Leo Canjels


Leonard "Leo" Canjels was a Dutch international footballer who played for NAC Breda.

Playing career

Club

Canjels started playing football at Breda side VV Baronie. He made his debut for NAC in the 1956/1957 season and played seven years for the club before retiring. As a NAC Breda player, Canjels twice won the Eredivisie top goalscorers award, in 1958 and 1959.
Canjels was nicknamed Het Kanon because of his powerful shooting.

International

Canjels made his debut for the Netherlands in a May 1959 friendly match against Turkey and earned a total of 3 caps, scoring 2 goals. He won his other caps in friendlies against Bulgaria and Scotland in the same year.

Managerial career

After retiring as a player, Canjels became a coach, first at amateur sides Dongen and Baronie and later managed NAC Breda, as well as Club Brugge and Cercle Brugge among others in Belgium. With Brugge he won the Belgian league title in 1973.
He retired from coaching in 1990.
He died on May 26, 2010 after a long illness.