Belgian league

[Gerrit]

We had a topic on the Romanian and Israeli league, so why not one about the league in my native country eh?

The Belgian league kicks off tonight with Club Bruges facing AA Gent.

The expectations for the new season:

- ANDERLECHT, the defending champions, have bought 4 (!) Argentinian players. They also managed to get Davy Oyen back to Belgium (coming back from England) and got Mbark Boussouffa (the biggest talent in Belgium) from AA Gent. Needless to say, they are favourites to win the league again. (I hate this club from the bottom of my heart, so I hope they somehow crash out, but realistically speaking they are favourites)

- CLUB BRUGGE is once again expected to be the biggest challenger. They didn't buy as many big names as Anderlecht, but with Salou (from Waregem) and Kevin Vanden Bergh (from Genk) they bought two class strikers. For defending needs, they did a last-minute transfer by getting Brian Priske who is returning from Portsmouth to Belgium.

- STANDARD looked seriously weakened, and for a long time their best transfers was getting coach/manager Johan Boskamp (who got previous successes with Genk and Anderlecht) back to the country. But in the last week they suddenly came close to buying three players who participated in the World Cup (Pletikosa and Tudor from Croatia were both named) and it looks like they indeed will sign the deal. So maybe they can compete in the top again.

- GERMINAL BEERSCHOT seems to finally be ready to compete for UEFA Cup tickets. They also bought several Argentinian players and won practically all friendlies while preparing for the new season.

- KRC GENK had a tough pre-season period, first losing Steven Dufour who got his contract dismantled by using a very controversial law (he was the first professional player ever in Belgium who dared to ignore the 'gentlemens agreement' not to use the law) and who then sacked their long-term reliable goalkeeper Moons. It is questionable if they will be going for Europe again.

- ZULTE-WAREGEM last season played without full-time professionals. Still, they survived without any difficulties and won the Belgian Cup. In their second year in the top division, they will have to confirm that great season. They are directly qualified for the first proper UEFA Cup round as well.

- BEVEREN, MOUSCRON and LIERSE were all happy enough to stay in the top division: all three were sentenced to relegating out of the professional league because of financial struggles, but got their pro license in the very last instant. It is expected that mainly Beveren and Mouscron will have it very hard to survive again. Lierse got Nico Vaesen back to Belgium and signed Bob Peeters (striker who played for them during earlier success era's) but have still to survive a courtcase against them for match-fixing.

- RAEC MONS promoted to the top division again after only one year in second divison. Many expect them to drop again immediately, but they look stronger than Beveren and Mouscron and it seems they're also not less good than some other 'ugly ducklings' such as Cercle Bruges. So Mon is definitely no certainty to go down again.

- ROESELARE survived their first season in the top division without problems, and it's unlikely that they'd get in troubles this year. Due to the fairplay rankings they also play UEFA Cup.
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Rosenborg, forever pride of the North!

[HeiaVincent]

It will be a tough season, can't really see Anderlecht taking the title easily. In fact, I think it depends on how it goes in Europe for the top teams from last year. I think that Anderlecht going out as fourth in the CL group stage, and Bruges advancing to the UEFA Cup may have helped Anderlecht. It caused them to start focusing on the league again, before Bruges could. But then again, the loss of Kompany and "Chippen" Wilhelmsson (another favourite of mine) could turn out essential.
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4-4-3

[Gerrit]

They bought some Argentinian players instead with a high reputation, of course it's waiting and seeing if they can form a team with them. Real Madrid is the perfect proof of how buying reputated players doesn't necessarily result in good results.

I hope every year that Standard will win the league, but somehow they always waste it. And this year I've got little hopes. Their only advantage is that they have a coach/manager who knows the Belgian league inside out, but what's a good coach when your team has come out of the transfer period weakened? Standard just signed Sa Pinto (got the news just before typing this) but he's not the youngest and freshest player anymore...
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Rosenborg, forever pride of the North!

[HeiaVincent]

Isn't there a team in Genk that is "Turkish" and carries the islamic symbol on their shirt? (Like Fenerbahçe and Galatasaray)
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4-4-3

[attach]

[Gerrit]

Turkse Rangers, that is. Playing in the 5th division. Also, there are several Turkish clubs in Belgium on a lower level, some of them also carry the Islamic symbol in their logo.

