Marked for Wouter George
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout2 Aug 2027
Wouter George: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” OH Leuven have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Óscar Gil and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
OH Leuven asked and Charleroi said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match31 Jul 2027
A 1‑0 win over Dender, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad2 Aug 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Manuel Osifo commits to OH Leuven for another 4 years.
Loan watch2 Aug 2027
“I watch every OH Leuven game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at ETO Győr runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Player ratings2 Aug 2027
Marked 7.66. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Noë Dussenne is no longer first choice
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Noë Dussenne has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market5 Jul 2027
As if he never left: Thierno Gaye returns
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Thierno Gaye is a OH Leuven player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Squad5 Jul 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at OH Leuven this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Jul 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Casper Terho commits to OH Leuven for another 4 years.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Óscar Gil falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
OH Leuven asked and Twente said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market5 Jul 2027
30 games and 12 goals away from here, and a man the manager did not have last summer. The loan did what loans are supposed to do and almost never do.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
Twente have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
Intake day at the OH Leuven academy
7 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
The dugout5 Jul 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Jun 2027
Racing Genk come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and OH Leuven did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
$1.7M settles it between the clubs for Léandro Rousseau
Patro Eisden have accepted the money. What OH Leuven do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
The paperwork begins on Ndoh Wamfor
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. OH Leuven have done the hard part with Westerlo, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Market7 Jun 2027
The phone has started ringing about Arthur Lallias again, and this time the name on the line is Samsunspor. OH Leuven are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad7 Jun 2027
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and OH Leuven know it.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Cristian Alomía is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad7 Jun 2027
A row about effort at OH Leuven
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Óscar Gil was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout7 Jun 2027
Tobe Leysen gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Loan watch7 Jun 2027
30 appearances at Sparta Rotterdam and the goals keep coming. OH Leuven are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 May 2027
Muhammed Şengezer was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at OH Leuven training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Chukwubuikem Ikwuemesi is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Loan watch10 May 2027
30 appearances at Sparta Rotterdam and the goals keep coming. OH Leuven are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
The dugout10 May 2027
Wouter George has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at OH Leuven will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Market10 May 2027
The name of Henok Teklab keeps appearing in other people's back pages. OH Leuven say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout10 May 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at OH Leuven, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Apr 2027
23 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. OH Leuven lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” OH Leuven may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Birger Verstraete and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Apr 2027
A row about effort at OH Leuven
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Óscar Gil was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad12 Apr 2027
44 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Loan watch12 Apr 2027
28 appearances at Sparta Rotterdam and the goals keep coming. OH Leuven are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
Wouter George gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Wouter George is on it.
Market12 Apr 2027
The Henok Teklab story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Henok Teklab signs something — a contract at OH Leuven or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Loan watch12 Apr 2027
31 starts and an average of 6.90. He went there to play and he is playing, which is the only thing a loan was ever for.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad8 Mar 2027
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 24. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Birger Verstraete and OH Leuven agree another 2 years.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Muhammed Şengezer was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad8 Mar 2027
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Loan watch8 Mar 2027
25 appearances away from home and 11 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
Loan watch8 Mar 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at OH Leuven, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Dec 2026
A row about effort at OH Leuven
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Óscar Gil was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match19 Dec 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Tobe Leysen gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
A performance of 8.35 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Defences have started doubling up on Henok Teklab
5 goals and a season average of 7.30 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Loan watch21 Dec 2026
14 appearances at Sparta Rotterdam and the goals keep coming. OH Leuven are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Shots: 17, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad23 Nov 2026
Óscar Gil in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at OH Leuven this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad23 Nov 2026
6 new faces, and OH Leuven are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Henok Teklab is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.22 with 4 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 12. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Wouter George has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at OH Leuven will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Looking ahead23 Nov 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Birger Verstraete’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and OH Leuven needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Armando Vargas out for 49 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason OH Leuven will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” OH Leuven may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Óscar Gil and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Ali Donny Sylla is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.11, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad19 Oct 2026
At 36, 4 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match17 Oct 2026
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match12 Sep 2026
OH Leuven make it 4 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now OH Leuven have 4 straight wins of it.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Per Kloosterboer has just signed for OH Leuven, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at OH Leuven training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Óscar Gil is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
The clock did what Waasland-Beveren would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.54, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad14 Sep 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Per Kloosterboer and OH Leuven agree another 4 years.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Thomas Doku on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.