Jan Vertonghen, Belgian footballer
Jan Bert Lieve Vertonghen (born 24 April 1987) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays for Primeira Liga club Benfica and the Belgium national team. Mainly a central defender, he can also play as a left-back.
Vertonghen began his senior career at Dutch club Ajax in 2006 and totalled 220 games and 28 goals for them across all competitions, serving as their captain from 2011 to 2012. He won two Eredivisie and two KNVB Cup titles during his time at the club, and in 2012 he was named Dutch Footballer of the Year. Vertonghen transferred to Tottenham Hotspur in July 2012, and made the PFA Team of the Year in his first Premier League season. He made 315 appearances for Spurs over eight years, and won their player of the year award in 2018.
Vertonghen made his international debut for Belgium in 2007 and his 136 caps (including three unofficial games, according to FIFA rules) are the most in the history of the national team. He was part of Belgian squads that came fourth at the 2008 Olympics, reached the quarter-finals of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, UEFA Euro 2016 and Euro 2020, and finished in third place at the 2018 World Cup.
1987Apr, 24
Jan Vertonghen
Choose Another Date
Events on 1987
- 27Apr
Kurt Waldheim
The U.S. Department of Justice bars Austrian President Kurt Waldheim (and his wife, Elisabeth, who had also been a Nazi) from entering the USA, charging that he had aided in the deportations and executions of thousands of Jews and others as a German Army officer during World War II. - 1May
Auschwitz concentration camp
Pope John Paul II beatifies Edith Stein, a Jewish-born Carmelite nun who was gassed in the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz. - 5Jul
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
Sri Lankan Civil War: The LTTE uses suicide attacks on the Sri Lankan Army for the first time. The Black Tigers are born and, in the following years, will continue to kill with the tactic. - 27Jul
RMS Titanic
RMS Titanic Inc. begins the first expedited salvage of wreckage of the RMS Titanic. - 7Nov
Habib Bourguiba
In Tunisia, president Habib Bourguiba is overthrown and replaced by Prime Minister Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.