Belgian Coaches Are A Disappearing Breed

A look at the line-up of this season’s coaches tells a story: of the 16 incumbents, only six are Belgian nationals. However, of last term’s top seven, only Anderlecht were led by a non-Belgian.

- John Chapman

So why the current trend? Is it just a case of “a prophet is not without honour except in his own country”, or is it that those available don’t cut the mustard?

Hugo Broos, who is now 65, won the league with Club Brugge and Anderlecht but has not worked in his homeland since 2011. Last year he submitted an online application for the Cameroon coach’s position, got the job and won the 2017 African Nations Cup. And a list of Belgian coaches currently “between jobs” would include Peter Maes, Georges Leekens, Glen De Boeck, Frankie Vercauteren, Enzo Scifo and Bob Peeters.

A big factor in all of this could be the influence of foreign ownership.

Maes, for example, was effective at Genk and favourite for the Antwerp job until Luciano D’Onofrio arrived on the scene and installed his old chum Laszlo Boloni as coach. D’Onofrio is Italian and knows Belgium well, but he would have no interest in installing someone as coach simply because he was a local.