Ethnical minority teams in the Belgian league pyramid (the highest of them plays at 5th division):

TURKISH
Turkse Rangers - Genk
Turkse FC - Beringen
FC Anadol - Heusden-Zolder
Genk Noord - Genk
Park Houthalen - Houthalen
Jeunesse Turque - Roselies
Avrasya Gent - Gent
Turk Sport - Antwerp
Istanbul76 Evere - Brussels
Trabzon Schaerbeek - Brussels
Helmet Schaerbeek - Brussels

ITALIAN
CSI Genk - Genk
FC Juve Maasmechelen - Maasmechelen

SPANISH
PMDB Anderlecht - Anderlecht
Agrupacion Oviedo Asturiana - Anderlecht
Iberia Deportivo - Liege
Furia Espanola - La Louviere
Espanola Dolhain - Dolhain

PORTUGUESE/SPANISH
FC Forest - Brussels

MOROCCAN
Jeunesse Molenbeek - Brussels
RC Molenbeek - Brussels
Etoile Bruxelles Capitale - Brussels
RC Schaerbeek - Brussels

ALBANIAN
FC Kosova - Brussels

ARMENIAN
FC Etterbeek Armenia - Brussels

GREEK
FC Hellas Verviers - Verviers
Ellas Liege - Liege

CROATIAN
Croatia Wandre - Liege

SYRIAN
Diyanet Brussels - Brussels

JEWISH
Maccabi Bruxelles - Brussels (although also fields some Islamic players
Maccabi Antwerp - Antwerp



I am not 100% sure but I believe that Liege also has an Italian club and that two or three more Brussels sides field multicultural teams.

In the amateur leagues below the regular league pyramid, there's more of these teams + also some Kurdish, Algerian, Polish, Irish, and British teams.

Very interesting to socialise with these people, I love visiting those clubs. Unfortunately, many Belgians are racist (for which I am very deeply ashamed), but I do love socialising with people from other ethnical backgrounds. But I'm a traveller trying to discover as much of the world as possible, so I'm more or less forced to be friendly to all nationalities



Notorious was YB Antwerp, who fielded only illegal immigrants. Some of them played in a professional league before escaping their country, so this amateur club really beat all opponents 10-0 and more. But the players carried false passports and used different names every week, sometimes a player was asked for his name by the referee and didn't even know what to answer... The club was suspended immediately when the FA found out.

And also, Belgian amateur football had a notorious club called RC Anderlecht who lost every game with over 10-0. They once lost 40-0 and lost 41-0 the week after... They ceased to exist after one or two seasons...
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Rosenborg, forever pride of the North!

[Gerrit]

After three match days, Anderlecht are yet without loss of points. They won three times, though without convincing all critics. Once the referee helped them out (versus Beerschot they got a penalty for a foul made outside the penalty box) and twice they just got away really lucky. Their strikers (Biglia, Boussouffa, Frutos) are really exellent and torturing all defenders, but the Anderlecht defense is not really well organised yet.

They are facing Club Bruges this weekend in the traditional top game. Bruges has won 2 games and lost once (in Roeselare).

Standard made a dramatic start, gaining 1 point in their three first games. They lost versus Lokeren and Charleroi and drew in Genk.

RC Genk, FC Brussels and Mouscron started well with 7 points out of 9.

Division two kicked off yesterday, with immediately my team Oostende losing at home 2-3 to Dender. We could have had it worse, our goalie saved a penalty and saved another 3 superb strikes. With less luck we had lost 2-6 or 2-7. Our best defender injured himself and will miss the entire season, luckily two replacements were bought immediately. We also got eliminated out of the cup by a third division side. Worrying times for us...
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Rosenborg, forever pride of the North!

[Gerrit]

The top game between Anderlecht and Bruges ended in a 1-0 for Anderlecht. They are now the only team left who didn't lose a point yet. Brussels and Genk follow two points behind them on a shared second spot.
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Rosenborg, forever pride of the North!

[Gerrit]

Remarkable fact today: Standard Liege, last year's vice-champions, have sacked their coach today! This is remarkable because we're only 4 games far and in the very beginning of the season. It becomes even more remarkable if you know that the sacked coach is Johan Boskamp, one of the most succesful trainers in the last decades of Belgian football (he won the league with Anderlecht several times and also had great results with AA Gent).

