The resurgence of Royale Union Saint-Gilloise has been the biggest story in Belgian football in recent seasons. They finally ended their nearly 90-year-long wait for a major trophy by lifting the cup last week, but for the third successive league season, they look set to fall ever so slightly short of the title.
By Neel Shelat
Anderlecht and Club Brugge are, quite obviously, the two most successful teams in the history of the Belgian Pro League with 34 and 18 titles respectively. Surprisingly, though, they are not followed by a Standard Liège, Royal Antwerp or Genk. Instead, it is Royale Union Saint-Gilloise who complete the podium with 11 titles to their name.
Until their recent return to the top flight in 2021, few would have even recognised that name. The reason behind that is that Union’s heyday came before World War I, when they won the league seven times. They remained a noteworthy European side until the 1950s, but after suffering relegation from the Belgian top-flight in 1963, almost disappeared off the map. They dropped as far as the fourth tier, surviving many existential battles to just about stay afloat until 2018.
Their fortunes completely changed that year when Brighton & Hove Albion owner Tony Bloom took over the club. The key figure, though, was co-investor Alex Muzio, who became USG’s chairman and oversaw their transformation before recently taking over as the majority shareholder as well.
Much like Brighton, Union adopted a policy of assembling squads by through excellent scouting networks, signing underrated talents for peanuts from relatively obscure leagues and lower tiers around Europe and later – as their stature and financial capacity grew – around the world. They were in the second tier at the time, so winning promotion was the first priority. After a couple of near-misses, they got the job done in 2021 under Felice Mazzù.
Three Near-Misses in the League
Having returned to the Pro League after almost half a century away, Union Saint-Gilloise were not burdened by any major expectations ahead of the 2021/22 season. However, they took the league by absolute storm, continuing to thrive with the intense approach that tore up the second tier.
At the end of the regular season – when all teams had played each other home and away – Union were five points clear of defending champions Club Brugge at the top of the standings.
However, the Pro League’s quirky format, which saw the top four enter the Championship play-off with their points halved at the time, led to their title dreams unraveling as Club Brugge put together a brilliant unbeaten run in the play-offs to lift the title by four points.
They did seal their European return with a second-placed finish, missing out on the Champions League but more than happily settling for a spot in the Europa League group stage in 2022/23. They went on to make a memorable run to the quarter-finals on debut, but back in the league, it was more of the same.
After Mazzù left for local rivals Anderlecht, his assistant Karel Geraerts took over and did not try to fix what was not broken. Union finished level on point with leaders Genk at the end of the regular season, but agonisingly missed out on the title by just a point at the end of a dramatic title race that swung three ways on the final day before ultimately ending in Royal Antwerp’s favour.
This season too, Union look set to finish third in a three-way title race. Now coached by Alexander Blessin, they were seven points clear of second place at the end of the regular season this time, but the expanded six-team championship play-off has proven to be their undoing. A run of four consecutive losses in the first round of fixtures saw them fall off the top, and although they have recovered since, they now need both teams above them to drop points in the final two matchdays to have a chance of finishing first – Anderlecht and Club Brugge face each other this weekend.
Quite simply, Union have suffered as a result of the Pro League’s Championship round format. Their record against their direct rivals is not bad at all, on the whole. In fact, they put together a record-breaking run of eight consecutive victories against Anderlecht after returning to the top-flight, but were finally stopped this season.
Of course, this recent history of collapses in the Championship play-off must play on their minds every time Union go into such crunch situations again, so it was quite important for them to shed the tag of being Belgium’s nearly team of late. Their triumph over Royal Antwerp last week which saw them lift the cup for the first time in 110 years could prove to be yet another turning point in their recent history. It might be too late to rescue the league campaign this season, but Union will surely be right up there next term too and could well draw inspiration from this success to finally get over the line.
Ability to Sustain Success
Although they have not won a league title yet after returning, Union have arguably been the most impressive team in Belgium in the last three seasons. Their budget is still one of the lowest in the league (they have the second-lowest annual payroll this term), and as their star players get picked off in every window, they have to keep unearthing hidden gems season after season.
So far, they have done an unbelievable job. Their net transfer spend since promotion has been +€30.51m, which is over a third of their current cumulative squad value.
The strike partnership of Deniz Undav and Dante Vanzeir tore up Pro League defences in 2021/22 as the pair notched up 62 goal involvements between them, but neither of them were around the see the end of the subsequent season. To keep the goals flowing, Union broke their transfer record to sign Victor Boniface from Bodø/Glimt for just over €6 million, though he left for over thrice that figure to join Bayer Leverkusen the next summer.
Captain and midfield maestro Teddy Teuma was another notable departure ahead of this season, but his replacement was already in the squad. Cameron Puertas had previously been signed from Swiss club Lausanne for just over €1 million, and he has taken over the spotlight this term with a whopping 16 assists in the league.
Union have also benefitted from their relationship with Brighton, getting a few loanees such as Kaoru Mitoma and Simon Adingra. Their world-class scouting undoubtedly is the most important factor in to their ability to sustain success despite such a high turnover of players season on season. Last summer, for example, they made signings from Ecuador, Argentina, Switzerland, Norway, Japan, the Dutch second tier and German fourth tier, and that list will surely only grow in the next window.
Clearly, nothing is going to stop Union Saint-Gilloise from continuing to try and lift the Pro League despite consecutive heartbreaks. Surely, then, it is only a matter of time before they reclaim the Belgian thrown once more.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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