Belgian league
The ups and downs of one of Europe’s most intriguing top flights
Can Union SaintGilloise script a Leicester City fairy tale? In 2016, the Foxes shocked the world by lifting the Premier League title after barely being expected to achieve survival; now the Belgian underdogs are attempting to do something similar.
Simply returning to the top flight after a 48-year absence was cause for celebration for Union, yet after 22 games of the season the club found themselves top of the league with 50 points.
The team from the Dudenpark are something of a cult club with their pre-war record, art-deco stadium and deep roots in the capital Brussels. Their popularity was enhanced during the first half of the season, as the team coached by Felice Mazzu swept past the opposition.
They played with bravado, applying a flamboyant, attacking style, spearheaded by the striking partnership of Deniz Undav and Dante Vanzeir. On the opening day of the season, Union defeated cross-town rivals Anderlecht 3-1, setting the tone for months of barnstorming football. Their form didn’t drop off as the season progressed and there is little to suggest that a collapse is imminent.
Their success has been facilitated by underwhelming performances from the established powerhouses. At Anderlecht, Vincent Kompany has dropped the Pep Guardiola philosophy: he no longer expects his team to play football based on an expansive mix of passing, positioning and pressing, but has settled for a more down-to-earth approach instead. Even without the departed midfielder Albert Sambi Lokonga (Arsenal) and striker Lukas Nmecha (Wolfsburg), that strategy has brought a measure of stability at the tempestuous Brussels club, where coaches tend not to last beyond the third season. Kompany is in his second and the jury is still out on how good he is.
At the start of the season, Club Brugge were threatening to become Belgium’s dominant side, seeking their third title in a row and fifth in seven years under coach Philippe Clement. They still have high hopes of retaining the trophy, but not with Clement at the helm: he took charge of Ligue 1 Monaco in January after an inconsistent season in his homeland.
The defending champions replaced him with 49-year-old Dutch coach Alfred Schreuder, an assistant to a long list of notable coaches, including Ronald Koeman, Julian Nagelsmann and Erik ten Hag. Brugge are the third club he has taken charge of, following spells at FC Twente in the Eredivisie in 2014-15, and Hoffenheim in the Bundesliga in 2019-20.
At Brugge, Schreuder will need time to implement his own philosophy, but he has a talented squad at his disposal. Midfielder Hans Vanaken has become more prominent with the national team, the skills of the capricious Noa Lang (opposite) are undisputed, and his fellow Dutchman Bas Dost remains a fine striker. Yet all of them play second fiddle to Charles De Ketelaere’s intelligence, versatility, suave touch and maturity. Soon, the new poster boy of the domestic game will move abroad and become a stalwart for Belgium.
The fourth horse in the race for the title is Antwerp. The four-time champions, whose last success came back in 1956-57, have become a firm fixture near the top of the table, but too often internal politics and instability thwart the club in taking the ultimate step towards the Belgian crown.
While these interesting and interweaving storylines form a rich tapestry of the local scene, they are undermined by controversial off-field concerns
Further down the table, SintTruidense VV staged a real coup by landing the 32-year-old Shinji Kagawa. The veteran midfielder of both Borussia Dortmund and Manchester United wants to rejuvenate his career, and should be right at home with STVV, who have Japanese owners, as well as six other Japanese players already on their books – Ko Matsubara, Daiki Hashioka, Daichi Hayashi, Taichi Hara, Tatsuya Ito and Daniel Schmidt.
While these interesting and interweaving storylines form a rich tapestry of the local scene, they are undermined by controversial off-field concerns.
The winter months were toxic, as racism and violence resurfaced in the top flight. After defending champions Club Brugge hosted Anderlecht, Kompany complained: “We were called brown monkeys during the entire match.” Yet the Pro League failed to clamp down on any of those problems.
And there is an even bigger crisis to come. As reported by Flemish daily newspaper
De Standaard, 57 suspects have been named by the federal prosecutor in operation “Clean Hands” – an investigation into allegations of forgery, corruption and match-fixing – including Club Brugge president Bart Verhaeghe, KAA Gent’s Michel Louwagie, Standard Liege’s Bruno Venanzi, Charleroi’s Mehdi Bayat and Steven Martens, former
CEO of the Belgian FA.
Not since the 1980s, when
then-champions Standard Liege were implicated in the infamous “Waterschei” match-fixing affair, has Belgian football been rocked by such a scandal.
In October 2018, Belgian authorities raided 44 Belgian clubs and residences across the country in an investigation into allegations of match-fixing and corruption, while a further 13 searches reportedly took place in France, Luxembourg, Cyprus, Montenegro, Serbia and Macedonia.
Dejan Veljkovic, an agent and suspect in the case, opted to collaborate with the prosecutor – and, according to Flemish newspaper Het
Laatste Nieuws, has made numerous statements against key figures at several top-flight clubs.
At the time of writing, the investigations continue, but the scandal has snowballed. “Clean Hands” has lifted the lid on the underbelly of Belgian football. Above all, the investigation shows the need for an independent regulator in the game, or at least a stringent legal framework. Neither seems likely – not in Belgium nor, for that matter, elsewhere.
Samindra Kunti