Standard lost two times and drew two times, leaving them with a disappointing 2 points out of 12. Steaua kicked them out of the Champions League as well. These are the main reasons for the decision to sack Boskamp. Along with Boskamp, the assistent-coach and goalkeeper coach were also fired.

Former international goalkeeper Michel Preud'homme, who was a sort of director at Standard, is taking over as head coach.
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Rosenborg, forever pride of the North!

[HeiaVincent]

It kinda sounds like Viking. Which is bad. Very bad. I will not for one second believe that Standard will improve their performances now...
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[steaua_fan]

FC Steaua Bucuresti coach Cosmin Olaroiu has made a surprise move for French forward Cyril Théreau from R. Charleroi SC for a fee thought to be in the region of €600,000.

Early-season form
The towering 23-year-old has signed a four-year contract with the Romanian champions having impressed Olaroiu with his early-season form. In Belgium to cast his eye over Charleroi's Fabien Camus, the Steaua coach diverted his attentions to team-mate Théreau, who had scored three goals in four games since arriving at Charleroi from Angers SCO. The transfer to Bucharest completes a prodigious rise for Théreau, who has gone from the French third tier to the UEFA Champions League in a matter of months.
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one earth, only a star-FC STEAUA BUCHAREST!!!

[Gerrit]

Update: Anderlecht and Genk are shared top of the table, both have 20 points out of 24. This weekend they face each other.

Standard Liege won all three league games since Preud'homme took over as trainer, but they were eliminated from Europe by Celta Vigo. Zulte-Waregem on the other had may have had a shock victory in Europe, domestically they struggle a bit just like other European entrant Roeselare.

FC Brugge is just below the top-2 but has a lot of difficulty to win its games. Last weekend they had to wait till injury time to secure their victory.
Westerlo is doing very well lately and will try to stop the reincarnation of FC Brugge, as they face each other this Sunday.

Lierse are bottom.

In second division, my team Oostende are third in the table
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Rosenborg, forever pride of the North!

[Gerrit]

Anderlecht suffered their first defeat this season: they lost the top-of-the-table clash versus Genk. They lost 1-4, which is an extremely rare sort of defeat for Anderlecht, it was ages ago that they lost a domestic game with such a score.

Club Brugge won 1-2 in Westerlo and comes close to Anderlecht. Charleroi won 1-2 in Mons and is the surprising nr 3 in the tables.

Standard lost 2-1 in Gent, their first defeat since the new coach took over.

In second division, my team Ostend lost 1-2 to Tubize
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Rosenborg, forever pride of the North!

[Gerrit]

Little update (in case I am boring everyone, just say so )

Last weekend the Belgian cup had it's 1/32 finals played, the first stage with the top division teams in it.

Anderlecht, Brugge and Standard qualified without problems, all beating lower league teams. Standard even won 7-1 versus second division club Eupen.
League leaders Genk also qualified but had very serious problems with third division team Geel, eventually winning only 3-2.

Most top division clubs qualified without problems, but there's 5 remaining clubs now from the lower divisions.

Most surprisingly, second division team Antwerp FC crashed top divisionist Lokeren 4-1.
Hamme, struggling in the second division (currently being 16th only) surprisingly beat top divionist Charleroi on penalties.
KV Kortrijk, KV Mechelen and FC Dender also qualified by beating a top division team.

The only game including two top divisionists facing each other, was won by Lierse 2-1 versus Hamme.

In the next round of the cup, Anderlecht will face FC Dender, the leaders in the second division. Could be a tough game for Anderlecht as Dender is in the winning mood (leading the second division with 7 points ahead of the nr 2) and they have nothing to lose anyway.
Hamme is facing Standard.

Club Brugge face Westerlo in the next round.
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Rosenborg, forever pride of the North!

["З&#1]

Gerrit, you are Belgian living in N.Ir.?

I like Zulte Waregem in Belgium, also Anderlecht.
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Футбольный клуб "Зенит" Санкт-Петербург

[Gerrit]

I am a native Belgian (from the city of Ghent), living in Belfast. I moved to Ireland in 2004, first living in Dublin and then moving to Belfast.

