Vanheusden, ex-Belgium, retires from football at 26: ACL dictated premature farewell

Zinho Vanheusden Retires from Football at 26 Years Old Due to Injuries

Belgian footballer Zinho Vanheusden has announced his retirement from professional football at the young age of 26. The decision comes after suffering recurrent anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries, which have marked his career. Vanheusden, who began his career at Inter Milan, did not debut with the Italian club’s first team. Instead, he accumulated loan spells at teams such as Standard Liege, Genoa, AZ Alkmaar and K.V. Mechelen, before ending his career at Marbella FC in Spain. Trained in the Standard Liège youth academy, Vanheusden joined Inter in 2015 as a promising youth player. However, injuries, including a third ACL injury, forced him to end his career. The defender played a match with the Belgian national team, in a friendly against Ivory Coast in 2020.

Vanheusden was only able to play seven matches with Marbella before making the decision to retire.

Statements by Zinho Vanheusden

In his statement, Vanheusden expressed: “Today I am making a decision that I never thought I would have to make at this age. After 22 years in football, from the age of four until now, my life as a professional footballer comes to an end.”

Football made me who I am today. It gave me a life I never dared to dream of as a child… The last few years were tough. Much heavier than it seemed. Injuries, surgeries, injections, medication… I gave everything to come back, but it was increasingly difficult.

Zinho Vanheusden

He continued saying: “I was constantly looking for my level, I played too much despite the pain and I lived after each training session or match with the uncertainty of how my body would react the next day. I kept fighting to be the player I wanted to be, but every time a new battle arrived.” “In my heart I will always want to be a footballer, but my body has been saying enough for a while. And for that reason, out of respect for myself, my health, and my responsibility as a father, I am making this decision. Football stops for me as a player, but it will always live in my heart. It will always be part of what I am and will be. Thank you for these 22 years. With sadness, but above all with great pride, I look back at what I was able to experience.”