The Saint-Gillois sought this coronation by changing strategy. Not on the field, with that starving mentality and transition game that everyone knows now, but in the playoffs. Usually hunted after mastered classic phases, this time they also put on the hunter’s costume, behind Genk and Club Bruges. Bingo: nine wins and one draw in ten matches, a record. With seven clean sheets and only three goals conceded. Never seen before!
Three trophies in one year: the Union, crowned champion of Belgium thanks to a record comeback, has once again become a giant of Belgian football
After Mazzù, Geraerts and Blessin, it was Pocognoli who finally achieved it. For a first season at the head of a professional club. Which earned him a “transfer” to AS Monaco a few months later. Rich and respected, the Union can continue to grow, even if there will undoubtedly be some inevitable growing pains.
2 Devils (almost) undefeated, qualified and polished
We wondered whether we should put the Red Devils in the tops or in the flops. Then we said to ourselves that we had adopted very bad habits and that the taste for luxury should not deviate us from the straight path of objectivity: the national team played ten matches in 2025 and only lost one. It was Rudi Garcia’s first against Ukraine (0-2), a setback erased by a flamboyant return to the Genk stadium a few days later (3-0).
Future “best friend of De Bilde”, Rudi Garcia does not rule out De Cat being taken back to the World Cup and defends Hayen: “Incomprehensible that Bruges fired him”
The qualifications went through without much stress, finishing first and therefore directly qualified for the World Cup. Without much sparkle either. The Devils logically crushed Liechtenstein (13-0 over the two matches) but failed to defeat North Macedonia (1-1 and 0-0). Apart from Haaland’s Norway, no one will have scored more than Belgium in these European qualifiers.
Not everything is perfect in Garcia’s first round, but the year ended with the good news of a promising draw in the United States. If they manage to enforce logic, unlike Euro 2024 with Domenico Tedesco, the Devils would find themselves in the quarter-finals. The objective set by the federation.
3 Hans Vanaken triple gold medalist
We were talking about the Devils and Tedesco. The name Hans Vanaken comes straight to mind. The Bruges captain returned to the national team after being snubbed by the German coach. Garcia made him an important player in his squad. The question is no longer whether he will be at the World Cup but whether he can start there.
Vanaken owes this turnaround in the situation to the Frenchman’s different philosophy but also, and above all, to his level of play. Once again brilliant and decisive at the Club, the 33-year-old midfielder remains one of the main attractions of our championship. He logically won the Golden Shoe, for the third time in his career. He is only one shoe away from the double pair, like Paul Van Himst, the absolute record holder. What if Vanaken returned to this section again in 2026?
4 The RAAL like a breath of fresh air
Two Flemish clubs went down in 2025 (Kortrijk and Beerschot). And a Walloon came up, the RAAL for its big comeback, sixteen years after bankruptcy. Without making primary communitarianism, this is good news for a championship which increasingly resembled the Flemish-Brussels elite with Standard and Charleroi as its only exotic touch.
RAAL La Louvière has found its new sports director and he is a well-known name in Anderlecht
This comeback of the Wolves also coincided with the entry into the new stadium, which does not often happen in Belgium either. And even less in Wallonia. An enclosure on a human scale, even modest, but which shows that we can still build in this Kingdom which has a brick in its belly but not in its foot. Enough to make Carolos neighbors even more eager to finally lay the first stone in Marchienne-au-Pont.
Since its return to D1, the RAAL has shown that it is at the level. Without bringing a lot of spectacle to the competition but by showing others lower down that you can do great things without a lot of resources, provided you have ideas and a clear philosophy.
