Pieter Collen

Pieter Collen (born 20 June 1980, in Ghent) is a Belgian former international footballer.

Biography

Club career

Collen started his professional career in his hometown with Gent. He defended the white and blue colours for 2 seasons before moving to the Netherlands. He ended up with Vitesse but never broke through and he left for rivals NEC the same year. In Nijmegen he forced himself into the starting eleven and made a huge impact in his second season with NEC. Feyenoord was interested in his abilities and signed for the club in Rotterdam.

Once he arrived in Rotterdam Collen started on the bench. Due to good play in training, he forced himself into the squad and played many good matches in the Dutch top flight as well as in the UEFA Champions League. However, a string of injuries and a long period of rehabilitation caused him to be sidelined until the end of the 2002 season. When he was declared suitable to play again he was loaned out to NAC Breda but suffered another a season-long injury and returned to Feyenoord.

Collen

Saint Collen was a 7th-century monk who gave his name to Llangollen (from the Welsh llan meaning "enclosure" and 'gollen' being a mutation of "Collen"). St Collen is said to have arrived in Llangollen by coracle and founded a church beside the river there. As there are no other churches in Wales dedicated to St Collen, it is possible that this St Collen may also have connections in both Colan, Cornwall, where Colan Church is dedicated to him, and Langolen, Brittany.

St Collen died on 21 May, probably sometime in the early 7th century. He was buried in his chapel. For centuries, it was known as the 'Old Church' and stood immediately to the west of the present medieval church of St Collen in Llangollen.

References

Collen (surname)

Collen is a surname, and may refer to: