Belgium I Division

 

First Division. Three teams way above the rest, yet, not real drama between them. As usual, Belgian clubs were full of imported players – some names will be given as an illustration.

Racing – or KRC Mechelen – last and relegated with 21 points. The city of Mechelen was unable to keep 2 clubs in the top league. The former Dutch national team player Benny Wijnstekers, 35 years old, was the big name in the squad.

KSK Beveren - 17^th with 24 points and relegated. Hard to imagine this club won 2 titles not long ago. Apart from the brother of the famous Jean-Marie Pfaff – Danny Pfaff, two other players catch the eye: the 36-years old Marek Kusto, from the great 1974 World Cup Polish national team, and the Dutch striker Peter van Vossen, still 22 years old and unknown, but who will become significant star later.

KSV Waregem – barely escaped relegation: 16^th with 25 points. Hardly any well known players in the squad: the former Ajax (Amsterdam) goalkeeper Hans Galje (33 years old) and well-traveled Irish defended Jack McDonagh (28 years old).

St-Truiden – or K. Sint-Truidense VV - 15^th with 27 points. Occasional Yugoslavia national team player Ivan Cvjetkovic (30 years old) was the best known name in the squad. Jacques Kingambo (28 years old) was one of the many players from Zaire playing football in Belgium through the years: familiar from elsewhere relation with former colony.

Sporting – or R. Charleroi SC - 14^th with 27 points. A cluster of well-known veterans here: former Belgian national team players Raymond Mommens (32 yearls old) and Leo Van Der Elst (28 years old), plus Romanian former international Rodion Camataru (32 years old), the Chilean national team player Osvaldo Hurtado (31 years old), British defender Kevin Pugh (30 years old), and Zairian Christian Vavadio (25 years old).

Germinal Ekeren - 13^th with 27 points, yet, they almost had their best season in history up to 1990. Former Czechoslovak national team player Werner Licka (36 years old) was perhaps the best known name in the squad, but Dutch defender Ernie Brandts (34 years old) had silver medal from the 1978 World Cup. The rest of the Dutch presence was different: Ronny Prins (35 years old) was best known as the son of Dutch legend Co Prins and 22-years old Henk Vos was yet unknown.

RFC Liege – or Club Liegeois - 12^th with 28 points. They had their best season ever, though. Good coach and dependable core of players.

KSK Lokeren Oost-Vlaanderen - 11^th with 28 points. Had stronger seasons and famous players in the past, but generally a modest club, so its current stars: Marko Myyry (23 years old) from Finland, Hungarian national team players Ferenc Meszaros (27 years old), and 2 Nigerians – John Esin (21 years old) and Siasia Samson (23 years old). Belgian clubs looked for African players for years and now paid close attention to rising Nigerian talent – and were right.

Lierse SK - 10^th with 28 points. Their coach was the best known name... however, Barry Hulshof of the great years of Ajax (Amsterdam) as a coach never reached the class of player Hulshof. Another Dutch in the team – Eric Viscaal (22 years old) – will become eventually well-known.

Cercle Brugge KSV - 9^th with 31 points. They were never able to really compete with big and famous city rivals, keeping modest profile. Three Yugoslavs this season – Jerko Tipuric (30 years old), Branko Karacic (30 years old), and Josip Weber (26 years old). Not first-rate Yugoslavs and practically unknown, however, Weber eventually not only took Belgian citizenship, but played successfully for the Belgian national team.

Beerschot – or K. Beerschot VAC - 8^th with 32 points. Rather familiar performance – mid-table. Great, but aging coach – Georges Heylens – who did what he could with a squad based on few foreigners: well-remembered Dutch striker Simon Tahamata (34 years old), two long-time Romanian national team players – Lucian Balan (31 years old) and Gino Iorgulescu (31 years old), and Hungarian national team player Laszlo Szabadi (29 years old). Add the 36-years old veteran Jos Daerden, who had some national team appearances in the past.

KV Kortrijk - 7^th with 33 points. Given their modest history, this was very strong season for Kortrijk. The usual Belgian 'secret' was at play – a core of oldish, vastly experienced players: Gerard Plessers (31 years), Michel De Wolf (32 years), Filip Desmet (32 years), the Yugoslav Desnica, the 34-years old (West) German captain Dieter Schwabe, and the Bulgarian prolific goal-scorer Petar Alexandrov (28 years old), who was also regular national team player for years, including in the 1994 World Cup squad, but given the competition he had, never becoming very well known outside Bulgaria.

