Matte Smets

Central Defender - Racing Genk
12 Nov 2026
Thursday
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Overview Personal Contract News 3 Transfers Relations Events 54 Awards 1 Matches History

Marked for Matte Smets

10 Edition

The Racing Genk Courier

5 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match3 Oct 2026

Racing Genk run riot against Dender

3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.

Match3 Oct 2026

Racing Genk make it 5 in a row

Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Racing Genk have 5 straight wins of it.

The dugout5 Oct 2026

Ken Nkuba keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Racing Genk may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Squad5 Oct 2026

Real improvement from Ibrahima Sory Bangoura at Racing Genk

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Ibrahima Sory Bangoura is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Squad5 Oct 2026

A falling-out at Racing Genk

Gaëtan Laborde and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Player ratings5 Oct 2026

A goal and an assist for Jeppe Erenbjerg — 6.85

Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 6.85 beside his name.

Squad5 Oct 2026

Kevin Amaro wants to go home

“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 Racing Genk know it.

Loan watch5 Oct 2026

Olivier Vliegen wants to come home

“I did not go to Beerschot to sit and watch. I want to come back to Racing Genk and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 7 matches say the rest.

Player ratings5 Oct 2026

Gaëtan Laborde in the eights

A performance of 8.58 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

In brief

Back issues
9 Edition

The Racing Genk Courier

28 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match26 Sep 2026

Racing Genk cannot stop winning

4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.

Squad28 Sep 2026

Real improvement from Matte Smets at Racing Genk

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Matte Smets is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Player ratings28 Sep 2026

Up for the corner, and Matte Smets delivers — 6.02

Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Matte Smets scored, was marked 6.02, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.

Squad28 Sep 2026

Home is on Junya Ito's mind

“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Racing Genk are dealing with a man who wants a different country.

Squad28 Sep 2026

Words exchanged at Racing Genk

Kevin Amaro and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

The dugout28 Sep 2026

Tobias Lawal 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.

The terraces28 Sep 2026

The crowd has taken to Matte Smets

At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.

Match26 Sep 2026

Racing Genk find a way past Standard Liege

Standard Liege made Racing Genk work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.

Loan watch28 Sep 2026

Josué Kongolo counts the days

“I watch every Racing Genk game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at OH Leuven runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.

In brief

6 Edition

The Racing Genk Courier

7 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market7 Sep 2026

Matte Smets hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Racing Genk can pretend not to have heard.

Market7 Sep 2026

Racing Genk turn down US Orleans for Aaron Bibout

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Boardroom7 Sep 2026

Deadline passes with 4 signed and 7 gone

That is the business done at Racing Genk until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.

Transfer targets7 Sep 2026

Racing Genk rebuffed over Marcos Peano

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. RAAL La Louviere have kept their man, and Racing Genk go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Transfer targets7 Sep 2026

Alexis de Sart stays at RFC Liege as time runs out

A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Racing Genk will try again when the window opens; RFC Liege may not be selling by then.

Market7 Sep 2026

Gaëtan Laborde wants more than Racing Genk are offering

“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.

Market7 Sep 2026

Eyes on Yaimar Medina again

The phone has started ringing about Yaimar Medina again, and this time the name on the line is Ludogorets. Racing Genk are listening politely and promising nothing.

Squad7 Sep 2026

Yaimar Medina 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 Racing Genk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

The dugout7 Sep 2026

No hiding place for Yira Sor

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Yira Sor, and the manager let it.

In brief