Wout Faes

Wout Felix Lina Faes (born 3 April 1998) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as centre back for Stade de Reims.[1]

Wout Faes
Personal information
Full name Wout Felix Lina Faes
Date of birth (1998-04-03) 3 April 1998
Place of birth Mol, Belgium
Height 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Position(s) Centre back
Club information
Current team
 Reims
Number 2
Youth career
2003–2006 Rauw Sport Mol
2006–2012 Lierse
2012–2016 Anderlecht
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2016–2018 Anderlecht 0 (0)
2017 → Heerenveen (loan) 7 (0)
2017–2018 → Excelsior (loan) 19 (0)
2018–2020 Oostende 57 (1)
2020– Reims 19 (1)
2020 → Oostende (loan) 6 (0)
National team‡
2013 Belgium U15 5 (1)
2013–2015 Belgium U17 27 (0)
2016–2017 Belgium U19 9 (1)
2017–2020 Belgium U21 21 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 21:22, 31 January 2021 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 21:27, 17 November 2020 (UTC)

A promising talent from the Anderlecht academy, Faes gained attention as captain of Belgian national youth teams. He made his senior debut on loan with Heerenveen in the Eredivisie, but never experienced his breakthrough with Anderlecht. As a result, he moved to Oostende, where he was able to grow into a solid starter. In January 2020, Faes was signed by Ligue 1 club Reims.

Club career

Early years

Faes moved to the Anderlecht youth academy from Lierse in 2012. He could then count on interest from Premier League club Chelsea and Manchester United,[2] but he still signed his first professional contract with Anderlecht.[3] From the 2015–16 season, Faes began practicing regularly with the club's first team.[4] A month after he took bronze with Belgium U17 at the 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup, he extended his contract with Anderlecht.[5] Faes reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Youth League with the club in both the 2014–15 season and the 2015–16 season, with him captaining the team in the latter campaign.[6]

Loans

Anderlecht sent Faes on loan to Dutch Eredivisie club Heerenveen for the second half of the 2016–17 season.[7] Anderlecht did not include an option to buy.[8] Faes made his debut in the Eredivisie on 1 April 2017. He came on as a substitute against Heracles Almelo in the 35th minute for Reza Ghoochannejhad. The defender then received a place in the starting lineup in all remaining games of the regular season. His last match for Heerenveen was the first leg of the semi-final of the play-offs for European football against Utrecht. Heerenveen ultimately lost twice to Utrecht, which meant that the club missed out on UEFA Europa League participation that season.[9]

On his return to Anderlecht, Faes was immediately demoted to the C-team by the new head coach René Weiler.[10] On 12 July 2017, it was announced that Excelsior had signed Faes on a one-season loan deal.[11] Shortly after his arrival, Faes was joined by a fellow countryman in Jinty Caenepeel.[12] The first three matchdays, Faes was in the starting lineup of head coach Mitchell van der Gaag, who emphasized defensive football, but afterwards he received less playing time due to the renewal of Jordy de Wijs's loan deal.[13] Despite the fact that De Wijs formed a very strong central defensive duo with Jurgen Mattheij that season, Faes made nineteen league appearances in the Eredivisie that season.[14]

Oostende

In the summer of 2018, Faes decided to permanently leave Anderlecht as he signed a three-year contract with first-tier club Oostende, where he was reunited with Gert Verheyen, his former coach from the national youth teams.[15] It was also Verheyen who had insisted on the club signing Faes.[16] In Ostend, Faes grew into a regular in the centre of the defense. In his first season, he missed only five league games, three of which were due to suspension and two due to a minor foot injury.[17] He also reached the semi-finals of the Belgian Cup with the club, in which the club was only knocked out after a penalty-shootout against Gent.

Faes was also an important force at Oostende in the 2019–20 season, who, however, experienced a rough season.[18] During the first half of the season, Faes' name regularly emerged in media as a potential sale object.[19] Faes, who played a good first half of the season and regularly wore the captain's armband, was eventually sold on 31 January 2020 to the French Ligue 1 club Reims.[20][21] Reims let Faes finish the season at Oostende on loan, who at that time were still involved in a relegation battle. The club was ultimately able regain themselves in the top-tier Belgian First Division A, although the club had not yet been mathematically saved when the competition was stopped due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

International career

Faes' first taste of international tournament football was with Belgium U17s at the 2015 U-17 World Cup in Chile.[22]

