SINEMA: Jean-Claude Camille François Van Varenberg,

Early life

Van Damme was born Jean-Claude Camille François Van Varenberg, on 18 October 1960, in Berchem-Sainte-Agathe, Brussels, Belgium, the son of Eliana and Eugène Van Varenberg, who was an accountant.^[6]^[7]^[8]
At the age of 16, he took up ballet, which he studied for five years. According to Van Damme, ballet "is an art, but it's also one of the most difficult sports. If you can survive a ballet workout, you can survive a workout in any other sport."^[9] He began martial arts at the age of ten, enrolled by his father in a Shotokan karate school.^[10] His styles consist of Shotokan Karate and Kickboxing.^[11] He eventually earned his black belt in karate.^[12] He started lifting weights to improve his physique, which eventually led to a Mr. Belgium bodybuilding title.^[5]

Martial arts career

Semi-contact karate career

At the age of 11,^[13] Van Damme joined the Centre National De Karaté (National Center of Karate) under the guidance of Claude Goetz in Belgium. Van Damme trained for four years and he earned a spot on the Belgian Karate Team; later training in full-contact karate and kickboxing by Dominique Valera.^[14]
In 1976, Jean-Claude is reported to have started his competitive career in Ingelmunster, Belgium, in a semi-contact match which was sanctioned by the European Karate Union. He defeated fellow Belgian Roland Vedani. The following year, Van Damme remained undefeated with victories over Maurice Devos, Andre LeMaire and fellow team-mate Patrick Teugels in non-tournament matches sanctioned by the World All-Styles Karate Organization. In his first tournament competition, Van Damme placed second at the Challenge Coupe des Espoirs Karate Tournament (1st Trials). Jean-Claude defeated 25 opponents in the three day tournament before losing in the finals to fellow team-mate Angelo Spataro.^[14]
Jean-Claude was a member of the Belgium Team that won the European Championship on 26 December 1979 at La Coupe Francois Persoons Karate Tournament in Brussels, Belgium.^[14]^[15]

1980 Forest National match

On 8 March 1980, in Brussels, Belgium, Van Damme competed against his one-time stablemate Patrick Teugels at the Forest National arena on the amateur undercard of the Dan Macaruso-Dominique Valera PKA Light-Heavyweight World Championship bout.^[14] Prior to this match, Teugels had defeated Van Damme at least twice by decision, including a match for the Belgium Lightweight Championship. Van Damme had a 1977 win over Teugels. Teugels was coming off this latter impressive showing at the WAKO World Championships four months earlier, and was favored by some to win this match. According to reports, and Patrick Teugels' own interview (with photos), Teugels lost by TKO in the 1st round. Teugels was kicked in the nose and was unable to continue because of that injury.^[14]

Kickboxing and full-contact karate career

Van Damme's martial arts record consists mostly of light and semi-contact matches. However, from 1976 to 1982, Van Damme fought in 19 full-contact matches, and compiled a record of 18 wins, 18 knockouts and 1 defeat.^[16]
Van Damme had his first full-contact match against Toon Van Oostrum in Brussels, Belgium in 1976. The 16 year old Van Damme knocked out Oostrum in 46 seconds of the first round.
Jean-Claude's biggest victories were over the United Kingdom's Michael J. Heming-British and European Middleweight Karate Champion, the United States of America's Sherman Bergman, Turkey's Ajom Mahmud Uddin, and Belgium's Lenny Leikman.^{[citation needed]}
Van Damme's only defeat was early in his career, when he lost to France's Etienne "Tuf" Aubry by 1st round disqualification. Van Damme accidentally kicked and knocked out Aubry when he was down. Aubry was unable to continue and was awarded a victory.
Jean-Claude was only knocked down once in his entire 8-year career.^{[citation needed]} Facing Sherman Bergman, Van Damme was knocked to the canvas after absorbing a powerful left hook,^[17]^[18] and it was the only knock-down suffered by Van Damme in his fighting career. However, Van Damme got up, and with an axe-kick, knocked Bergman out in 56 seconds of the first round.^{[citation needed]} This match was fought in Tampa, Florida.^[17]^[18]
Following a knockout victory over France's Georges Verlugels on a Professional Karate Association promotion in 1980(source:FightingArts.com), Van Damme caught the attention of Professional Karate Magazine publisher and editor Mike Anderson, and multiple European champion Geet Lemmens. Both men tabbed Van Damme as an upcoming prospect.^[19]
Van Damme ended his full-contact career in 1982 following a knockout victory over India's Nedjad Gharbi. Van Damme was scheduled to fight former boxing Olympic gold-medalist Somluck Kamsing in November 2011.^[20] Early reports have named Las Vegas, USA, Moscow, Russia and Macau, China, Thailand as locations for the bout but it now fight will take place in Dubai, Moscow^[21] or Grozny.^[22] At the prospect of being the first man over the age of 50 to kickbox professionally, Van Damme stated that "it's kind of dangerous, but life is short."^[23]

