Club Brugge and AA Gent live (more than usual) on a war footing. The two clubs are historical rivals anyway, but now there is the fact that the blue and black stole Ivan Leko, the coach of the Buffaloes, ten days ago. It goes without saying that this move added fuel to the fire on Sunday during the Battle of Flanders.
The Bruges police are also prepared in that respect: they are prepared for additional tensions surrounding the match. “Club-Gent is in any case a high-risk match where a combination arrangement is used to separate supporters of both teams,” said Lien Depoorter, spokeswoman for the Bruges police. “But of course we also take into account the current context of the past few days and any additional pressure.”
Extensive risk analysis
About a thousand AA Gent supporters are expected in the stadium on Sunday. They are driven into the visitors’ parking lot of the stadium by bus. “Whether we provide extra officers? We never communicate about that,” says Depoorter.
“I can say that we have the necessary experience with such matches. An extensive risk analysis is made for each match, and this is no different for Club-Gent. Based on this, an estimate is made of how many officers will be deployed to maintain order.”
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