Last weekend Club recorded its 18th win of the season in the classic against Standard Liege (3-1). The first match in the Croky Cup is finally upon us. Read all Club Facts here!
THE MATCH.
This match was postponed twice before. Because of the corona crisis, the amateur clubs were not allowed to play. Clubs in the 1/16th final of the cup were given an exception.
Since the cup reform in 1963, this is the 58th consecutive time Club Brugge was able to qualify for this round. In fact, from 1963 to 1991, Club had to play another 1/32nd final first to get into this round. Of the 57 previous participations in the 1/16th final of the Belgian Cup, Club managed to qualify for the 1/8th final 43 times (75.4%). 14 times it was eliminated (24.6%). Fresh in the memory is still the elimination in 2018 against KMSK Deinze (2-0) in this round, so Club should be warned not to underestimate the opponent. At this stage of the cup, players are already being rested. The players on the longest uninterrupted run of matches are Clinton Mata (44 matches in a row), Noa Lang (23) and Charles De Ketelaere (22).
Club Brugge and Olsa Brakel have never met in an official context. There is 1 player who played for both the first team of Olsa Brakel and Club Brugge: Sandy Martens. The striker was able to get into the first team there through the youth series. At the age of 21, he was snatched away by AA Gent. Martens played five seasons with the Buffaloes before moving to Blauw-Zwart. Martens played 178 matches and scored 44 times for Club. He became champion in 2003 and won the cup in 2002 and 2004.
Cup successes of our players:
- Stefano Denswil, Brandon Mechele, Ruud Vormer won the Belgian Cup with Club Brugge in 2015.
- Ethan Horvath won the Norwegian cup with Molde FK in 2014.
- Matej Mitrovic won the Croatian cup with HNK Rijeka in 2014 and 2017.
- Eduard Sobol won the Ukrainian cup with FC Shakhtar Donetsk in 2013 and the Czech cup in 2018 with SK Slavia Praha.
- Éder Balanta won the Swiss Cup in 2017 and 2019 with FC Basel 1893.
- Hans Vanaken won the Belgian cup in 2014 with KSC Lokeren OV.
- Noa Lang won the Dutch cup in 2019 with AFC Ajax.
- Bas Dost won the German cup with VfL Wolfsburg in 2015 and the Portuguese cup with Sporting Lisbon in 2019.
THE OPPONENT
Olsa Brakel is a club from the south of East Flanders and plays in Second National, the former "Second Class Amateurs." Last season, the club was third in the Third Amateur Class, when the league was shut down after 24 playing days. Olsa was allowed to promote to Second.
This season began in late September for Olsa in 2nd National. The club began with 2 ties at home against Zelzate (2-2) and away at Merelbeke (0-0). The first win of the season followed on the field of Wetteren (0-2). Then the league was halted because of the flaring corona crisis. There was still hope to finish the league halfway after the New Year, but that hope was cut short at the end of January. The corona numbers remained too bad for a restart.
Olsa Brakel had to eliminate 4 teams to get into the 1/16th final of the cup:
- Sint-Denijs Sport - Olsa Brakel 1 - 3
- Diegem Sport - Olsa Brakel 0 - 1
- Renaissance Mons 44 - Olsa Brakel 0 - 1
- Olsa Brakel - FCV Dender EH 2 - 0
Olsa Brakel's squad received approval to resume training at the beginning of December. Coach of Olsa Brakel is 47-year-old Stefano Nijst. He inserted 2 practice matches with his club. One was stopped because of snowfall. The second was against fellow Lokeren-Temse. The home team, which was preparing for the cup clash with STVV, made it 3-1. Sporting took the lead at the half-hour mark, but just before halftime Olsa equalized through Robin Nelis. After halftime, Lokeren-Temse was able to get the win with 2 goals.
Olsa's most famous player is 34-year-old central defender Ludovic Buysens. He still played in First Class for KAA Gent, RAEC Mons, STVV, OHL and Lierse. Goalkeeper Jasper Otte was active for Zulte Waregem for several more seasons. Central defender Sebastiaan Cordie and midfielder Kevin Haezebroeck (captain) still played for Club Brugge youth.