Film career

Jean-Claude Van Damme at the Cannes Festival

In 1982, Van Damme and childhood friend, Michel Qissi, moved to America in the hope of becoming action stars. They both were cast as extras in the film, Breakin'. Van Damme also had a non-speaking part as a Secret Service agent who carries a polio-crippled President Franklin Roosevelt (Ralph Bellamy) out of a pool in the 1988 TV miniseries War and Remembrance. After a small part in Missing In Action, Van Damme was next cast in the film No Retreat, No Surrender, as the role of the villain, Ivan the Russian. Van Damme worked for director John McTiernan for the 1987 film Predator as an early (eventually abandoned) version of the titular alien, before being removed and replaced by Kevin Peter Hall.^[24] His breakout film was Bloodsport, based on the alleged true story of Frank Dux. Shot on a 1.5 million dollar budget, it became a U.S. box-office hit in the spring of 1988. He then starred in the smaller budgeted film Cyborg. His last role for 1989 was Kurt Sloane in the successful Kickboxer. In this film, his character fights to avenge his brother who has been paralyzed by a Thai kickboxing champion (Qissi).^[25]
Double Impact featured Van Damme in the dual role of Alex and Chad Wagner, estranged twin brothers fighting to avenge the deaths of their parents. This film reunited him with his former Bloodsport co-star, Bolo Yeung. He then starred opposite Dolph Lundgren in the action film Universal Soldier. While it grossed $36,299,898 in the U.S., it was an even bigger success overseas, making over $65 million, well over its modest $23 million budget, making it Van Damme's highest grossing film at the time. Van Damme followed Nowhere To Run and Hard Target with Timecop in 1994. The film was a huge success, grossing over $100 million worldwide. In the film, Van Damme played a time traveling cop, who tries to prevent the death of his wife. It remains his highest grossing film in a lead role to date.
After his role in the poorly received Street Fighter, his projects started to fail at the box office. Sudden Death (1995); The Quest (1996), which he directed; Maximum Risk (1996), Double Team (1997) and Knock Off (1998) were box-office flops. The 1999 film Universal Soldier: The Return, also a box-office flop, was Van Damme's last theatrically released film until 2008. In 2003, Van Damme employed his dancing training in the music video for Bob Sinclar's "Kiss My Eyes."
Van Damme returned to the mainstream with the limited theatrical release of the 2008 film JCVD, which received positive reviews. Time Magazine named Van Damme's performance in the film the second best of the year (after Heath Ledger's The Joker in The Dark Knight),^[26] having previously stated that Van Damme "deserves not a black belt, but an Oscar."^[27] Van Damme indicated while promoting the film, he experienced a period of homelessness "sleeping on the street and starving in L.A."^[28]
Van Damme reprised his role as Luc Deveraux in the 2009 film Universal Soldier: Regeneration. Subsequently he voiced "Master Croc" in the 2011 animated film Kung Fu Panda 2. Also in 2011, Van Damme participated in various commercials for Coors Light beer, in which he is located on a snow-covered mountain wearing a sleeveless denim jacket, and for washing powder "Dash".
He was offered a lead role in Sylvester Stallone's film The Expendables (2010). Stallone called Van Damme personally to offer him the role, but Van Damme turned it down. He scheduled a series of film projects for 2011, including another Universal Soldier movie. On 30 June 2011, Van Damme confirmed his participation in The Expendables 2, which was released on 17 August 2012.^[29]
One of Van Damme's latest projects is an upcoming (2013) comedy Welcome To The Jungle directed by Rob Meltzer, in a role as a workplace team building trainer opposite Adam Brody, Rob Huebel, Kristen Schaal, Megan Boone, and Dennis Haysbert.^[30] He is also preparing to star in the thriller Enemies Closer which would re-unite him with Timecop and Sudden Death director Peter Hyams.
In August 2012 Van Damme confirmed that Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning would be released on 30 November 2012 to theaters. The film would also again co-star Dolph Lundgren. Van Damme also said that he would love to make a sequel to what he considers his best film, Double Impact, and that a script, which he co-wrote for the sequel, has been written, and that he is hoping to find a producer that will get behind the project.^[31]
Van Damme indicated that Stallone might include him in The Expendables 3, in which Van Damme would play Claude Villain, the brother to his Expendables 2 character Jean Villain.^[32]

