Paul Van Himst was born on 2 October 1943 in Leeuw-Saint Pierre, Belgium. He is a high scoring centre-forward football player who later switched to inside-forward with a midfield role. Signing for Anderlecht when only 9 years old, he progressed through their junior teams to make his League debut at the age of 16 and to win his first international cap in 1960.
At the age of 17 he was voted Belgium's Footballer of the Year. He again won the award in 1962 and 1965. He topped the Belgian League scorers in 1964, 1966 and 1968, and while he was with Anderlecht they won the Belgian League 8 times, with the League and Club double in 1972. Together with his Anderlecht colleagues, he declined to play for Belgium in 1967-1968 and after being blamed in many quarters for Belgium's poor showing in the 1970 World Cup he announced that he would never play for his country again. A change of heart brought him back into the national team for the 1972 European Championships where he won his 69th cap to beat the long-standing record of Vic Mees. Had he not declared himself unavailable for a number of matches he would, undoubtedly, have won many more than the 82 caps he recorded, scoring 30 goals.