For the first time, we’ll take on Club Brugge when we travel to Belgium for our matchday six Champions League clash.
Having firmly re-established themselves as one of their nation's biggest clubs during the last decade, Brugge have plenty of European pedigree and have yet to taste defeat on their own ground during their continental challenges so far this term.
If you need to learn more about their history, current stars or how they’re getting on this season, we’ve got you covered:
The history
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Founded as Brugsche FC in 1892, Club Brugge are the second-most decorated side in Belgian football history, behind Anderlecht. It would take until 1920 for them to win their first major trophy when they lifted the league championship for the first of 19 occasions so far, however it initially proved to be a false dawn and they spent much of 1940s and 1950s in the second tier.
They returned to the top-flight in 1959 where they have remained, and the first of their record 11 Belgian Cup titles arrived nine years later. A golden period under legendary manager Ernst Happel brought three straight titles between 1976 and 1978, the 1977 Belgian Cup and appearances in the finals of the 1976 UEFA Cup and 1978 European Cup, both of which were lost to Liverpool. Brugge are the Belgian side to reach Europe’s top competition’s showpiece.
After fleeting success in every decade since, three successive league triumphs between 2020 and 2022 represented the first time they’d achieved such sustained dominance since Happel’s days. Their last title in 2023/24 meant they had been champions six times in the previous nine campaigns.
The stadium
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Brugge play at the 29,042-capacity Jan Breydel Stadium, which was built during their golden years in the 1970s. Also home to city rivals Cercle Brugge, it was expanded in 1998 in preparation for Euro 2000 when it hosted four matches.
Previously known as the Olympiastadion, in order to qualify for subsidies from the Flanders government for the renovation work, a Flemish name was required. They opted for the Jan Breydel Stadium, named after a folk hero from 14th-century Bruges who led a rebellion against the French.
The manager
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Tuesday brought the shock news that Brugge had parted ways with manager Nicky Hayen, who had been in charge since March 2024, with Ivan Leko poached from Gent to swiftly fill his shoes. The former Croatian international midfielder represented Hajduk Split, Malaga and Lokeren with distinction during his playing days, as well as Brugge, where he spent four years between 2005 and 2009 and won a Belgian Cup.
The majority of his 11-year managerial career has been spent in Belgium, firstly at OH Leuven and Sint-Truiden before returning to Brugge in 2017, where he won the title in his first season. After a brief spell in the UAE with Al-Ain, he later enjoyed cup success with Antwerp and Hajduk Split in his homeland, and after winning eight of his 19 matches in charge of Gent since his summer arrival has now accepted a third spell at Brugge.
Last season
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Brugge’s three-year stranglehold on the Belgian championship ended last term, as they were pipped to the title by Union Saint-Gilloise by three points. However there was some silverware claimed as a brace from Romeo Vermant clinched the Belgian Cup with a 2-1 success over Anderlecht.
They snuck into the play-off round of the Champions League by taking the 24th and final spot on the table, having beaten Aston Villa and Sporting Lisbon and drew with Juventus. After knocking out Atlanta 5-2 on aggregate, they were drawn against Villa again in the last-16, but lost 6-1 across the two legs.
The squad
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Greek winger Christos Tzolis _\[above\]_ finished as the team’s top scorer last season with 15 goals and leads the way this term again with nine. 21-year-old striker Nicolo Tresoldi has chipped in with seven and has a good scoring rate for Germany’s under-21s, while ex-Liverpool shot-stopper Simon Mignolet has been the first-choice goalkeeper since 2019.
Experienced Belgian international midfielder Hans Vanaken captains the side, and is a three-time Belgian League Player of the Year winner, while another veteran in Brandon Mechele anchors the defence. Full-backs Joaquin Seys and Hugo Siquet have also won international caps for Belgium, as has Vermant, who is the fourth generation of his family to represent the club
Arriving from Inter Milan this summer, defensive midfielder Aleksandar Stankovic is the son of former Inter star Dejan and represents Serbia, while another new recruit, Carlos Forbs, recently made his Portugal bow after being snapped up from Ajax, and previously spent time on loan at Wolves.
The season so far
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After recouping £66 million selling defensive midfielder Ardon Jashari (AC Milan), left-back Maxim De Cuyper (Brighton) and winger Chemsdine Talbi (Sunderland), Hayden's rebuild has yet to fire and saw him sacked. Leko arrives with his team five points behind Union Saint-Gilloise at the summit, and also trailing Sint-Truiden after losing 3-2 to them on Saturday - their third loss in the last four league games, having lost at home to Standard Liege the week before.
They have made it through to the quarter-finals of the Belgian Cup, and having defeated Salzburg and Rangers to get into the Champions League league phase, things got off to a good start as they thrashed Monaco 4-1. They then suffered defeats to Atalanta and Bayern Munich on the road, and led three times against Barcelona before drawing 3-3 with Forbs netting a brace. However a 3-0 loss at Sporting Lisbon leaves them 26th in the table with four points.
The history
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This will be the first time we have played Club Brugge, but our recent clashes with Belgian opposition have been fruitful. Our last defeat against a side from the country came in October 1981 when we were beaten by KFC Winterslag in the UEFA Cup, having gone unbeaten in their last nine such matches since then.
We came up against RFC Liege in our first-ever season in European football in 1963/64, losing 4-2 on aggregate, but in 1970 we beat Anderlecht 4-2 on aggregate to win the Fairs Cup. Matches against them and Standard Liege have been most common down the years, which includes our biggest European away win when we triumphed 7-0 against the latter in the Cup Winners' Cup in 1994.
Our last meeting with a Belgian side also came against Standard, back in 2019. After an 18-year-old Gabriel Martinelli had scored twice in a 4-0 home success against the same side earlier in the competition, another teen in Bukayo Saka came to the fore in Belgium, assisting Alexandre Lacazette from left wing-back before scoring himself in the 81st minute to salvage a draw and ensure we finished top of our Europa League group.
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