Controversies

Fight record

In an interview on his website, Van Damme rival, Patrick Teugels states that Van Damme never fought at the 1979 WAKO World Championships in Tampa, Florida, and posts a Dutch-language Samurai magazine report on the tournament in which Van Damme (Van Varenberg) is not mentioned.^[33] On Van Damme's imdb page, as well as his official webpage, Van Damme makes no claims of having fought at the 1979 or 1980 WAKO World Championships. Van Damme's fight with Bergman in Tampa, Florida was always billed as a non-tournament match, and was not under the sanction of the WAKO World Championships and was not recorded as a championship bout.^{[citation needed]}
At the same time, while Teugels takes credit for two victories over Van Damme (one for the Belgium light-contact Championship), records show that Van Damme defeated Teugels in at least two matches, including one at the Forest National arena in which Van Damme broke Teugels's nose.^[34] At the STAR System World Kickboxing Ratings^[14] website, event coverages and results are posted from France's Karate Magazine and from the World Association of Kickboxing Organizations (WAKO) that show Van Damme was an active semi-contact fighter in Europe between 1978–1980, but that he never placed at the 1979 WAKO World Championships. Newspaper clippings do provide information that Van Damme fought in various tournaments from 1978–1980, but internet photos show that Van Damme competed from 1976-1982.
When Van Damme became an action film star a controversy arose because leading martial arts magazines could not find any fights listed for Jean-Claude Van Damme. Jean-Claude had competed under his birth name of Jean-Claude Van Varenberg. Van Damme's office supplied a list of four European karate trophies that he earned under his real name, Van Varenberg, between 1978 and 1981: the Hope Cup; the Cup of Antwerp; World Championship, WAKO; and the Gala International. Van Damme's lawyer, Martin Singer, made a public statement defending his client: "There are records to document his martial-arts acclaim. He's the one who does those splits on chairs. He doesn't have a stunt man do that."^[35]
Paul Maslak of the STAR System World Kickboxing Ratings, who was also the casting director who helped cast Van Damme in his first theatrical role, No Retreat No Surrender, and who was therefore always aware of Van Damme's legal name, researched Van Damme's competitive history and came up with documentation that showed most fights were in tournament karate and that there was no verifiable evidence Van Damme had ever competed as a professional kickboxer.^[14] The term "professional" fighter is open to debate, because many WAKO fighters in Europe were paid money to train.^[36]

Kadyrov event

In October 2011, Van Damme, along with other celebrities including Hilary Swank, Vanessa-Mae and Seal attracted criticism from human rights groups for attending an event in Russian federal subject Chechnya's capital Grozny on the 35th birthday of Chechen president Ramzan Kadyrov on 5 October.^[37] Human rights groups, who had urged the celebrities to cancel their appearances because of abuses carried out under Kadyrov, criticised the celebrities for attending the event.^[38] Human Rights Watch released a statement which said, "Ramzan Kadyrov is linked to a litany of horrific human rights abuses. It's inappropriate for stars to get paid to party with him. It bolsters his image and legitimizes a brutal leader and his regime. And getting paid to be part of such a lavish show in Chechnya trivializes the suffering of countless victims of human rights abuses there."^[39]^[40]^[41]

Public image and influence

In the French-speaking world, Van Damme is well known for the picturesque aphorisms that he delivers on a wide range of topics (personal well-being, the environment, etc.) in a sort of Zen franglais.^[42]
The original video game Mortal Kombat was conceived as a fighting game based on Van Damme.^[43] Creators Ed Boon and John Tobias originally had desired to author the game starring Van Damme himself. That fell through as Van Damme had a prior deal for another game under the auspices of the Sega Genesis platform. Ed Boon and John Tobias eventually decided to create a different character for the game named Johnny Cage, who is modeled after Jean-Claude Van Damme, primarily from Van Damme's appearance and outfit in the martial arts film Bloodsport.^[44]^[45]
On 21 October 2012, Van Damme was honored with a life-size statue of himself in his hometown of Brussels. He told reporters during the unveiling, "Belgium is paying me back something, but really it's to pay back to the dream. So when people come by here, it is Jean-Claude Van Damme but it's a guy from the street who believed in something. I want the statue to represent that".^[46]

