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KV Mechelen - Club Brugge: Club Facts

Jupiler Pro League

Sunday afternoon we head to the AFAS stadium for the meeting with KV Mechelen. At 13:30 we kick off our match of playday 17 of the Jupiler Pro League. Find out all about the match and the opponent thanks to the Club Facts below!

The game

On this first displacement of the return round of the regular competition, we look KV Mechelen in the eye for the 118th time in the history of the Belgian first division. The 58 previous away matches behind De Kazerne ended in 24 wins (last time 0-3 on 02/04/2023), 14 draws (last time 3-3 on 11/08/2012) and 20 defeats (last time 2-1 on 19/11/2021).

Of the last 7 away games in Mechelen, Club won 6 of them. Only in 2021 Blauw-Zwart went down 2-1 there.

Last season Club was able to win there 0-3. After hand play, Noa Lang was able to convert a penalty kick. Not much later, the Dutchman was able to double the score. After halftime, Brandon Mechele recorded the final score with a header.

In late July, Club fell short of a 1-1 draw at home on the first day of play. Rob Schoofs was able to outsmart Mignolet with a clever free kick in the 38th minute. After halftime, Igor Thiago was able to open his account at Club by cashing in on a penalty kick.

It is already Club Brugge's 30th game this season. That's 11 more than opponent KV Mechelen.


Club's top shooter in the league is still Andreas Skov Olsen (7 goals). Across all competitions, he already sits at 16 goals (4 cup + 5 European). That is already 1 goal more than overall top shooter Ferran Jutglà over the entire last season.

Maxim De Cuyper is still the best striker in the league at Club (5 assists).

Philip Zinckernagel scored and handed out an assist against his former team Standard. It is already the third time in 2023 that he succeeds in this in the Jupiler Pro League: previously in August 2023 with Club vs RWDM and in January 2023 with Standard at Antwerp. No player in the Jupiler Pro League did better last calendar year.

Simon Mignolet is already unbeaten 6 matches in a row (562 minutes). Only 4 times in history did Club achieve more consecutive clean sheets. Dany Verlinden holds the record of 10 consecutive clean sheets in official matches between March and May 1990.

Hugo Vetlesen must avoid a yellow card to avoid missing the match against KAA Gent. He stands with 4 yellow cards behind his name.

The opponent

Next Sunday afternoon Club will be the guest of KV Mechelen. Malinwa is in 10th place in the rankings after 16 playing days.

Steven Defour started the season as coach. But after red-yellow was eliminated in the cup by first nationaler FC Knokke and KV Mechelen was in the last 4 in the Jupiler Pro League, the two sides parted ways.

Besnik Hasi took over the helm at the Mechelen side. He started with a 3-on-6 at his new club. As Anderlecht's coach, Besnik Hasi took on Club Brugge 11 times before. He was able to win no fewer than 6 of them, but he also coached purple and white during the 2015 cup final (2-1) and during the 2016 playoffs (4-0) when Club won its 14th national title.

KV Mechelen scored 10 out of 24 at home. It won over Union (4-0), Eupen (1-0) and Sporting Charleroi (1-0), drew against Antwerp (0-0) and lost to KAA Gent (0-1), OHL (1-2), Cercle Brugge (0-2) and STVV (0-2). Mechelen already sits at as many home defeats as in the entire previous season.

Rob Schoofs, who was able to score 3 times against Club Brugge in the past, is the club's top shooter with 4 goals. Together with Yonas Malede and Patrick Pflücke, he is also assist king (2 assists).

On average, the club drafts 7.75 Belgians, the highest number in the Jupiler Pro League.

Remarkably, no player has yet received a red this season at KVM.

Already in 7 games this season Mechelen could not find the way to the goal. Only red lantern KV Kortrijk (8) is doing worse.

Milestones

  • Igor Thiago did not yet miss a match for Club this season. He can therefore play his 30th match for Club.
  • Dedryck Boyata and Philip Zinckernagel can play their 25th match for Club.
  • Tajon Buchanan can play his 50th league match for Club.
  • For Antonio Nusa, it could be the 40th league match for FCB.

The referee

Nicolas Laforge was designated ref for this game. These linesmen assist him: Laurent Conotte and Vito Di Vincenzo. Jan Boterberg is the fourth man.

Kevin Van Damme takes his place behind the scenes in Tubize. In his role as VAR, he will be assisted by Michiel Allaerts and Bert Verbeke.

Laforge will lead an official Club match for the 41st time. Club's previous 20 away matches under his leadership resulted in 9 wins, 5 draws and 6 defeats. Earlier this season, he whistled Club's home match against STVV (1-1).