIFA, who categorized them as "War-time Internationals". In total, Balyu played at least three games for Belgium, all of which during their triumphant campaign at the Journées du Poilu Sportif in 1916, scoring at least eight goals against three different French teams, four in a 17–0 win over FGSPF in the quarter-finals, a brace in a 4–0 win over the LFA in the semifinals, and another brace in a 3–1 win over the USFSA in the final. He was also a member of the Belgian Front Wanderers, the team that toured England in 1917, where they played against the British and Canadian army on 25 and 28 November.

Balyu only earned his first (and last) international cap for the official Belgium national team on 29 August 1920, in the first round of the football tournament of the 1920 Olympic Games in Antwerp, which ended in a 3–1. Balyu was never selected again as Belgium won the gold medal after beating Czechoslovakia 2–0 in the final.

International goals

Belgium score listed first, score column indicates score after each Balyu goal.

List of international goals scored by Félix Balyu

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	22 April 1916	Stade Chevaleret, Paris, France	FGSPF	1–0	17–0	Journées du Poilu Sportif quarter-finals
2				2–0
3				3–0
4				4–0
5	23 April 1916	Pavillon des Princes, Boulogne, France	LFA	3–0	4–0	Journées du Poilu Sportif semifinals
6				4–0
7	24 April 1916	Stade de Paris, Saint-Ouen, France	USFSA	1–1	3–1	Journées du Poilu Sportif final
8				3–1

Honours

Club

Club Brugge

• Belgian Pro League:
  • Champions (1): 1919–20
• Belgian Cup:
  • Runner-up (1): 1914

International

Belgium

• Journées du Poilu Sportif
  • Champions (1): 1916

• Summer Olympics:
  • Gold medal (1): 1920

Individual

Belgium

• Top goalscorer of the 1916 Journées du Poilu Sportif with at least 8 goals

External links

• Félix Balyu at the Royal Belgian Football Association