Faas Wilkes
Faas Wilkes ( born October 13, 1923 in Rotterdam as Servaas Wilkes; † August 15, 2006 ) was a Dutch football player.
Wilkes played 38 times as a striker for the Oranje, scoring 35 goals. Together with Abe Lenstra and Kees Rijvers he made it the "golden interior storm" of the 1950s. His first game as a national player, he played on March 10, 1946 against Luxembourg. The Netherlands won the game 6-2.
Wilkes played with Xerxes in Rotterdam, before he moved to Inter Milan in 1949. For Inter, he played 95 games and scored 47 goals. He became one of the most respected Dutch football player. In 1952 he left Inter Milan and then played in Torino and in Valencia, Venlo, Levante and Sittard, before he finished his playing career with his hometown club Xerxes.
Faas Wilkes was by Bep Bakhuys the second Dutchman, who played abroad. From 1959 until 1998, when he was replaced by Dennis Bergkamp, Wilkes was a record scorer of the national team of his country; and that, although he graduated from 1949 to 1955 no international matches because there was not yet permitted in the Netherlands at that time professional football and professional players were not called to the national team.
Faas Wilkes died on 15 August 2006 at the age of 82 years to a cardiac arrest.