2017–18 Club Brugge KV season

The 2017–18 season was Club Brugge's 126th season in existence and the club's 58th consecutive season in the top flight of Belgian football. Club Brugge participated in the Belgian First Division A, Belgian Cup and on the European stage in the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League.

Club Brugge

2017–18 season
Chairman	Bart Verhaeghe
Head coach	Ivan Leko
Stadium	Jan Breydel Stadium
2017–18	1st
Belgian Cup	Semi-finals
UEFA Champions League	Third qualifying round
UEFA Europa League	Play-off round
Top goalscorer	League: Abdoulay Diaby Wesley (11 each) All: Abdoulay Diaby (16)
colours colours

The club would win their 15th league this season, edging out closest competitors Standard Liège by 3 points following the championship round.[1] The result was clinched in the penultimate match of the season, after a 1–1 draw away to Standard.[1]

The season covered the period from 1 July 2017 to 30 June 2018.

First-team squad

As of 15 January 2018

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  RUS Vladimir Gabulov 3 MF  BEL Timmy Simons 5 DF  FRA Benoît Poulain 6 MF  NED Jordy Clasie (on loan from Southampton) 7 FW  BRA Wesley 8 FW  ISR Lior Refaelov (Vice-captain) 9 FW  BEL Jelle Vossen 10 FW  MLI Abdoulay Diaby 11 FW  SEN Krépin Diatta 14 DF  CRO Ivan Tomečak 17 FW  BEL Anthony Limbombe 18 GK  BEL Guillaume Hubert 19 FW  BEL Thibault Vlietinck 20 MF  BEL Hans Vanaken

No. Pos. Nation Player 21 DF  BEL Dion Cools 22 GK  USA Ethan Horvath 24 DF  NED Stefano Denswil 25 MF  NED Ruud Vormer (Captain) 30 MF  ZIM Marvelous Nakamba 32 GK  NED Kenneth Vermeer (on loan from Feyenoord) 35 DF   SUI Saulo Decarli 40 MF  BEL Jordi Vanlerberghe 42 FW  NGA Emmanuel Bonaventure Dennis 44 DF  BEL Brandon Mechele 55 DF  SRB Erhan Mašović 96 DF  BEL Ahmed Touba TBD DF  CRO Matej Mitrovic (on loan from Beşiktaş) TBD DF  DEN Alexander Scholz

Club friendlies

24 June 2017	Club Brugge	9 - 0	VV Westkapelle
19:00		Summary

28 June 2017	Oudenaarde	0 - 6	Club Brugge
19:00		Summary

1 July 2017	Torhout	0 - 2	Club Brugge
19:00		Summary

15 July 2017	Club Brugge	1 - 3	AZ
19:00		Summary

21 July 2017	Club Brugge	0 - 2	Athletic Bilbao
19:00		Summary

Belgian First Division A

Regular season

Results summary

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Club Brugge	30	20	7	3	68	33	+35	67	Qualification for the championship play-offs
2	Anderlecht	30	16	7	7	49	42	+7	55
3	Charleroi	30	13	12	5	46	30	+16	51
4	Gent	30	14	8	8	45	27	+18	50
5	Genk	30	11	11	8	44	36	+8	44

Source: Belgian First Division A (in Dutch), Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Matches won; 3) Goal difference; 4) Goals scored; 5) Away goals scored; 6) Away matches won; 7) Play-off.[2]

Overall								Home						Away
Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
30	20	7	3	68	33	+35	67	13	2	0	44	16	+28	7	5	3	24	17	+7

Last updated: 11 March 2018.
Source:

Results by matchday

Matchday	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30
Ground	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A
Result	W	W	W	W	W	L	W	W	W	W	W	L	W	D	W	W	D	W	W	W	W	D	W	L	D	D	D	D	W	W
Position	2	2	1	1	1	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1

Updated to match(es) played on 16 April 2018. Source:
A = Away; H = Home; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Loss

Play-Off I

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		CLU	STA	AND	GNT	GNK	CHA
1	Club Brugge (C)	10	3	3	4	17	12	+5	46	Qualification for the Champions League group stage		—	4–4	1–2	0–1	1–0	6–0
2	Standard Liège	10	6	3	1	20	9	+11	43	Qualification for the Champions League third qualifying round		1–1	—	2–1	1–0	5–0	1–0
3	Anderlecht	10	4	0	6	12	15	−3	40	Qualification for the Europa League group stage		1–0	1–3	—	0–2	1–2	3–1
4	Gent	10	4	2	4	8	8	0	39	Qualification for the Europa League third qualifying round		1–0	1–3	1–0	—	0–0	0–1
5	Genk (O)	10	4	4	2	13	13	0	38	Qualification for the Europa League play-off final		1–1	1–0	2–1	1–1	—	4–1
6	Charleroi	10	2	2	6	9	22	−13	34			1–3	0–0	1–2	2–1	2–2	—

Source: Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Points without (possible) half points added due to rounding; 3) Position obtained during the Regular season[3]
(C) Champion; (O) Play-off winner.