KAA Gent - 6^th with 36 points. Coached by former Belgian star Rene Vandereycken, but the usually made team: a core of experienced veterans run the show. A good coach and well-blended veterans was the key to (relative) success. Of the Belgians former national team midfielder Danny Veyt (34 years old) and Michel De Groote (35 years) were the best known. They were helped by Israel's national team striker Near Levin (28 years) and former Poland's national team goalkeeper Jacek Kazimierski (31 years), who was a bit obscure, but still played 32 games for Poland. Young talent was African – the Zairian Henri Balenga (24 years old).

Standard Liege - 5^th with 42 points. Missed qualifying for the UEFA Cup by a point, but actually it was very weak season. Well-known and respected coach – (West) German Georg Kessler – and a group of strong players of higher status than the players most Belgian clubs had: Belgian national team players Gilbert Bodart (28 years) and Guy Vandersmissen (33 years), the Yugoslav 'super-pro' Ljubomir Radanovic (30 years), two national team players for Israel – Shalom Tikva (25 years) and former Liverpool striker Ronny Rosenthal (27 years), one of the greatest Mexican stars in the 1980s and 1990s Carlos Hermosillo (27 years). But that was all and what worked well for smaller clubs was not well for a leading club like Standard – to have a cluster of strong players did not translate into great team running for the title, but rather disjointed team with too many gaps. Of course, Standard was classier than most and there was no way to slip down the table ,but it was still a weak and disappointing season.

Royal Antwerp FC – or Antwerpen - 4^th with 43 points. Strong season and perhaps a good example for achieving more with less. That is, a few strong players expired relatively pedestrian teammates to solid performance, led by not famous, but dependable coach – the Yugoslav Dimitri Davidovic. The core was small: Belgian national team star Nico Claesen (28 years old) was the top player for sure – he already played in England and West Germany. Alex Czerniatinski (30 years) was no longer national team player and fading, but still a great leader for lesser club like Antwerp. The Yugoslav Ratko Svilar was written off the Yugoslav national team, but the old goalkeeper was practically an icon for Antwerp already, seemingly not aging at all and maintaining constant good form. To the stars two more experienced foreigners could be added – the (West) German Hans-Peter Lehnhoff and the Dutch Frans van Rooy. The rest of the team was even less known than Lehnhoff and van Rooy, but sturdy enough.

Top row from left: Johnson (?) - masseur, Ronny Van Rethy, Wim Kiekens, Rudy Smidts, Nicky Schippers, Ralf Geilenkirchen, Hans-Peter Lehnhoff, Frank Mariman, Van Ranst (?) - masseur. Middle row: Jansen (?) - doctor, Nico Broeckaert, Franky Dekenne, Mejer (?),Ronny Van Geneugden, Geert Hoebrechts, Alex Czerniatinski, Yves Vanderveeren, Geert Emmerechts, Henckens (?) - organizer. Sitting: Vandamme (?) - assistant coach, Ratko Svilar, Rudy Taeymans, Wim Kiekens , Frans van Rooy, Dimitri Davidovic – coach, Raphael Quaranta, Nico Claesen, Patrick Schrooten, Wim Deconinck, Koelkelkoren (?) - assistant coach.

KV Mechelen - 3^rd with 50 points. Keeping strong – 7 points ahead of Royal Antwerp, lost only 3 games this season (2^nd best record) and allowing just 14 goals in their own net (the best record this season) – but not able to compete for more than second place and that they lost by 3 points. For a small club KV Mechelen was doing great – namely, they managed to stay strong, somehow managing to replace one good coach with another (Aad de Mos was replaced by fellow Dutchman Ruud Krol), to keep most of their strong players and even add worthy additions.

Top row from left: Ludwig De Clercq – conditional coach, Bruno Versavel, Patrick Versavel, Philippe Albert, Graeme Rutjes, De Greef, John Bosman, Wout Verhoeven – kinesist.

Middle row: Walter Jaspers – doctor, Fi Van Hoof – assistant coach, Koen Sanders, Erwin Koeman, Marc Wilmots, Wim Hofkens, Leo Clijsters, Ruud Krol – coach, Jan De Cleyn – masseur.

Sitting: Geert Deferm, Paul De Masmaeker, Pascal De Wilde, Wilfried Dommicent, Michel Preud'homme, Frederic Halleux, Marc Emmers, Frank Leen, Francis Severeyns.