Career statistics

Club
As of match played 1 August 2020
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League Cup Europe Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Heerenveen (loan) 2016–17[14] Eredivisie 7000—1[lower-alpha 1]080
Excelsior (loan) 2017–18[14] Eredivisie 19010—00200
Oostende 2018–19[14] Belgian First Division A 26151—9[lower-alpha 2]0402
2019–20[14] Belgian First Division A 22020—00240
Total 481710090642
Oostende (loan) 2019–20[14] Belgian First Division A 6000—0060
Reims 2020–21[14] Ligue 1 0000—0000
Career total 8018100100982
  1. Appearance in the Eredivisie Europa League play-offs
  2. Appearances in the Belgian First Division A Europa League play-offs

Honours

International

Belgium U17

References
  1. "Belgium - W. Faes - Profile with news, career statistics and history - Soccerway". us.soccerway.com. Retrieved 10 April 2017.
  2. "Chelsea en Man Utd vissen naast Anderlechtspeler". Het Laatste Nieuws (in Dutch). 1 April 2014. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
  3. "Talent Wout Faes tekent profcontract bij Anderlecht". Bruzz (in Dutch). 3 April 2014. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
  4. "Beloftevolle Wout Faes blijft Anderlecht langer trouw". sporza (in Dutch). 21 December 2015. Archived from the original on 27 April 2016. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
  5. "U17-revelatie Faes verlengt contract bij Anderlecht". De Morgen (in Dutch). 21 December 2015. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
  6. "Bekijk hier hoe de Anderlecht-jonkies Arsenal kloppen". Gazet van Antwerpen (in Dutch). 10 February 2016. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
  7. Timmer, Marco (31 January 2017). "SC Heerenveen verguld met komst talentvolle Belg". Voetbal International (in Dutch). Retrieved 31 January 2021.
  8. "Anderlecht laat grote belofte Wout Faes ervaring opdoen in Nederland". Gazet van Antwerpen (in Dutch). 31 January 2017. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
  9. "Utrecht zet stap richting Europa tegen labiel Heerenveen". Algemeen Dagblad (in Dutch). 16 May 2013. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
  10. "Weiler houdt grote schoonmaak". De Standaard (in Dutch). 17 June 2017. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
  11. "Excelsior versterkt zich op huurbasis met Wout Faes". sbvexcelsior.nl (in Dutch). SBV Excelsior. 12 July 2017. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
  12. "Ex-Gentenaar Caenepeel ruilt FC Eindhoven voor Excelsior Rotterdam". Het Nieuwsblad (in Dutch). 22 July 2017. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
  13. "Wout Faes: 'Anderlecht is een gesloten hoofdstuk'". Sport/Voetbalmagazine (in Dutch). 31 July 2018. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
  14. "Wout Faes » Club matches". worldfootball.net. Retrieved 14 September 2020.
  15. "Anderlecht laat Wout Faes vertrekken naar KV Oostende, Doumbia (Essevee) naar Rusland". De Krant van West-Vlaanderen (in Dutch). 21 June 2018. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
  16. Taecke, Tomas (25 June 2018). "Faes blij met overstap naar KVO: "Nooit een kans gehad bij Anderlecht"". Het Laatste Nieuws (in Dutch). Retrieved 31 January 2021.
  17. "KV Oostende mist sterkhouder tegen RSC Anderlecht". Voetbal België (in Dutch). 16 March 2019. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
  18. "Sportieve en extrasportieve malaise bij KVO". Het Laatste Nieuws (in Dutch). 28 October 2019. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
  19. "KV Oostende: investeerder zoeken en Faes verkopen". Het Nieuwsblad (in Dutch). 7 November 2019. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
  20. Faesen, Bob; Geril, Jürgen (31 January 2020). "Oostende ziet Wout Faes naar Reims vertrekken, maar huurt hem nog tot het einde van het seizoen". Het Nieuwsblad (in Dutch). Retrieved 31 January 2021.
  21. "Gert Verheyen kiest beste elftal van de heenronde, met alleen spelers van de 'kleine' ploegen: "Deschacht moet erin"". Het Nieuwsblad (in Dutch). 22 November 2019. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
  22. "Wout Faes, Belgium's natural leader". FIFA. 22 October 2015. Retrieved 26 July 2017.
  23. https://web.archive.org/web/20191103180706/https://www.fifadata.com/document/FU17/2015/pdf/FU17_2015_SquadLists.pdf
  24. https://www.fifa.com/u17worldcup/archive/chile2015/
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.