Not defending champion Anderlecht, not revelation Club Brugge, but OH Leuven is the autumn champion in our women’s competition. A surprise? Not at all, judges ex-Red Flame Heleen Jaques. “They will certainly fight until the end, but for many players such a title fight will be something new.”
OH Leuven put a point behind the first round yesterday with a tasteful 3-0 win against Club Brugge. It has a lead of 4 points on the pursuers from Anderlecht and Bruges.
“This autumn title is no surprise to me at all,” emphasizes Heleen Jaques, ex-figurehead of the Red Flames and now youth coordinator at the Belgian Football Association.
“In Leuven they are really working on their project. It is very professional with a strong staff.”
“You can see that in their game. They may have started their season a bit difficult, but if they have to be there, then they are there. And they also win the top players, so this is not out of the blue.”
Heleen Jaques states that OHL has a lot of footballing ability. “And in terms of infrastructure and framework, they are one step ahead of the rest.”
“The team consists mainly of young girls, but they have been playing together for a long time and therefore have automatisms. They have been using a fixed game system for several years.”
“Compare with the competitors: Club Brugge is building a new vision, Anderlecht and Standard have a new coach. But you should certainly not forget them for the title.”
“Anderlecht have had bad luck with the absence of Laura De Neve and there have been injuries. But it will still be a real clash.”
Like her brother, Luna Vanzeir scores consistently.
School and football in Leuven: “There was a need for a top sports environment”
According to Heleen Jaques, the physical component (think of strength and intrinsic speed) is the traditional working point in a more international context, but the Leuven project seems to be running at full speed.
Perhaps the top sports school in Leuven plays a role in this story. From the 2nd grade in secondary education, the activities are centralized in the Women’s Football Academy in Leuven. Due to this evolution, a (later) professional choice for OHL seems a little more obvious.
“That certainly plays a role, but you should not limit it to that fact. OH Leuven can only play with 11 girls and they also offer good individual guidance as a club. They handle that story very well.”
Moreover, other clubs do not give up, as Jaques sees. “Yes, in the initial phase there was criticism from other clubs, who feared that the talents would opt for OHL more quickly because of their training in Leuven, but that criticism is disappearing step by step.”
“There was a need for more training hours in combination with school work, a top sports environment. It was necessary to take that step and now many clubs are working together with schools.”
The top sports school in Leuven will certainly play a role, but you should not limit it to that fact. And other clubs are also collaborating with schools.
“These girls have ambition and they speak it out”
The Leuven success story also has an impact on the Red Flames, where OHL is one of the main suppliers. “They also leave their mark in the youth series, but they do not dominate. We also see a lot of talent at Standard, Gent and Genk, among others.”
“I definitely see some talents moving on to abroad, although it is dangerous to put names to them. But these girls have ambition and they express it. The highest national division used to be fun, now they are motivated to take a step higher to put.”
Step by step and that means first the title debate in our own country. “OH Leuven will certainly fight until the end, but injured players will return to many teams after the New Year.”
“At OHL there is also experience, but for many players this is something new. Then it is always exciting to see how people deal with that and how everything ends, especially with play-offs.”
“It is also nice for the neutral viewer to have more tension in the competition. The teams themselves also learn a lot more from this story than from victories with very large numbers.”