I hope to move to Scandinavia (preferably Norway) in the near future, as it's always been my dream to move to the really nordic countries. I'd even accept a job in Murmansk or Archangelsk even, I just like the nordic atmosphere and sceneries and the further north I can get the better. Tromsø is the city of my dreams, and also Trondheim and Longyearbyen seem very fascinating to move to. Finding a job in those areas is hard though, so as a start I'd accept every nordic city, I'd see it as a stepstone while already being in the nordic atmosphere.

In Belgium, I support Oostende who are currently in second division (but having ambitions to promote). Supporting Oostende since 1992, and supporting Rosenborg since 1993.

I don't like Anderlecht that much, they were close to where I lived and so they were a bit of rivals. I have a lot of respect for Zulte-Waregem though, what they accomplish with semi-professional players is superb. I hope they can proceed further in Europe, it would be a true fairytale if they can qualify for the next stage.

In Northern Ireland I don't really have a favourite club. I live practically next door of the national stadium (Windsor Park) so I do attend N.Ireland games when I can. I could easily pick Linfield to support as they play at Windsor, but picking the team that just won the league and cup, that'd be gloryhunting (I know, RBK are also succesful, but I started in 1993 so it's not like I could know then that there'd be so many new trophies the next years!). I attend games all over the country though, trying to see as many stadiums as I can while living in N.Ireland.
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Rosenborg, forever pride of the North!

["З&#1]

OK.

Here is picture of Murmansk city: http://www.keithv.com/sca...l_view.jpg

Arctic city, and cold, but many factories.
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Футбольный клуб "Зенит" Санкт-Петербург

[Gerrit]

In case you'd be interested: www.kvo.be is the site of my club in Belgium. As I said, we're in second division, we promoted two times the last decades but both times relegated immediately again The city is a coastal town, and very close to Brugge, so not easy to build up something: with FC Brugge so close lot of native Ostend people choose them, and in Oostende there's lot of people from the inland who moved to the seaside but still support the team from their original city. So Oostende struggles to get over 1500 fans, we used to have much more but a lack of good football and neighbours FC Brugge being succesful saw a decline in the number of Oostende fans

Anderlecht and Brugge are the only clubs easily selling out their stadium. Belgium has a bit of a crisis, with many people no longer attending games and many half-empty stadiums. As a result many clubs are in financial problems. Only Anderlecht, Brugge and in the recent years Genk really have good crowds (over 20000) and Standard do as well when they're performing well. In second division, some of our opponents only have an average of 500 fans every home game, Oostende is somewhere between 1000 and 1500.

Guess all of that is relative though. Here in Northern Ireland, clubs are already happy if 500 people come to attend their games. Even top team Linfield rarely has more than 2000 fans in their home games.
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Rosenborg, forever pride of the North!

["З&#1]

Thanks for that info.

Anderlecht - Club Brugge is big rivalry? Which of the team is "workers class" and which is "high class" team?
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Футбольный клуб "Зенит" Санкт-Петербург

[Gerrit]

Brugge and Anderlecht are archrivals yes, but not so much because of political/social divide, just because they're the most succesful clubs and because they are usually the two teams fighting for the championship trophy.

Inside Brussels, there's three teams in the League (= top two divisions): Anderlecht and Brussels in the top division, and Union in the second division. Union and Brussels are considered the 'authentic capital city teams' with mainly working class support and with some support from the immigrants in the city. Anderlecht traditionally attracts a more 'noble'/upper-class support, although due to their success they started to attract fans from everywhere some time ago.

In Brugge, Cercle Brugge is considered the more 'alternative club' while FC Brugge is seen as the most succesful club and thus supported by the majority of people.

Other harsh city rivalries are Antwerp vs Germinal-Beerschot (city of Antwerp), KV Mechelen vs RC Mechelen (city of Mechelen) and to a lesser extend Sporting Charleroi vs Olympic Charleroi (city of Charleroi) and Standard versus RFC Liege (city of Liege).

That said, Union's stadium is the most beautiful stadium I ever witnessed. I was more impressed by that stadium than by Nou Camp, honestly. The ground looks like time stood still, it looks almost exactly like 110 years ago when it was built. Pictures are on www.freewebs.com/doingthe116 (check the Belgian chapter)
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Rosenborg, forever pride of the North!

