Vincent Vanasch

Vanasch has been involved in hockey from an early age; his father "Jean" created the youth school of the "Royal Evere White Star Hockey Club". He did all his classes until the first team with which he won several titles (grass and indoor). When the club got relegated to Division 1, at the end of the 2006–2007 season, he went to play at the "Royal Penguin Hockey Club Nivellois". He played for two seasons before getting a transfer to KHC Leuven. From the 2010–2011 season onwards, he started playing for the Waterloo Ducks. In 2014, he made a transfer to the Netherlands to Oranje Zwart.^[1] He played there until 2016, when he returned to the Waterloo Ducks.^[2]

In the 2018–19 Euro Hockey League, Vanasch's Waterloo Ducks became the first Belgian club to win the Euro Hockey League.^[3][4] In January 2020, it was announced he would play for Rot-Weiss Köln in Germany from the 2020–21 season onwards.^[5] After three Bundesliga titles in three years he returned to Belgium and signed a three-year contract at Orée.^[6]

At the 2012 Summer Olympics, Vanasch competed for the national team in the men's tournament.^[7] Vanasch won the silver medal with Belgium at the 2013 European Championship on home ground in Boom. At the 2016 Summer Olympics, he was part of the Belgian team who won the silver medal.^{[citation needed]}

In 2017, Vanasch was named the FIH Goalkeeper of the Year.^[8] At the 2018 Hockey Stars Awards he was named the FIH Goalkeeper of the Year for the second time in a row.^[9] At the 2019 EuroHockey Championship, where Belgium won its first European title,^[10] he was named the goalkeeper of the tournament.^[11] In December 2019, he again was nominated for the FIH Goalkeeper of the Year Award.^[12] On 11 February 2020, he was awarded his third FIH Goalkeeper of the Year Award.^[13] On 25 May 2021, he was selected in the squad for the 2021 EuroHockey Championship.^[14]