On July 28th, teams Royale Union Saint-Gilloise and RSC Anderlecht, both from Brussels, will kick off a new edition of the Jupiler Pro League. A day later, vice-champion Genk receive the visit of promoted RWDM. The last teams to close it out on that opening weekend are Sint-Truiden and Standard Liège.
The battle starts again. Over a period of 30 game days, with a winter break between December 28th and January 18th, the best Belgian teams will fight to be crowned champion on May 26, 2024.
New format
The Jupiler Pro League starts again with 16 teams in the competition, just like the Challenger Pro League. This means that Play-Off I will be played with 6 clubs again, with half of the points they gathered during competition. Play-Off II will also be reinstated, for numbers 7 to 12. The other 4 teams will play an after-season competition to determine who will relegate to 1B. This year, there will be at least 2 and maximum 3 teams that will relegate.
Will Antwerp hold?
The new season promises good stuff for the Great Old: On Sunday July 23rd, they won their first Supercup against losing Croky Cup-finalist KV Mechelen. It was Antwerp’s second participation in this final, while Club Brugge remains recordholder with 17 Supercup-victories.
After their successful season last year, RAFC hopes to gain their 6th national title. But the national champion has dealt with a couple of problems during the last period.
Rumours have been heard that trainer Van Bommel could move to a team from the Middle East. Van Bommel probably still has a contract with Antwerp until the middle of 2024, and RAFC will probably try to keep him there. But it can go quick in football, and we shall have to wait and see whether we’ll see Van Bommel next to the sideline with the Antwerp team for a longer time coming.
From whom we’ll certainly see a great deal more is Marc Overmars. Last year he got great players in the team, like Vincent Janssen and Toby Alderweireld. Also, he took a couple of young talents in the team, like George Ilenikhena, Jacob Ondrejka and Senne Lammens.
Newcomer RWDM
The team from Molenbeek became champion in the second league, and makes itself ready to start their challenge in the first league. The Brussels team has already bought a few new players who have to make the difference in the important moments.
But RWDM can’t run from the problems either: trainer Vincent Euvrard recently got fired, and with them almost the whole technical staff. The club was taken over by the Brazilian Claudio Caçapa and Igor de Camargo. That transfer was the consequence of John Textor’s vision, the chairman and owner of RWD Molenbeek.
Like with everything, there’s also critics on that vision: CEO Gauthier Ganaye had to talk to unsatisfied fans on the evening of Tuesday July 25 next to the stadium of RWDM. The fans showed up unannounced and were welcomed by Ganaye. Reportedly, the conversation was peaceful.
Genk in Europe
The play-off trauma is still fresh in the memory of the people from Limburg. That’s Alderweireld’s fault, as you may remember. This year, they’re going to have to do better. During the transfer window, they have managed to widen their midfield, and the young Cristopher Bonsu Baah should help to make the difference. That last one is an 18-year old Ghanese and, according to Scandinavian reporters (Bonsu Baah plays in Norway), a promising player.
Further on, the return of a familiar name seems more and more plausible. Paul Onuachu, who in January went to Southampton, seems disappointed and is seeking for a new club. Onuachu almost never got to play in England, in a team that has already degraded from the Premier League. According to football watcher Sacha Tavolieri, Onuachu would actually very much like a return to Genk, only Southampton isn’t keen of letting him go. The Englishmen need money, and ask an amount of 18 million euros. That’s even for KRC Genk a little bit too expensive.
At Genk, they will probably be focusing on their European trip. On Tuesday July 25, they played the first qualification game against the Swiss Servette FC. That team doesn’t have a big European record, but they didn’t miss a good start in the Swiss league: it won in Zürich with 1-3 against Grasshoppers. A challenge for the Limburg team, but not an impossible one. The two teams played an equal game of 1-1 after 90 minutes of football. After Servette FC, Genk plays in the Belgian competition against RWDM.
Gent, a million club
At AA Gent, Sam Baro became the new owner a couple days after the official announcement on the club website. He immediately shot a few million euros into the new club: the Buffalo’s can count on an investment of about 11 million. With a second shot of 10 million euros in the next year, the injection grows until about 21 million. With that, the financial power of the Buffalo’s grows until 31 million euros, money that they sure know how to use well.
But it doesn’t stop at club investments: Baro also bought out almost all of the stock holders, for a total amount of 7 million euros. That can sound strange, knowing that those stock holders got their shares for free, without ever investing in the club. And that’s the reason why some of the former stock holders are thinking about investing their new-gotten money back into the club. Supporter group ‘Tribune7’ calls for that action: “Many got shares for free. Baro pays them 7 million now. T7 asks the share holders to invest the money back into the club.”
Baro will eventually hold about 95% of the club to himself. Some of the former directional members will stay in the club for a little while, to make sure the transfer runs smoothly. Those members include names like chairman Ivan De Witte and CEO Michel Louwagie.
Who wins in the end?
The big question that will spook around in our heads for the next 9 months: who will come out victorious? It’ll be running, sweating, scoring and fighting. It’s not clear at this moment who will take the upper hand in this Belgian football year, but we do believe that every club and every player will do their absolute best to go for victory.
