Former Dutch striker Ruud Geels passed away over the weekend aged 75. Geels was born in Haarlem in 1948 and began his football career at Telstar before moving to Rotterdam based club Feyenoord in 1966 where he spent four years, scoring 52 goals in 94 games for Feyenoord. Following his spell at Feyenoord he moved to Go Ahead Eagles and Club Brugge, both for two years respectively, scoring 63 times in the four year spell.
However it was his time in Amsterdam for AFC Ajax that Geels is most remembered for, the strikers record at the club was quite phenomenal, the striker scored 123 goals in 131 Eredivisie games. In all competitions Geels scored more than 30 goals a season during his four year spell in Amsterdam, he finished his time in the capital with 153 goals in 166 appearances for Ajax.
Geels won the Eredivisie twice, once with Feyenoord in the 1968-1969 season and once with Ajax during the 1976-1977 season. Geels also won the European Cup with Feyenoord in 1969-70. All of the Netherlands is saddened to hear of the death of Geels, he was well renowned for his goal-scoring ability, especially his ability in the air. It is likely that his death will be commemorated during the return of the Eredivisie over the coming weekend.