Personal life

Van Damme suffered from substance abuse beginning in 1995.^[47] He entered a month-long rehabilitation program in 1996 but left it after only one week.^[47]^[48] In 1996, he spent up to $10,000 a week on cocaine.^[49] After the filming of the 1998 film Knock Off, Van Damme was diagnosed with rapid cycling bipolar disorder after becoming suicidal and started treatment on the mood stabilizer, sodium valproate. A turning point toward improvement of his health came from late 1997 onwards, after having finished divorce procedures.^[47]

Filmography

Films

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1984	Monaco Forever	Gay Karate Man
1984	Breakin'	Spectator in First Dance Sequence	Uncredited
1986	No Retreat, No Surrender	Ivan Krushensky	Also known as Karate Tiger (European)
1987	Bloodsport	Frank Dux	Fight choreographer Writer Editor First work with Bolo Yeung.
1988	Black Eagle	Andrei	Also known as Red Eagle or Red Hunter (European)
1989	Cyborg	Gibson Rickenbacker	Editor
1989	Kickboxer	Kurt Sloane	Writer Also known as Karate Tiger 3 (European)
1990	Death Warrant	Louis Burke
1990	Lionheart	Lyon Gaultier	Fight choreographer Writer Also known as Leon or A.W.O.L. - Absent Without Leave (European)
1991	Double Impact	Alex Wagner/Chad Wagner	Dual role Producer Writer Second work with Bolo Yeung. MTV Movie Awards nomination for Most Desirable Male
1992	Universal Soldier	Luc Deveraux/GR44	First work with Dolph Lundgren.
1993	Last Action Hero	Himself
1993	Nowhere to Run	Sam Gillen	MTV Movie Awards nomination for Most Desirable Male
1993	Hard Target	Chance Boudreaux	MTV Movie Awards nomination for Most Desirable Male
1994	Timecop	Max Walker	Dual role
1994	Street Fighter	Colonel William F. Guile
1995	Sudden Death	Darren McCord
1996	Maximum Risk	Alain Moreau/Mikhail Suverov	Dual role
1996	The Quest	Christopher Dubois	Director Writer
1997	Double Team	Jack Quinn	Razzie Award for Worst Screen Couple (with Dennis Rodman)
1998	Knock Off	Marcus Ray
1998	Legionnaire	Alain Lefevre	Writer Producer
1999	Universal Soldier: The Return	Luc Devereaux	Producer
1999	Inferno	Eddie Lomax	Also known as Desert Heat Producer
2001	The Order	Rudy Cafmeyer/Charles Le Vaillant	Dual role role Writer
2001	Replicant	Edward "The Torch" Garrotte/Replicant	Dual role
2002	Derailed	Jacques Kristoff
2003	In Hell	Kyle LeBlanc
2004	Wake of Death	Ben Archer
2004	Narco	Jean's ghost by Lenny
2006	The Hard Corps	Phillip Sauvage
2006	Second in Command	Sam Keenan
2006	The Exam	Charles
2007	Until Death	Anthony Stowe
2008	The Shepherd: Border Patrol	Jack Robideaux	First work with Scott Adkins.
2008	JCVD	JCVD	Executive producer 2008: Toronto Film Critics Association Awards nomination for Best Actor 2009: Chlotrudis Awards nomination for Best Actor
2009	Universal Soldier: Regeneration	Luc Deveraux	Second work with Dolph Lundgren. First work with Andrei Arlovski. Limited theatrical release in Israel, Singapore, Philippines, Malaysia, United Arab Emirates, India, Jordan, Lebanon, Italy, Japan, and Pakistan.
2011	Kung Fu Panda 2	Master Croc	Voice only
2011	Assassination Games	Vincent Brazil	Limited theatrical release in US, Russia, and Ukraine. Second work with Scott Adkins. Executive producer. Also known as Weapon (European)
2011	Beur sur la ville	Colonel Merot
2012	Rzhevskiy vs. Napoleon	Himself
2012	Dragon Eyes	Jean-Luis Tiano	First work with Cung Le and Peter Weller.
2012	The Expendables 2	Jean Vilain	Fourth work with Scott Adkins and Dolph Lundgren.
2012	Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning	Luc Deveraux	Third work with Scott Adkins and Dolph Lundgren. Second work with Andrei Arlovski.
2012	Six Bullets	Samson Gaul
2012	U.F.O.	George
2013	Welcome to the Jungle	Storm Rotchild	Completed
2013	Enemies Closer	Xander	Post-production
2014	The Expendables 3	Claude Vilain

