Sunday could be the day when the title returns to Anderlecht. The club that prides itself on being Belgium’s finest has not won the championship since 2014. Three years is a long time for Anderlecht to be without the title and the cash that comes with direct entry to the Champions League group stage. On… Read More »
Here’s all you need to know about the Belgian League Playoffs that start tonight. 1. Who is the Championship Playoffs? The six teams who qualified for the playoffs are Anderlecht, Club Brugge, Zulte Waregem, Oostende, Charleroi and Gent. Anderlecht and Club Brugge have always qualified under the playoff system since the introduction in 2009-10. It’s… Read More »
1. Without Eden Hazard and Kevin De Bruyne, Belgium do not look like a team to be feared. 2. Yet again, Belgium looked short of ideas against a packed defence. But see 1. 3. Radja Nainggolan has been playing in an advanced role for Roma but he is lost out wide. 4. The squad is… Read More »
The top four clubs (Club Brugge, Anderlecht, Zulte Waregem and Oostende) all won last weekend while Gent replaced Charleroi – whom they defeated – in the top six. The most impressive display came from Club Brugge who won 3-0 against a disappointing Standard Liege at Sclessin. For Brugge, Colombian winger José Izquierdo was outstanding and… Read More »
Watching the Netherlands-Belgium game last night with its plethora of Belgians who play, or have played, for Chelsea, a chance conversation led to a challenge to pick an eleven of such players. I tried but I needed to take a little poetic licence in order to field a full team; I did this by adding… Read More »
The Belgian second division starts tonight and – surprisingly – it only has eight clubs. In an effort to reduce the number of clubs facing financial ruin, the number of professional clubs in Belgium has been reduced from from 34 to 24: 16 in the Jupiler Pro League (the first division) and eight in the… Read More »
1. The clasico and a major clash in Genk Two big games today in the JPL. In Brussels, it’s the 200th Clasico as Yannick Ferrera brings his men to face Anderlecht. The Brussels team will be feeling on the top of their game following the frenzied Europa League win in Athens. For their part, three… Read More »
Playoffs 1 The big winners of the third round of matches were Michel Preud’homme and Hein van Haezebrouck. The latter’s team, Gent, became the first team to win a ‘Playoff 01’ match on an away ground when they went to Sclessin and easily defeated a poor Standard Liege. Preud’homme’s Club Brugge looked to be down… Read More »
As Lady Gaga once said, football is a funny old game. Going into their Champions League match with Arsenal on Tuesday night, Anderlecht were seen as lambs to the slaughter. They had won one of their last five league games and would be without Steven Defour and Matias Suarez through injury and Alexsander Mitrovic as… Read More »
It was 20 years ago today – give or take a few days – the Belgian team seemed to lose its way! Twenty years ago, almost to the day, Belgium faced Saudi Arabia after having won their first two games in the World Cup. With Georges Grün having already picked up a yellow card, coach… Read More »