Abe Lenstra (November 27, 1920 in Heerenveen – September 2, 1985) was a Dutch football player and national football icon in the 1950s. He was also a Frisian legend, most notably with the club where he made his name SC Heerenveen.
He has played for a host of clubs such as SC Enschede, Enschedese Boys, PH; DOS '19, WSV, DOS Kampen and FC Assen, however, it was with VV Heerenveen (the previous name of current day SC Heerenveen) where he was chosen to first represent the Dutch national team.
With the national team, he had a total of 47 caps with 33 goals to his credit where he struck a fruitful partnership with other Dutch players such as Faas Wilkes and Kees Rijvers. He was known to stand by his own principles and have objected to join the national squad if he was not played in the position in which he favoured which probably explained his somewhat limited number of international caps.
He was probably credited with putting the name of SC Heerenveen into the footballing map, where the club was also fondly referred to as 'Abeveen'. In 1977, long after he retired from football, he was diagnosed with brain haemorrhage and he was to spend the remainder of his life on a wheel-chair until he passed away in 1985.
Today, his name has been closely associated with SC Heerenveen and its stadium, the Abe Lenstra Stadion has also been named in his honour as a lasting memory of this Dutch footballing hero.