["З&#1]

Do you mean "Union St. Gilles" stadium?
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Футбольный клуб "Зенит" Санкт-Петербург

[Gerrit]

Yes. It's scalled Joseph Marien Stadium, but most people call it Dudenpark as that's the name of the big park just next to the stadium. The stadium was built in 1897 and hardly changed since then, it looks like time stood still, I adore that sort of stadiums. Their front wall is classified even and is legally protected, they couldn't even break it down or modernise it: it legally has to stay exactly as it is

The stadium of the former Crossing Schaerbeek is almost as old and also looks like it hasn't been cleaned or modernised for 90 years. Union's ground is still perfectly safe, but Schaerbeek's ground is so badly looked after that 3 out of 4 stands are declared unsafe. Only the main stand is used. It's home of FC Kosova and RC Schaerbeek, both in the lowest leagues of Belgian football ; FC Kosova is the team of the Albanian minority in Brussels, while RC Schaerbeek is a team with only Moroccan players.

Also in Brussels you have the Trois Tilleuls Stadium which also has not changed in 60 or 70 years. It is Belgium's biggest stadium with 52000 capacity, but their current team RRC Boitsfort attracts an average of 150 fans I guess it's a bit like Queens Park in Glasgow, having 150 fans in a ground of 60000. The nice thing is that you have an exit per spectator, so it's incredbily safe
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Rosenborg, forever pride of the North!

["З&#1]

Dudenpark Stadium is all-seater, or do people stand?

I like such stadiums!
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Футбольный клуб "Зенит" Санкт-Петербург

[Gerrit]

They have a big terrace for standing people, and a big stand for seating.

Both are 109 years old and hardly changed since they were built, the seats are still partly made of wood instead of plastic.

In this forum, in the "Stadiums topic" you can see some pictures I uploaded.
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Rosenborg, forever pride of the North!

[Gerrit]

Guess I will dig this one from the archives as well.

The Belgian league was won by Standard Liege last season who celebrated the title for the first time in 25 years.

This season a three horse race between the classic giants Anderlecht, Bruges and Standard is expected, although some do think teams such as RC Genk and AA Gent could surprise the world.

There are some reforms planned as unfortunately the clubs want to reduce the number of teams in 1st division from 18 to 16 which means 3 or 4 teams would relegate while only 1 or 2 would promote from 2nd division. Guess football is becoming elitist and the small clubs will get it harder and harder to reach the highest division.

With more teams going down than usual it could get pretty exciting on bottom.
Tubize, who play in D1 for the first time ever but lost 75% of the players who achieved promotion, look doomed to relegate as they have a very young and unexperienced team. Roeselare also had to totally rebuild their squad and seems to be in serious troubles as well. Other teams who should worry are FC Dender who last season narrowly escaped relegation, and maybe teams such as Mons and KV Kortrijk.

On top Club Brugge seems to be strengthened by buying top scorer of last season Joseph Akpala + the great midfielder Dirar. They did lose their best striker of last season, Francois Sterchele, who died in a car accident shortly before the end of last season. They are a young team, probably not winning the league yet but may come close.

Anderlecht seems to be in a status quo but due to not reaching the Champions League (FC BATE from Belarus eliminated them in the qualifiers) Anderlecht will need to sell some of their better players to avoid a negative financial balance. So it will be waiting and seeing if they can keep a quality squad able to win the league, they definitely got the talent now but they realise they have to sell some players to keep the budget in balance now that they have no European football this season.

Standard seems too strong for the others and even with star player Fellaini leaving to England they still got a huge pool of very talented players. A young team but already very mature and with room for progress, Standard are heavy favourites to win their second title in a row.




The national team kicked off the WC qualifiers against Estonia. A narrow 3-2 win after goals from Sonck (twice) and Defour. Belgium seems to have a young talented squad with the best players from the Olympic semi finalists combined with the better more experienced players. The talent seems to be there to do it much better than the last campaign, but against Turkey and Spain the team will probably narrowly miss qualification. Also, while there is some talent in front, the defense seems very vulnerable. We will know more about the chances of Belgium after tomorrow, when Turkey has been faced (PS: I may have belgian citizenship but do support Turkey in this group)
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Rosenborg, forever pride of the North!