Royale Union Saint-Gilloise
Belgium’s third-most successful club returns to top flight
After an absence of 48 years, Royale Union Saint-Gilloise are back at the elite level of Belgian football. Founded in 1897 by local teenagers, Union had none of the resources of the elitist Racing Club de Bruxelles and Leopold Club de Bruxelles. But then Racing donated a few shirts and a match ball to the upstarts, and soon Union settled in the neighbourhood of St Gillis and their stadium in Duden Park to become the team to beat.
Prior to the Second World War they dominated Belgian football, winning the domestic crown seven times before 1914, including a record-breaking goal difference of +88 in 1909. Union supplied six players for Belgium’s gold medalwinning team at the 1920 Olympics in Antwerp. Their stadium hosted games at the tournament too, with a Spanish national team starring legendary goalkeeper Ricardo Zamora playing their first-ever official game there.
From 1932-35, Union won the league title three more times, going 60 league matches unbeaten. That unbeaten streak represented both the absolute heydays of Union, but also the signpost of a troubled future. They’d never again win the league title. The glamour and glory faded from a club that simply couldn’t keep up.
In Brussels, the pendulum was swinging. Across the canal, Albert Roosens was professionalising Anderlecht and the French coach Pierre Sinibaldi introduced an elegant, front-foot game. Paul Van Himst galvanized Anderlecht and “champagne football” was born.
After the war, Union were relegated from the top division for the first time in 1949. They did return, and even enjoyed some European forays, reaching the semi-finals of the InterCities Fairs Cup in 1960, where they lost 8-4 on aggregate to Birmingham City. But decades in the doldrums were to follow. They shuttled around the Belgian amateur leagues for years.
However, in recent times Union have enjoyed a renaissance. Brighton & Hove Albion owner Tony Bloom,
Can the club with its antiquated stadium and deep roots in the fabric of Brussels’ football culture compete again?
businessman and gambler, acquired the club from Jurgen Baatzsch. The German entrepreneur bought the club in 2013 and guided Union to 1B,
Belgian football’s second tier. His successor used his Premier League expertise and knowhow to propel the club forward. In 2018-19, the club reached the semi-finals of the domestic cup, eliminating both Anderlecht and Racing Genk.
This season, Union dominated 1B, playing attacking football despite coach Felice Mazzu’s penchant for a defensive set-up. In 2019, Mazzu left Genk in acrimonious fashion, but in the capital he found calm, purpose and a data-driven approach to the game so as to rejuvenate his own career and mould a group of eclectic players into a championship-winning team.
In a 3-5-2 formation, Union swept past opponents. It was all the more sweet that a 2-1 victory against arch-rivals RWD Molenbeek in the “Zwanze Derby” ensured Union’s return to the elite level with five more rounds of matches left to play. In defeat, opposing coach Vincent
Euvrard was generous enough to shower the new champions with praise. He said: “Union is the deserved champion.”
But what comes next for Union in the top flight? Can the club with its antiquated stadium and deep roots in the fabric of Brussels’ football culture compete again?
The club has a cult status, but not the means and facilities to be competitive at the very highest level. The Duden Park overlooks the club’s Stadium Joseph Marien, with a main stand in Art Deco style. A cultural heritage site, the stadium oozes indelible richness and history, and the small but romantic club enjoys limited core support as well as interest from students, hipsters, eurocrats and many ground-hoppers. Attending a match of Union is modish. Last renovated in 2018 at a cost of €4.2 million, the stadium holds a capacity of 8,000, but is not equipped to welcome sponsors and press properly. Fan comfort is minimal.
The club has previously played at the Heysel Stadium on a temporary basis, but Union’s hierarchy has vowed that in the first two seasons in the top flight the team will remain in the Duden Park. Bloom and his board however are caught between a rock and a hard place: moving out in the long run will nullify the club’s authenticity, but staying put severely limits any commercial exploitation, and modifications to a cultural heritage site are not allowed.
For now though, the club’s atypical infrastructure can wait. Union will prioritise sporting fortunes in the Pro League. Last February, they were given a reminder of the demands in the top flight, when they were hammered 5-0 by Anderlecht in the Belgian Cup.
Yet the 1A newcomers can take heart from the examples of both OH Leuven and Beerschot. Last summer both clubs – backed by King Power and Saudi Prince Abdullah bin Mosaad respectively – returned to the elite level and excelled. In autumn, Beerschot led the table and later in the season Leuven briefly challenged for play-off I. In seasons to come, Union would gladly settle for that.