Ruud Krol inherited strong and very much together squad, so he did not have to make big changes. By now the starters had solid success and reputation: Erwin Koeman was European champion with Holland, Michel Preud'homme was becoming number one choice of the Belgian national team (Jean-Marie Pfaff getting old and nearing the end of his career), Bruno Versavel, De Masmaeker, and Clijsters were getting included in the Belgian national team, John Bosman was still eyed by Dutch national team coaches. The other regulars were European Cup Winners Cup winners, some had even more success on club level (Bosman won European trophy with Ajax, Preud'homme had successful seasons both in Belgium and Europe with Standard Liege). The squad remained generally a combination of Belgian and Dutch players, which was fine mix in terms of language and culture. KV Mechelen remained among the top Belgian teams and looked like they will stay strong in the future as well.

RSC Anderlecht - 2^nd with 53 points. By itself, nothing strange Anderlecht ended at 2^nd place. Yet, looking at the squad and comparing it to any other in the Belgian league it... Anderlecht had one of the hottest coaches in Europe – the Dutch Aad de Mos (helped by one of the great 1970s team – Dockx). It had much superior squad than any other team, full of Belgian and other stars, there were pretty equal players competing for each post. Grun, De Wilde, Degryse, Vervoort, Vanderlinden, rapidly rising Luc Nilis plus a record number of foreigners – perhaps no team in Belgium or elsewhere had 13 foreign players before: the 1988 European champion with Holland van Tiggelen plus compatriot Kooiman, two fairly well known Yugoslavs Jankovic (coming to Anderlecht after 4 years with Real Madrid) and Stojic, Swedish new star Zetterberg, Gudjohnsen (Iceland), Keshi (Nigeria), Musonda (Zambia), Osondu (Nigeria), Andersen (Denmark), Ukkonen (Finland), Samba N'Diaye (Senegal), and Robbie Slater (Australia). Winning the title appeared to be sure thing, yet Anderlecht won exactly nothing, finishing 4 points behind the champions and not reaching even the Cup final. So much talent, but something did not click...

Sitting from left: Filip De Wilde, Guy Marchoul, Marc Degryse, Marc Van der Linden, Marc Wuyts, Philip Osondu, Ranko Stojic.

Middle row: Aad de Mos -coach, Benny Debusschere, Luis Oliveira, Bertrand Crasson, Arnor Gudjohnsen, Charly Musonda, Gert Verheyen, Luc Nilis, Par Zetterberg, Patrick Vervoort, Jean Dockx – assistant coach.

Top row: Henrik Andersen, Georges Grun, Milan Jankovic, Stephen Keshi, Adrie van Tiggelen, Donald Van Durme, Wim Kooiman, Kari Ukkonen.

FC Brugge – or Club Brugge KV – won the title with 57 points – 4 points ahead of Anderlecht, 7 points ahead of KV Mechelen, and 14 points ahead of 4^th placed Royal Antwerp. 25 wins, 7 ties, and only 2 lost games, 76-19 goal-difference. Tied with Anderlecht as best scorers in the championship and having second-best defensive record, behind KV Mechelen (permitting only 14 goals in their net).

Top row from left: Cedomir Janevski, Tew Mamadou, Lorenzo Staelens, Jan Ceulemans, Luc Beyens, Foeke Booy, Franky Van der Elst.
Middle row: Eddy Warrinnier (kine), Luc Somers, Frank Farina, Peter Creve, Pascal Plovie, Alex Querter, Serge Kimoni, Ronny Desmedt (assistant-coach).
Front row: Philippe Vande Walle, Vital Borkelmans, Stefan Vereycken, Georges Leekens (coach), Hans Christiaens, Yves Audoor, Dany Verlinden.

Strong squad, yes, but compared to Anderlecht, it looked inferior in everything – good coach, Leekens, but not famous as Aad de Mos. The top Belgian players here – Ceulemans and Van der Elst were aging and yesterday's news, compared to the top Belgians of Anderlecht. The foreigners were not only fewer, but significantly of lower class than Anderlecht's foreign legion: Laszlo Disztl (Hungary, 28 years old), Cedomir Janevski (Yugoslavia, 29), Frank Farina (Australia, 26), Foeke Booy (Holland, 28), and Tew Mamadou. Unlikely as it was, this squad had no rival and played very strong season. Thus, FC Brugge won its 8^th title.