Results summary

Overall								Home						Away
Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
10	3	3	4	17	12	+5	12	2	1	2	12	7	+5	1	2	2	5	5	0

Last updated: 20 May 2018.
Source:

Results by matchday

Matchday	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Ground	H	A	A	H	H	A	H	A	A	H
Result	W	L	L	W	D	D	L	W	D	L
Position	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1

Updated to match(es) played on 20 May 2018. Source:
A = Away; H = Home; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Loss

Matches

29 July 2017 Match 1	Lokeren	0 - 4	Club Brugge	Lokeren
18:00	Kehli  35' Marić  81' Mpati  83'	Report	Mechele  5' Dennis  17'  24' Palacios  32' Nakamba  45+1' Mirić  55' (o.g.)	Stadium: Daknamstadion Attendance: 7,441 Referee: Sébastien Delferière

6 August 2017 Match 2	Club Brugge	3 - 1	Eupen	Bruges
20:00	Vossen  32' (pen.) Dennis  65' Limbombe  86' Diaby  90+1'	Report	Diagne  19' Blondelle  28'  Lotiès  90+3'	Stadium: Jan Breydel Stadium Attendance: 25,723 Referee: Alexandre Boucaut

Belgian Cup

20 September 2017 Last 32	Roeselare	1 - 5	Club Brugge	Roeselare
20:30	Dufour  35'  42'	Report	Dennis  5'  30' Vormer  16' Wesley  38' Vossen  82'	Stadium: Schiervelde Stadion Referee: Jonathan Lardot

30 November 2017 Last 16	Zulte Waregem	2 - 3 (a.e.t.)	Club Brugge	Waregem
20:45	Baudry  35' De fauw  67' (pen.) Leya  72' Šaponjić  86' Kaya  90+1'	Report	Vossen  4' Cools  26' Mechele  53' Nakamba  63' Dennis  83'  106'  107' Limbombe  98'	Stadium: Regenboogstadion Attendance: 6,268 Referee: Sébastien Delferière

16 January 2018 Quarter Final	Club Brugge	5 - 1	Sporting Charleroi	Bruges
20:45	Vanaken  11'  63' Mechele  22'  33' Wesley  35'	Report	N'Ganga  24'	Stadium: Jan Breydel Stadium Attendance: 15,000 Referee: Bart Vertenten

31 January 2018 Semi Final First Leg	Standard Liège	4-1	Club Brugge	Liège
20:45	Emond  19'  25'  54' Cavanda  30' Edmilson Junior  57'  72'	Summary	Clasie  41' Vormer  72' Dennis  76' Mitrović  82'	Stadium: Stade Maurice Dufrasne Attendance: 15,000 Referee: Nicolas Laforge

8 February 2018 Semi Final Second Leg	Club Brugge	3-2 (4-6 agg.)	Standard Liège	Bruges
21:00	Vanaken  41'  90+5' Vormer  60' Abdoulay Diaby  62' Clasie  75'	Summary	Orlando Sá  4'  42' M'Poku  15' Gillet  34' Laifis  44' Agbo  55' Marin  63' Emond  71'	Stadium: Jan Breydel Stadium Attendance: 22,000 Referee: Bart Vertenten

UEFA Champions League

26 July 2017 Third Qualifying Round First Leg	Club Brugge	3 - 3	İstanbul Başakşehir	Bruges
21:00	Dennis  5' Denswil  16'  78'	Summary	Mossoró  59'  73' Epureanu  60' Elia  63'	Stadium: Jan Breydel Stadium Attendance: 26,788 Referee: Paolo Mazzoleni

2 August 2017 Third Qualifying Round Second Leg	İstanbul Başakşehir	2 - 0 (5 - 3 agg.)	Club Brugge	Istanbul
19:45	Adebayor  7' Júnior Caiçara  10' Clichy  24' Višća  34'	Summary	Dennis  23' Denswil  42' Vormer  65'	Stadium: Başakşehir Fatih Terim Stadium Attendance: 9,168 Referee: István Kovács (referee)

UEFA Europa League

17 August 2017 Play Off Round First Leg	Club Brugge	0 - 0	AEK Athens	Bruges
20:45	Wesley  66' Vormer  74' Denswil  90'	Report	Livaja  15'  Vranješ  23' Hélder Lopes  54' Ćosić  68'	Stadium: Jan Breydel Stadium Attendance: 27,115 Referee: Viktor Kassai

24 August 2017 Play Off Round Second Leg	AEK Athens	3 - 0 (3 - 0 agg.)	Club Brugge	Athens
20:00	Christodoulopoulos  27' (pen.) André Simões  39'  90+1' Bakakis  50'	Report	Palacios  25' Nakamba  63'	Stadium: Olympic Stadium Attendance: 14,275 Referee: Jesús Gil Manzano

Statistics

Squad appearances and goals

Last updated on 20 May 2018.

