Club Brugge KV (Belgium)
Founded: November 13 1891
Colors: black and blue
Ground: Jan Breydel Stadium, capacity – 29 472 seats
President: Bart Verhaeghe
Head coach: Philippe Clement
Last season in Belgian league: 2nd place
Players’ average age: 22,97 years*
Total lineup value: 109,33* million euro
Fixtures:
August 6/7 – Brugge – Dynamo
August 13 – Dynamo – Brugge
This club from West Flanders was founded in 1891 which makes it one of the oldest in Belgium. Just as RSC Anderlecht, Brugge are one of two Belgian top-clubs. Besides, they’re the only Belgian team that featured in the European Champions’ Cup final (1978, lost against Liverpool FC – 0:1).
Brugge changed their name four times and got the current one in 1972. Their first national success happened exactly 100 years ago – in 1919/20 season, when they won the domestic league.
After that they had about 50 years without trophies. In 1960s and 1970s the club was reborn. In 1968 Brugge won the Belgian Cup and in 1973 — their second league title.
Austrian legend Ernst Happel took charge of the team in 1974 and won the league three times in a row. In 1976 Brugge reached the UEFA Cup final while in 1978 they performed in the European Champions’ Cup decisive game.
There’s certain Ukrainian trace in Brugge history. Dynamo former midfielder Serhiy Serebrennikov used to feature for the local team.
Modern Club Brugge KV are one of the best clubs in Belgium. In 2016 and 2018 they won the league while last season lost by seven points to Genk. By the way, they scored 64 goals which is the best result in the league.
Brugge new head coach is Philippe Clement. 45-year-old specialist, who used to be a midfielder (38 caps, 1 goal for Belgium), dedicated 10 years of his career to Brugge as a player (1999-2000, 256 games, 38 goals). Last season he won the Belgian league with Genk.
Brugge have been quite active at the transfer market. First of all they’ve sold two leading performers – forward Wesley (Aston Villa FC, 25 million euro) and defender Stefano Denswil (Bologna FC 1909, 6 million euro). On the other hand, they’ve signed Nigerian striker David Okere (Specia Calcio, 8 million euro) and two defenders – Simon Deli (SK Slavia Prague, 2,5 million euro) and Odilon Kossounou (Hammarby IF).
Two midfielder, Marvelous Nakamba (Aston Villa FC) and Arnaut Danjuma (AFC Bournemouth) have left for England while defender Luan Peres has joined Santos FC. Besides, Brugge have signed former Liverpool FC keeper Simon Mignolet for 7* million euro.
This summer FC Shakhtar Donetsk defender Eduard Sobol went on loan move to Brugge and has a chance to face FC Dynamo Kyiv.
Trophies:
Belgian league: 15 titles
Belgian Cup: 11
Belgian Super Cup: 15
European Champions’ Cup runners-up: 1977/78
UEFA Cup runners-up: 1975/76
* – data from Transfermarkt.com.