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1996	Friends	Himself	"The One After the Superbowl" (Season 2, Episode 12-13)
2004	Las Vegas	Himself	"Die Fast, Die Furious" (Season 1, Episode 15)
2009	Robot Chicken	Himself Count Dracula Rhett Butler	Voice only "Maurice Was Caught" (Season 4, Episode 12)
2011	Jean Claude Van Damme: Behind Closed Doors	Himself	1 season (8 episodes)
2011	Les Anges Gardiens	Himself	1 season (20 episodes)

Video clips

Song	Artist
"Body Count's In The House"	Body Count
"Time Won't Let Me"	The Smithereens
"Straight To My Feet"	MC Hammer feat. Deion Sanders
"Something There"	Chage and Aska
"Crush 'Em"	Megadeth
"Kiss My Eyes"	Bob Sinclar
"Ya Lyublyu Ego"	Iryna Bilyk and Olga Gorbacheva

Semi-contact/light-contact record

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2012)

Result	Record	Opponent	Method	Date	Round	Event	Location	Notes
Win	44-4-0	Jonny Wellum	Decision	7 May 1980	3	W.A.K.O.	Brussels, Belgium	Light-Contact(Van Damme avenges early career defeat)
Win	43-4-0	Jordy Claes	Decision	1980	3	Gala International W.A.K.O.	Brussels, Belgium	Light-Contact
Win	42-4-0	Patrick Teugels^[14]	l'abandon (TKO)	8 March 1980	1	Forest Nationals	Brussels, Belgium	Light-Contact:Teugels suffers a broken nose and is unable to continue.)
Win	41-4-0	Andres Kovac	Decision	1980	3	W.A.K.O.	Brussels, Belgium	Semi-Contact
Win	40-4-0	Bekim-Moussa Muhammad	Decision	1980	3	W.A.K.O.	Brussels, Belgium	Semi-Contact
Win	39-4-0	Mustapha-Ahmad Benamou	Decision	1980	3	WAKO	Brussels, Belgium	Semi-Contact
Win	38-4-0	Reinhard Krass	Disq.	26 December 1979	2	Karate Tournament: Belgium Team vs. German Team	Woluwe, Brussels, Belgium	Light-Contact^[14]
Win	37-4-0	Gilberto Dias	l'abandon	November 1979	1	World-All Styles Karate Organization	Brussels, Belgium	Light-Contact (Dias suffers ankle injury and is unable to continue.)
Win	36-4-0	Hans Kohler	Decision	1979	3	World-All Styles Karate Organization	Ingelmunster, Belgium	Semi-Contact
Loss	35-4-0	Patrick Teugels	Decision	1979	3	Cup of Antwerp World-All Styles Karate Organization	Antwerp, Belgium	Light-Contact(Both men fight in karate gi uniforms, no pads or gloves)
Win	35-3-0	Matthias Evrard	Decision	1979	3	Cup of Antwerp World-All Styles Karate Organization	Antwerp, Belgium	Semi-Contact
Win	34-3-0	Paul Sperati	Decision	1979	3	World-All Styles Karate Organization	Opprebais, Belgium	Semi-Contact
Win	33-3-0	Lucus Reinfeld	Decision	1979	3	World-All Styles Karate Organization, Europe Interland Cup	Mulhouse, Belgium	Semi-Contact
Win	32-3-0	Robbe Bogaerts	Decision	1978	3	Hope Cup World-All Styles Karate Organization	Brussels, Belgium	Semi-Contact^[50]
Win	31-3-0	Leonard Baptiste	Decision	1978	3	World-All Styles Karate Organization	Izegem, Belgium	Semi-Contact
Win	30-3-0	Fernando Cabanela	Decision	1978	3	World-All Styles Karate Organization	Izegem, Belgium	Semi-Contact
Loss	29-3-0	Angelo Spataro^[14]	Decision	1978	3	Challenge Coupe des Espoirs Karate Tournament (1st Trials)	Antwerp, Belgium	Light-Contact
Win	29-2-0	Gabriel Van Der Driessche	Decision	1978	3	Challenge Coupe des Espoirs Karate Tournament (1st Trials)	Antwerp, Belgium	Light-Contact
Win	28-2-0	Farid Muhammad Mousseau	Decision	1978	3	Challenge Coupe des Espoirs Karate Tournament (1st Trials)	Antwerp, Belgium	Light-Contact
Win	27-2-0	Jacques van Laere	Decision	1978	3	Challenge Coupe des Espoirs Karate Tournament (1st Trials)	Antwerp, Belgium	Light-Contact
Win	26-2-0	Christian Hedin	Decsion	1978	3	Challenge Coupe des Espoirs Karate Tournament (1st Trials)	Antwerp, Belgium	Light-Contact
