First up for Club Brugge in this new year is a Belgian Cup tie with OHL.
The game
The Round of 8 is where Club Brugge and Oud-Heverlee Leuven are set to chime in the new year. The winter break has never been shorter. Just twelve days after that spectacular last-gasp win against KVC Westerlo at home (4-3), Club will be manning the pitch at the occasion of the Belgian Cup.
The past 9 first games of the new year resulted in a win for Club on 7 occasions. Only in 2023 (3-1 defeat at Genk) and 2019 (0-1 at home vs Charleroi) Club went down.
For the 8th time in 11 seasons, Club has made it to the Round of 8; only once did it not proceed to the Semis (in 2021, 1-0 at Standard). Ever since the Belgian Cup has been restructured in 1963, Club qualified for the Round of 8 30 times in 62.
Club went past the following hurdles in order to reach this stage:
- The Round of 32 saw Club host the game against Belisia Bilzen. The first thirty minutes saw three Club goals, twice by Ferran Jutglà (2x) and the third by Zaid Romero. A glorious 3-1 by Sam Valcke paved the way for more goals after the break, this time by Gustaf Nilsson, Bjorn Meijer and Michal Skoras (6-1).
- Patro Eisden Maasmechelen hosted the game in the Round of 16. Club took the lead early on, as Tzolis sent Casper Nielsen deep and the latter fired it home. Van Eeenoo made sure Patro kept all hopes alive with a first half equaliser, but just after the break Hans Vanaken put Club in the lead again with a timely header, and in the dying moments of the game, Ardon Jashari put the result beyond doubt (1-3).
The Belgian Cup stage has only seen the two teams compete once before. In December 2021, Club also hosted the game at Jan Breydel, sending OHL away 4-1, goals by Charles De Ketelaere and Éder Balanta in the first half; after the break, OHL fought back through Xavier Mercier, only to see Noa Lang and Hans Vanaken further widen the gap to make it 4-1 on the night.
Early November of 2024, the two teams faced each other for the first time this season; Club won by the narrowest of margins at OHL, courtesy of Andreas Skov Olsen.
A win for Club against OHL would make the winning streak against OHL grow to ten units (7W 2D).
Top scorer in this season's Croky Cup is Ferran Jutglà (2 goals); so far, 8 different players have made their way to the score line for Club. Bjorn Meijer and Hans Vanaken assisted twice.
Hans Vanaken added two more to his tally at Patro, making it a tenth Cup goal in ten seaons at Club. What's even more remarkable is that he scored his first two goals at Club back in 2015, also at Eisden's Gemeentelijk Sportstadion. The game against Oud-Heverlee Leuven could be his 50th Cup tie in his carreer, having played 3 at Lommel, 9 at Lokeren, and 37 at Club.
In between the posts in the past two Cup rounds, Nordin Jackers could be facing his former employer should he be selected again tonight.
Club Brugge ended 2024 in fine spirits, having completed a run of 14 unbeaten games in a row. Will Club be able to continue along those lines in the new year?
Tonight's winner will be facing the winner of the Limburg derby: STVV or Genk, with the first leg scheduled next week on Wednesday.
With 6 games planned in January at this point, Club has equalled the record of most games in January of 1986 and 2021. Qualifying for the Semis would make it the busiest first month ever for Club.
The opponent
Oud-Heverlee Leuven will be Club's first opponent at Jan Breydel in the new year. The team bid farewell to coach Óscar García in November and appointed Chris Coleman as his successor:
- As a player, Mr. Coleman defended the colours of a.o. Fulham FC and Crystal Palace.
- He also joined the Cottagers as a coach, and went on to hold the reigns at a.o. Coventry City.
- He may be best known for his stint as a Wales gaffer (Jan 2012 - Nov 2017). During that time, Wales played the Red Devils five times, the most illustrious of which was at Euro2016, when Coleman's Wales won their group before England, ousted Belgium in the Quarter Finals, only to see them ousted against later winners Portugal.
- He added four more teams to his coaching carreer after that: Sunderland AFC (Eng), Hebei FC (Chn), Atromitos FC (Gre) and AEL Limassol (Cyp).
- His campaign at OHL started with a 7 out of 12, with home wins against Beerschot (2-0) and Sporting Charleroi (1-0), an away draw at Standard (1-1) and a defeat at Cercle (1-0).
Two thirds into the Jupiler Pro League, Oud-Heverlee Leuven is in 11th place with 25 points, four points ahead of the bottom 4.
In order to make it to tonight's tie with Club, OH Leuven went past two Challenger Pro League teams:
- In the Round of 32, RFC Seraing was sent away 2-0 after goals by Siebe Schrijvers and William Balikwisha.
- A 5-0 thumping of Zulte Waregem came courtesy of Kuruçay, Maziz, Banzuzi, N'Dri and Ikwuemesi.
With Siebe Schrijvers, William Balikwisha, Ezechiel Banzuzi, Chukwubuikem Ikwuemesi, Hasan Kuruçay, Youssef Maziz and Konan N'Dri, OHL has 7 Cup top scorers. With two assists, Youssef Maziz and Óscar Gil have helped their team towards a goal twice.
In Federico Ricca, Thibault Vlietinck, Birger Verstraete and Siebe Schrijvers, OHL harbours quite a lot of players with a past at Club.
For Leuven it will be the third time in four cup campaigns that the team has made it to the Round of 8, but both in 2022 (vs Club Brugge) and in 2024 (vs Antwerp) the Cup dreams grounded to a halt at this stage. A win against Club Brugge would mean the team has made it to the Semis for the first time in its history.
Milestones
- Simon Mignolet could be manning goal for the 270th time at Club Brugge.
- This could be Ferran Jutglà's 120th appearance at Club.
- Hugo Siquet is up for a tenth appearance.
- For the tenth time, Andreas Skov Olsen could be playing a Cup tie with Club
First division: 17 duels, 12W, 2D and 3L (33 goals scored and 16 against)
Cup: 1 duel, 1W (4 goals scored and 1 against).
TOTAL: 18 duels, 13W, 2D, 3L (37 goals scored and 17 against)
The Man in Black
Lothar D'Hondt has been appointed as referee for this first game of 2025, assisted by his linesmen, Romain Devillers and Nico Claes. Fourth official will be Ken Vermeiren. Nicolas Laforge will be in charge of VAR, backed by Vito Di Vincenzo and Carlos-Manuel Serra Guerreiro Alho.
It will be the 24th time Mr. D'Hondt will be in charge of an official game involving Club Brugge. In 10 earlier home games with him in charge, Club won 6, drew twice and suffered defeat on two occasions.
For OH Leuven this will be the 20th official game with Mr. D'hondt. In 10 earlier away games, the team lost 5, won 2 and drew twice.
Just once was the ref in charge of a game involving both teams. Back in August of 2022, Club won its league game aan Den Dreef 0-3.