Antwerp back on top
Belgium’s biggest city enjoys its first top-flight derby in 16 years
Is this the season that Antwerp clubs complete a renaissance in Belgian top-flight football after a history of early grandeur, missed opportunities and inconsequential management?
In August, Beerschot were promoted to the elite tier following the league’s expansion to 18 teams. For weeks, the club had been working towards the second leg of the promotion play-offs against Thai-owned OH Leuven. However, with the new league format the match’s importance was minimised. Beerschot ran out comfortable 4-1 winners, wrapping up the championship and confirming their credentials as an ambitious club.
At the same time, Royal Antwerp won the Belgian Cup against Club Brugge 1-0 in a demonstration of collective football that exemplified both grit and application. The club’s first silverware in 28 years was a statement. Since a return to the top flight in 2017, Antwerp have finished eighth, sixth and fourth in the league table, but the club wants to upend the established order.
Historically, Antwerp football clubs struggled to establish themselves at the very top of the Belgian game, except during the 1920s and 1930s. British sailors and merchants introduced Belgium and the port city to football, and the game was quickly appropriated by the local working class. As a result, Royal Antwerp were founded in 1880, making them Belgium’s oldest club. Nine years later, the elite broke away to form their own club in the city’s south, Beerschot. As well as football, they played cricket, rugby, hockey, tennis and polo.
The new club staged their games at Kiel, a 30,000-seater that served as the Olympic Stadium for the 1920 Olympic Games. In response, Antwerp built the Bosuilstadion, with a capacity of 38,000. The modern stadiums transformed Antwerp’s clubs. Between 1920 and 1932, the cross-town rivals dominated Belgian football with Beerschot, spearheaded by generational talent Raymond Braine, winning the domestic crown five times and Antwerp twice.
Beerschot and Antwerp drew out the city’s social fault lines, with contrasting football philosophies as well. Antwerp played a kick and rush game while Beerschot developed a refined passing style under the influence of Scottish coach, Johnny Dick. They also benefited from a liaison with Czechoslovakian football, a remnant from the country’s silver medal at the 1920 Olympics. Braine, returning from a spell with Sparta Prague, delivered two more titles in the late 1930s, drawing the glory days to a close.
In the 1950s, Beerschot and Belgian great
Rik Coppens embodied the tragedy of football in Antwerp. The striker sold out stadiums, mesmerised the fans and antagonised both referees and the FA. Coppens developed an aura of a Hollywood star, driving luxury cars and donning signature white suits. Coppens was nicknamed “Keizer van Kiel” (Emperor of Kiel), but, ironically, he never won Beerschot any silverware.
Antwerp did win a last league title thanks to the industry of Vic Mees. In the 1970s, the generation of Juan Lozano revived Beerschot’s flair, winning the domestic cup twice, but by then both clubs had dropped out of the Belgian top flight. Club Brugge became Anderlecht’s main rival. The 1980s compounded decades of decline at both clubs, with internal power struggles, mergers, suspect foreign investors, relegation and multiple bankruptcies.
Antwerp reached the 1993 European Cup-winners Cup final, without basic renovations of their stadium
or sound financial management. As a result, the club couldn’t reconnect with the top. Beerschot went bankrupt in 1999, and again in 2013. However, they moved up the pyramid from the first amateur division to the elite level within seven years. In 2018, Saudi prince and Sheffield United owner Abdullah bin Musa’ad acquired a 50% stake in the club.
Last season, coach Hernan Losada fielded a 3-5-2 with midfield metronome Raphael Holzhauser providing eight goals and seven assists. Losada has applied the same formula to great effect in the top flight. Unfazed, Beerschot topped the table after five match days.
In late October of this year, Beerschot and Antwerp met for a first top-flight derby in 16 years. For three seasons, coach Laszlo Boloni excelled at Antwerp with a very defensive interpretation of the game, but his old-fashioned methods clashed with the vision of chairman and local real estate magnate, Paul Gheysens. Through stadium refurbishment, new playing personnel and capital injections, Gheysens is on a mission to modernize Antwerp.
In the summer, former Club Brugge coach Ivan Leko succeeded Boloni. He is tasked with moving away from his predecessor’s defensive mindset and establishing the club among the title contenders.
The Antwerp squad, however, is always in flux. In the summer, former Premier League players Steven Defour and Kevin Mirallas left. In their stead, Jordan Lukaku arrived on loan from Lazio. Veteran midfielder Faris Haroun and 35-year-old striker Dieumerci Mbokani remain pivotal. The latter struck in the 74th minute to decide a topsyturvy derby 3-2. Antwerp won local bragging rights. Nevertheless, in the long run, that might be an afterthought. They went top of the standings and that’s where they want to stay.
Historically, Antwerp football clubs struggled to establish themselves at the very top of the Belgian game, except during the 1920s and 1930s