Win	25-2-0	Gerard Charon	Decision	1978	3	Challenge Coupe des Espoirs Karate Tournament (1st Trials)	Antwerp, Belgium	Light-Contact
Win	24-2-0	David Arranz	Decsion	1978	3	Challenge Coupe des Espoirs Karate Tournament (1st Trials)	Antwerp, Belgium	Light-Contact
Win	23-2-0	Bernard Redden	Decision	1978	3	Challenge Coupe des Espoirs Karate Tournament (1st Trials)	Antwerp, Belgium	Light-Contact
Win	22-2-0	Antoine Redi	Decision	1978	3	Challenge Coupe des Espoirs Karate Tournament (1st Trials)	Antwerp, Belgium	Light-Contact
Win	21-2-0	Ben Salah Ellah	Decision	1978	3	Challenge Coupe des Espoirs Karate Tournament (1st Trials)	Antwerp, Belgium	Light-Contact
Win	20-2-0	Gaston Airey	Foul	1978	1	Challenge Coupe des Espoirs Karate Tournament (1st Trials)	Antwerp, Belgium	Light-Contact
Win	19-2-0	Abdembi Hassan Ali	Decision	1978	3	Challenge Coupe des Espoirs Karate Tournament (1st Trials)	Antwerp, Belgium	Light-Contact
Win	18-2-0	Jonas "Marcel" Cohen	Decision	1978	3	Challenge Coupe des Espoirs Karate Tournament (1st Trials)	Antwerp, Belgium	Light-Contact
Win	17-2-0	Christian Van Tieghem	Decision	1978	3	Challenge Coupe des Espoirs Karate Tournament (1st Trials)	Antwerp, Belgium	Light-Contact
Win	16-2-0	Max Roelandt	Decision	1978	3	Challenge Coupe des Espoirs Karate Tournament (1st Trials)	Antwerp, Belgium	Light-Contact
Win	15-2-0	Andre Verbon	Decision	1978	3	Challenge Coupe des Espoirs Karate Tournament (1st Trials)	Antwerp, Belgium	Light-Contact
Win	14-2-0	Michel Juvillier	Decision	1978	3	Challenge Coupe des Espoirs Karate Tournament (1st Trials)	Antwerp, Belgium	Light-Contact
Win	13-2-0	Joel Maoreau	Decision	1978	3	Challenge Coupe des Espoirs Karate Tournament (1st Trials)	Antwerp, Belgium	Light-Contact
Win	12-2-0	Ronald Duivenbode	Decision	1978	3	Challenge Coupe des Espoirs Karate Tournament (1st Trials)	Antwerp, Belgium	Semi-Contact
Loss	11-2-0	Patrick Teugels	Decision	1978	3	Belgium Lightweight Championship	Antwerp, Belgium	Light-Contact
Win	11-1-0	Gris Lubbers	Decision	1976	3	European Karate Union	Ingelmunster, Belgium	Semi-Contact
Win	10-1-0	Andre Lemaire	Decision	1977	3	World Association of Kickboxing Organizations Open International	Izegem, Belgium	Semi-Contact
Win	9-1-0	Patrick Teugels	Decision	1977	3	Antwerp Open International Competition W.A.K.O.	Antwerp, Belgium	Light-Contact^{[citation needed]}
Win	8-1-0	Maurice Devos	Decision	1977	3	World Allstyles Kickboxing Organization	Antwerp, Belgium	Semi-Contact
Win	7-1-0	Jacques Berri	Decision	1976	3	Antwerp Open WAKO	Antwerp, Belgium	Semi-Contact
Win	6-1-0	Johannes Binding	Decision	1976	3	Antwerp Open WAKO	Antwerp, Belgium	Semi-Contact
Win	5-1-0	Jean-Morin Devigne	Decision	1976	3	Antwerp Open WAKO	Antwerp, Belgium	Semi-Contact
Win	4-1-0	Roland Vedani	Decision	1976	3	European Karate Union	Ingelmunster, Belgium	Semi-Contact
Win	3-1-0	Jean-Paul Gaston	Decision	1976	3	European Karate Union	Brussels, Belgium	Semi-Contact
Loss	2-1-0	Jonny Wellum	Decision	22 January 1976	3	La Federation Europeene de Karate (European Karate Federation)	Brussels, Belgium	Semi-Contact(J.Vandenberg credit with Defaite (loss)
Win	2-0-0	Bernard Briers	Decision	22 January 1976	3	La Federation Europeene de Karate(European Karate Federation)	Brussels, Belgium	Semi-Contact(J.Vandenberg credit with victoire (win)
Win	1-0-0	Robin Lomard	Decision	22 January 1976	3	La Federation Europeene de Karate (European Karate Federation)	Brussels, Belgium	Semi-Contact(J.Vandenberg credit with victoire (win))-Magazine "boxe francise" (Karate)