No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Total		Belgian Division		Belgian Cup		UEFA Champions League		UEFA Europa League
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Goalkeepers
1	GK		Vladimir Gabulov	10	0	9	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
18	GK		Guillaume Hubert	6	0	4	0	2	0	0	0	0	0
22	GK		Ethan Horvath	19	0	15	0	0	0	2	0	2	0
32	GK		Kenneth Vermeer	8	0	7	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
Defenders
2	DF		Alexander Scholz	6	0	3+2	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
5	DF		Benoît Poulain	20	1	17+1	1	2	0	0	0	0	0
14	DF		Ivan Tomečak	6	1	3+2	1	0+1	0	0	0	0	0
15	DF		Matej Mitrovic	12	1	10	0	1+1	1	0	0	0	0
21	DF		Dion Cools	41	3	32+3	3	5	0	0	0	0+1	0
24	DF		Stefano Denswil	40	4	33	2	3	0	2	2	2	0
35	DF		Saulo Decarli	13	1	10+1	1	2	0	0	0	0	0
44	DF		Brandon Mechele	48	5	40	3	5	2	2	0	1	0
55	DF		Erhan Mašović	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
96	DF		Ahmed Touba	5	0	2+1	0	0	0	1+1	0	0	0
Midfielders
3	MF		Timmy Simons	9	0	3+5	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
6	MF		Jordy Clasie	25	1	10+10	0	2+3	1	0	0	0	0
20	MF		Hans Vanaken	48	15	36+3	12	5	3	0+2	0	2	0
25	MF		Ruud Vormer	49	14	38+2	13	5	1	2	0	2	0
30	MF		Marvelous Nakamba	44	0	31+4	0	4+1	0	2	0	2	0
40	MF		Jordi Vanlerberghe	8	0	2+5	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
Forwards
7	FW		Wesley	44	13	29+9	11	3+2	2	0	0	0+1	0
8	FW		Lior Refaelov	22	2	5+13	2	0	0	2	0	0+2	0
9	FW		Jelle Vossen	35	9	11+17	7	1+3	2	1	0	2	0
10	FW		Abdoulay Diaby	41	16	26+8	15	4	1	0+1	0	1+1	0
11	FW		Krépin Diatta	8	0	6+2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
17	FW		Anthony Limbombe	39	6	29+3	6	5	0	0	0	1+1	0
19	FW		Thibault Vlietinck	4	0	2+2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
42	FW		Emmanuel Dennis	38	12	12+18	7	1+3	4	2	1	2	0
Players who have made an appearance this season but have left the club
1	GK		Ludovic Butelle	6	0	5	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
4	DF		Björn Engels	5	0	2	0	0	0	2	0	1	0
11	FW		José Izquierdo	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0+2	0
13	DF		Helibelton Palacios	10	0	3+2	0	0+1	0	2	0	2	0
16	DF		Germán Mera	2	0	1+1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
28	DF		Laurens De Bock	8	0	4+2	0	0	0	1	0	1	0
43	FW		Jérémy Perbet	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0

References

1. "Club Brugge win Belgian title". Yahoo. 13 May 2018. Retrieved 16 October 2020.
2. "First Division A 2016/2017 - Season rules". Scoresway. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
3. "Reglement 2017-2018 Boek B: De koepelorganisatie KBVB en haar deelorganisaties" [General Rules 2017-2018 Book B: The overall organisation KBVB and its subsidiaries] (PDF) (in Dutch). Royal Belgian FA. Retrieved 18 April 2018.

External links

• Official website (in Dutch, French, English, and Spanish)
• Official Facebook Fanpage
• Official Twitter account
• Official Fan Federation (in Dutch)
• Blue Army – Fan Association & Fan-zine (in Dutch)
• Club Brügge KV XtraTime Fanpage (in English)
• Club Brügge at UEFA.COM (in English)
• Club Brügge at EUFO.DE
• Club Brügge at Weltfussball.de
• Club Brügge at Football Squads.co.uk
• Club Brügge at National Football Teams.com
• Club Brügge at Football Lineups.com