[3] Van Himst was introduced to Anderlecht as a child because his father, who was an ardent fan of Jef Mermans, rarely missed a home match and regularly took his three children to the Émile Versé Stadium.

The young Van Himst himself started to play football in a neighborhood of Sint-Pieters-Leeuw and on the playground of the Sint-Niklaas Institute where national coach Bill Gormlie took care of the children.

Van Himst was able to keep a ball in the air for several minutes, which made such an impression on chairman Constant Vanden Stock that he promptly had the boy sign a membership card.

[4] Under manager Pierre Sinibaldi, Paul Van Himst developed into a very refined player who would dominate Belgian football for 15 years with his exceptional technique, insight into the game and precise passing.

On his European debut against Real Madrid in 1962 at the Santiago Bernabéu stadium, he scored the opening goal in a 3–3 draw, immediately arousing the interest of Italian topclub Modena.

At the time, in addition to football, Van Himst also represented the fuel company of chairman Albert Roossens[6] The club would later also reject proposals from teams like Barcelona and Real Madrid, in their search for a successor of Alfredo Di Stéfano.

[4][7] Despite Anderlecht an early exit in the second round of the 1966–67 European Cup, Van Himst became top scorer of the tournament.

[13] At the age of 17, Paul Van Himst made his debut for the Belgian national team on 19 October 1960 in a match against Sweden.

In 1964, Van Himst played in the Belgium–Netherlands match alongside 10 Anderlecht players after the substitution of goalkeeper Guy Delhasse by Jean-Marie Trappeniers.

At the Euro 1972, organized in his home country, Van Himst helped the Red Devils to reach the third place.

[15] Rinus Michiels coached 18 international stars, including Pelé, Eusébio, Johan Cruyff, Gianni Rivera, José Altafini, Amancio, Jairzinho and Willem Van Hanegem.

In 1985, Van Himst guided Anderlecht to the league title, finishing 11 points ahead of nearest title-contenders Club Brugge.

He also liked to operate from the left, where he could regularly put in splitting actions with his friend Wilfried Puis, as well with Anderlecht as with the Belgian national team.

[21] From the moment the contract ended in 1996, the family man concentrated definitively on his coffee company, with his son keeping his position.

[31] Decades after retiring from professional football, Van Himst is still consistently mentioned in both Anderlecht and Belgium's "Best Team Ever" and "Best Players" lists.

[32][33][34] To celebrate the 80th birthday of their club icon, Van Himst was extensively honored for the competition match of Anderlecht against Mechelen on 7 October 2023.

[35] For the occasion, the team played in a complete white "limited edition" shirts, stylized like the ones of the Van Himst era.