Kickboxing record

Result	Record	Opponent	Method	Date	Round	Time	Event	Location	Notes
		Somluck Kamsing^[51]		December 2012^[21]				Las Vegas^[21]	Kickboxing
Win	18-1-0	Nedjad Gharbi	KKO	1982	1			Brussels, Belgium	Kickboxing
Win	17-1-0	Daniel Le Jaouen	KKO	1982	1	1:05		Brussels, Belgium	Kickboxing
Win	16-1-0	Lenny Leikman^[14]	KKO	1982	3		1st Journée Des Arts Martiaux	Brussels, Belgium	Kickboxing
Win	15-1-0	Ajom Mahmud Uddin	KO	1981	1	0:19		Brussels, Belgium	Kickboxing
Win	14-1-0	Mustapha-Ahmad Benamou	KKO	1981	1			Brussels, Belgium	Kickboxing
Win	13-1-0	Henk Besselman	KO	1981	1			Brussels, Belgium	Kickboxing
Win	12-1-0	Michael J. Heming	KKO	1980	1	0:46		Brussels, Belgium	Kickboxing^[52]
Win	11-1-0	Georges Verlugels	KO	1980	2		P.K.A.	Brussels, Belgium	Kickboxing^[19]
Win	10-1-0	Sherman Bergman	KKO	1979 Nov 4	1	0:56		Tampa, Florida, USA	Full-Contact (Van Damme climbs off floor to win.)^[18]
Win	9-1-0	Rolf Risberg	KKO	1979	1			Ingelmunster, Belgium	Kickboxing^[16]
Win	8-1-0	Emile Leibman	KKO	1979	1			Iseghem, Belgium	Kickboxing^[16]
Win	7-1-0	Cyrille Nollet	KKO	1978	1			Iseghem, Belgium	Kickboxing
Win	6-1-0	Orlando Lang	KO	1978	1	0:26		Antwerp, Belgium	Kickboxing
Win	5-1-0	Jacques Piniarski	KKO	1978	1			Belgium	Kickboxing^[16]
Win	4-1-0	Eric "Basel" Strauss	KKO	1978	1	0:18		Antwerp, Belgium	Kickboxing^[16]
Win	3-1-0	Andre "Robar" Robaeys	KKO	1978	1			Mulhouse, Belgium	Kickboxing^[16]
Win	2-1-0	Michel Juvillier	KO	1978	1	0:39		Antwerp, Belgium	Full-Contact^[16]
Loss	1-1-0	Etienne "Tuf" Aubry	Disq	7 March 1977	1	1:02		Marseilles, France	Full-Contact(Magazine "boxe francise"(Karate))
Win	1-0-0	Toon Van Oostrum	KKO	1976	1	0:46		Brussels, Belgium	Full-Contact