Sunday night Club plays its first game in the Champions' playoffs against Anderlecht. Read all Club Facts for the 200th showdown below!
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Club - Anderlecht: the Club Facts
THE PLAY-OFFS
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This is the 11th edition of Play-Off 1. For the first time, only 4 clubs are playing in the final battle for the national title. Club Brugge and RSC Anderlecht are the only 2 clubs that could qualify for each edition. For KRC Genk, it is the 8th participation, overtaking AA Gent on the 3rd spot of most number of PO1 participations. For R. Antwerp FC, it is the 2nd participation.
It is the 4th time Club starts PO1 as leader. 5 times Club started second and 2 times fourth. In 100 Play-Off 1 matches, Club won 49 times, drew 20 times and lost 31 times. It scored 171 times and gave up 122 goals. With 167 points in 10 previous editions, Club achieved 2 points more than RSCA (165 points).
On average in 10 editions of PO1, Club achieved a 16.7 out of 30 or 55.6%. Against Anderlecht it achieved 23 out of 60 (38.3%), against KRC Genk 28 out of 42 (66.7%) and against Antwerp 4 out of 6 (66.7%). In Play-Off 1, Club thus averaged a 16.7 out of 30 (10 editions, 55.6%) in previous participations. For Anderlecht it was 16.5 out of 30 (10 editions, 55.0%), for KRC Genk 15 out of 30 (7 editions, 52.4%) and for R. Antwerp 14 out of 30 (1 edition, 46.7%).
For coach Philippe Clement, it is the third participation in PO1. It is the first time for him as Club coach. For KRC Genk, he participated in PO1 in both 2018 and 2019. With 3 participations, he is the most experienced coach of the 4 participants this season. For John Van den Brom (Anderlecht in 2013 and KRC Genk this season) and Frank Vercauteren (KRC Genk in 2011 and R. Antwerp this season) it is the 2nd participation. Vincent Kompany (RSC Anderlecht) is the only coach making his debut in PO1. The oldest players who may be in action in PO1 are: 1. Faris Haroun (R. Antwerp FC) [35.5 years], 2. Dieumerci Mbokani ((R. Antwerp FC) [35.4], 3. Nabil Dirar (Club Brugge KV) [35.1]. The youngest players who may be in action in PO1 are (who have already played this season): Mario Stroeykens (RSC Anderlecht) [16,5], 2. Pierre Dwomoh (KRC Genk) [16,8], 3. Kristian Arnstad (RSC Anderlecht) [17,6].
The distribution for the European tickets is as follows:
- 1st place: group stage UCL
- 2nd place: 3rd preliminary round UCL. The vice champion must survive 2 preliminary rounds to get into the UCL group stage. If it is eliminated in one of the 2 preliminary rounds, it has the UEL group stage as its safety net.
- Cup winner/3rd place: UEFA Europa League playoffs. If eliminated, it has the UEFA Europa Conference League (UECL) group stage as a safety net.
- 3rd/4th place: 3rd preliminary round UECL
- winner PO2: 2nd preliminary round UECL
THE MATCH
It is the 175th confrontation between Club and Sporting in First Division history. The 87 previous times the team from the capital has been a guest in Bruges, Club was able to win 42 times (last time 3-0 on 04/10/2020), draw 27 times (last time 1-1 on 14/05/2017) and lose 18 times (last time 1-2 on 06/05/2018). If we add to the 175 league matches in First also the Second Division matches, cup matches and supercups, this will be the 200th confrontation between the two teams!
In 10 previous home matches in Play-Off 1, there were 5 wins (last time 1-0 on 28/04/2019), 1 draw (1-1 on 14/05/2017) and 4 defeats (last time 1-2 on 06/05/2018) against Purple White. Club won the most recent 4 home matches against purplewhite all. Only 2 times in history Club achieved a longer run of consecutive home victories: between 03/12/1973 and 17/11/1979 Club won no less than 8 consecutive times. Between 10/03/1995 and 29/01/1999, Club was able to beat Sporting 5 times in a row. Club also won 5 of the last 6 mutual duels.
Blauw-Zwart was also able to find its way to the goal against Anderlecht for 12 home matches in a row. That is an equalling of the record in First Division, which was previously recorded between 04/09/2021 and 27/04/1947. During that period, there were regularly no confrontations because both teams were already playing in Second Class. If Club can score, it will be the 225th goal in First Class against RSCA! The top shooters of both clubs, Noa Lang and Lukas Nmecha, both hit 14 goals already this season. They were also able to score against each other's team in the last confrontation between them.
This is the duel between the 2 teams with the best defenses in the Jupiler Pro League. Club only took 26 goals against, for purple-white the average is exactly 1 goal against per match.
Club Brugge (335 minutes) and Anderlecht (403 minutes) are the 2 teams that have been trailing for the least amount of time this Jupiler Pro League season. Clement cannot call on Clinton Mata. He picked up his 5th yellow card on the last match day of the regular league.
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THE OPPONENT
Thanks to a strong final sprint with 5 wins and 1 draw in the last 6 league matches, Kompany's team managed to finish in the top 3 after the regular competition.
Against their 3 opponents in the Champions' Play Offs, RSC Anderlecht lost only 1 match in the regular competition: the duel at Jan Breydel against Club Brugge (3-0). With that, it did better than Club against its PO1 opponents (12 out of 18).
In previous editions of Play-Off 1, Anderlecht finished first 5 times (2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2017), second once (2016) and third 3 times (2011, 2015, 2018) and sixth once (2019). Sporting will start the Play-Offs 3rd in the standings with 29 points. That is 9 less than leader Club.
MECHELE
Brandon Mechele can play his 275th official match for Club. For Stefano Denswil, it could be the 190th match for Blauw-Zwart. Eduard Sobol may be in action for Club for the 70th time. Nabil Dirar can play his 120th league match for Club, Noa Lang and Youssouph Badji their 25th.
Hans Vanaken can play his 290th match in First Class (76 for Sporting Lokeren and 213 for Club) and for Brandon Mechele it can be the 220th match in First Class (201 for Club and 18 for STVV).