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Pieter Robert Rensenbrink (born July 3, 1947, in
Amsterdam) was a Netherlands|Dutch soccer|football
player.  This left-sided striker was instrumental
as Netherlands national football team|Holland
reached two World Cup finals in 1974 and 1978. 

Born in Amsterdam, Rensenbrink started his career
at DWS, before moving to Belgium first with Club
Brugge, later with R.S.C. Anderlecht. Here he
enjoyed his greatest club successes, winning the
Cup Winners' Cup in 1976 and 1978 (and runners-up
in 1977), alongside fellow Total Footballer Arie
Haan.  He made his international debut for Holland
against Scotland in 1968, but picked up relatively
few caps - playing in Belgium limited his
international chances, as did competing with Johan
Cruyff and Piet Keizer for the left-hand side
forward positions. However, the appointment of
Rinus Michels for the 1974 World Cup Finals
campaign by the KNVB helped Rensenbrink establish
himself and he was included in the squad that
travelled to West Germany. 

The Holland side that took part in the Wc|1974
were the pinnacle of Total Football. Developed at
Ajax Amsterdam by Rinus Michels and further
refined by Stefan Kovacs (when Michels left for FC
Barcelona), it consisted of footballers being
extremely tactically aware, allowing them to
change positions at high tempo - in its simplest
terms, every player was comfortable in any other
position. It also put high technical and physical
demands on the players. Most of the 1974 team were
made up of players from Ajax and Feyenoord, so
Rensenbrink was an outsider and was unfamiliar
with playing the system. His preferred position
was up front on the left, but that was already
Johan Cruijff|Johan Cruyff's domain, he had to
settle for the left-wing position in midfield,
taking over from Ajax great Piet Keizer. He
adapted well to the system, and missed only one
game in the tournament (when Keizer played
instead) and was only half-fit for the final after
picking up an injury in what was effectively the
semi-final against Brazil. Rinus Michels gambled
on Rensenbrink's fitness and played him from start
- however he only lasted until half-time and was
replaced by René van de Kerkhof. Holland took an
early lead through a Johan Neeskens penalty, but
goals from Paul Breitner and Gerd Müller gave
West Germany a famous 2-1 victory.

Rensenbrink stayed in the Holland side during the
qualifiers and finals of the 1976 European
Football Championship. However, Holland fell at
the semi-final stage to Czechoslovakia national
football team|Czechoslovakia, as much victims of
infighting within the squad and with the coach
George Kessler as the skill of the eventual
winners.

In the Wc|1978 tournament in Argentina, Holland
again reached the final, but this time without
Cruyff (who decided to retire from international
football) and under the guidance of Ernst Happel
rather than Michels. Out of the shadow of Cruyff,
Rensenbrink found more room to showcase his own
considerable talent, playing on the left-hand side
of a front three alongside Johnny Rep and René
van de Kerkhof. He scored a hat-trick in the
opening game against Iran national football
team|Iran, another against Scotland national
football team|Scotland which was goal number 1000
in Football World Cup|World Cup history and a
penalty in the 5-1 hammering of Austria national
football team|Austria. In the final itself,
Holland yet again met the hosts. In a tumultuous
match, Holland fell behind to a first-half Mario
Kempes strike. After Dirk Nanninga's equalizer 9
minutes from time, a long pass from Holland's
captain Ruud Krol in the last 30 seconds of normal
time put Rensenbrink in the clear with only Ubaldo
Fillol, the Argentinian keeper, to beat but with
Rensenbrink at a poor shooting angle.
Nevertheless, he managed to put the shot in -
however the shot was deflected onto the post and
bounced clear. Argentina national football
team|Argentina profited from the let-off and
scored twice in extra-time for a 3-1 victory and
Holland again had to settle for the runners-up
spot. Rensenbrink played some of the qualifiers
for the 1980 European Football Championship, but
after earning his 46th cap in 1979 (against
Argentina in the FIFA anniversary match - which
Holland lost in a penalty shootout), he retired
from international football at the age of 32. In
1980, he left Anderlecht and wound down his career
with a lucrative spell at Portland Timbers in the
North American Soccer League|NASL, followed by a
brief stay with Toulouse FC|Toulouse in France in
1981. 

He was named by Pelé as one of the FIFA 100|top
125 greatest living footballers in March 2004.

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succession box|title=Belgian Golden
Shoe|before=Johan Boskamp |after=Julien
Cools|years=1976
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