- In the past 10 years, K. Olsa Brakel was able to qualify for the 1/16th final of the Cup twice:
-> In 2015, it went down hopelessly on the field of KV Kortrijk (5-0).
-> In 2014 it provided the stunt of the match day by humiliating then first division team KVC Westerlo 6-1! In the 1/8th final, YR KV Mechelen was narrowly too strong after Malinwa went on to win 2-3 at the Olsa Stadium.
MILPALS
Hans Vanaken scored his 79th goal for Club Brugge against Standard. It was his 6th league goal of this season. In doing so, the Limburger ended a run of 13 league matches without a goal, which was his shared longest run at Club (also 13 duels without a goal in 2015). Bas Dost was decisive for Club Brugge for the 6th time in 6 matches. Against STVV, Beerschot, KV Oostende, KRC Genk and Standard he was able to score each time and against Cercle Brugge he gave an assist.
Noa Lang is already decisive 15 times (9 goals + 6 assists) in the Jupiler Pro League. Of all the players in Europe's top 10 leagues, Lang is the 3rd youngest player to be decisive at least 15 times.
1. Erling Haaland (Nor) [Borussia Dortmund (Ger)] (20.5 years old): 14 goals + 2 assists
2. Antony (Bra) [AFC Ajax (Ned)] (20.9 years): 8 goals + 8 assists
3. Sekou Koita (Mli) [RB Salzburg (Aut)] (age 21,2): 12 goals + 4 assists
4. Noa Lang (Ned) [Club Brugge KV (Bel)] (21.6 years): 9 goals + 6 assists
Club won for the 7th league match in a row. It has been since 19/02/2016 that Club recorded at least 7 more wins in a row. For a series of at least 8 matches, we already have to go back to 03/04/2004 when Blauw-Zwart strung together 10 wins. The record is 16 wins in a row, achieved under Sollied in 2000. Club won all its 8 matches of the return round. It has been since the 2012-13 season that a Belgian club was also able to win the first 8 matches of the return round. RSC Anderlecht achieved that feat then.
Clinton Mata gave his 6th assist at Club Brugge. It was his 2nd assist in 3 matches after he already offered Vormer a goal against KRC Genk. Mata can play his 100th official match for Club Brugge. Ruud Vormer can play his 25th match in the cup for Club. Stefano Denswil can be active in the Belgian Cup for the 10th time. If Nabil Dirar makes his comeback, he may play the 10th match in the Belgian Cup of his career. He appeared 3 times for KVC Westerlo and 6 times for Club Brugge.
OTHER MATCHES THIS ROUND:
di 02/02/2021 6 p.m. K. Rupel Boom FC (1st nat) - KAS Eupen 0 - 5 f.f.
di 02/02/2021 6 p.m. KFC Dessel Sport (1e nat) - K. Beerschot VA 0 - 5 f.f.
di 02/02/2021 18h00 R. Antwerp FC - RAA La Louvière (1st nat)
di 02/02/2021 6 p.m. R. Union St-Gilloise (1B) - R. Excel Mouscron
di 02/02/2021 20h00 KVV Thes Sport Tessenderlo (1e nat) - KRC Genk 0 - 5 f.f.
di 02/02/2021 20h00 Lommel SK (1B) - KV Kortrijk
Wed 03/02/2021 16:00 YR KV Mechelen - RWDM (1B)
Wed 03/02/2021 6:00 PM KAA Gent - FC Heur-Tongeren (2nd wet)
Wed 03/02/2021 6:00 PM Oud-Heverlee Leuven - Cercle Brugge KSV
Wed 03/02/2021 6 p.m. Sp. du Pays de Charleroi - KVC Westerlo (1B)
Wed 03/02/2021 7:00 PM RFC Seraing (1B) - R. Standard de Liège
Wed 03/02/2021 20h00 R. Olympic Club Charleroi (1st nat) - SV Zulte Waregem
Wed 03/02/2021 8:00 PM SC Lokeren-Temse (2nd nat) - K. Sint-Truidense VV
Wed 03/02/2021 8:00 PM KV RS Waasland-SK Beveren - KV Oostende
Wed 03/02/2021 21:15 RFC Liège (1st nat) - RSC Anderlecht