Marked for Shandre Campbell
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market19 Jul 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market19 Jul 2027
Tom King puts it in writing
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at KV Kortrijk, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Marko Ilić 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 KV Kortrijk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Jason Boyata is 15, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Market19 Jul 2027
The name of Abdoul Diop has come up in conversations KV Kortrijk were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Gilles Dewaele 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 targets19 Jul 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
Coventry City 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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
KV Kortrijk are still strangers to each other
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Jun 2027
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Market28 Jun 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at KV Kortrijk is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad28 Jun 2027
He is 21, he is averaging 7.13, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Marko Ilić 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words at KV Kortrijk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Goduine Koyalipou 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 targets28 Jun 2027
KV Kortrijk asked and Granada said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
Blackburn Rovers 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.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
A loan move for Ethan Pinnock is in the works
KV Kortrijk have made the call to Coventry City. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market21 Jun 2027
KAA Gent come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and KV Kortrijk did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market21 Jun 2027
Tom King 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 KV Kortrijk can pretend not to have heard.
Squad21 Jun 2027
The step up is real for Rudy Kohon
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Market21 Jun 2027
KV Oostende pay $1.7M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Words at KV Kortrijk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gilles Dewaele 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 targets21 Jun 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad21 Jun 2027
At 26 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Loïc Damour 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.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
Granada 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market31 May 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around KV Kortrijk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad31 May 2027
A season average of 7.13 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. KV Kortrijk know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Squad31 May 2027
Marko Ilić 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.
Squad31 May 2027
Goduine Koyalipou 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.
Squad31 May 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Rudy Kohon and KV Kortrijk agree another 4 years.
The dugout31 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Gilles Ruyssen, and the manager let it.
The dugout31 May 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout31 May 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Brecht Dejaegere trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market31 May 2027
4 appearances and 0 goals is not a season away, it is a year lost. He is back at KV Kortrijk no further forward, and everybody involved will explain why it was not their fault.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout17 May 2027
Liam De Smet: 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.” KV Kortrijk have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad17 May 2027
Marko Ilić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 May 2027
Gilles Dewaele 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.
Squad17 May 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jason Boyata and KV Kortrijk agree another 3 years.
The dugout17 May 2027
Gilles Dewaele has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at KV Kortrijk 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.
The dugout17 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Suf Podgoreanu, and the manager let it.
The terraces17 May 2027
The Marko Ilić rumours reach the terraces
What was a back-page link has become a chant, and the chant is not friendly. KV Kortrijk would rather it were settled quietly, and it has stopped being quiet.
The dugout17 May 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Juan David Martínez trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market17 May 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. KV Kortrijk know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 May 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at KV Kortrijk, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market3 May 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around KV Kortrijk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad3 May 2027
At 21, Shandre Campbell is already the best thing here
An average of 7.13 in a first team he is several years too young for. KV Kortrijk have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Squad3 May 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gilles Dewaele was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market3 May 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Thomas Meunier has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market3 May 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Nacer Carrasco has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The dugout3 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to James Ndjeungoue, and the manager let it.
Squad3 May 2027
“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; KV Kortrijk are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad3 May 2027
Pedro Santos 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 KV Kortrijk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Apr 2027
25 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. KV Kortrijk lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Marko Ilić 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 KV Kortrijk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Apr 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Matthew Anderson and KV Kortrijk agree another 4 years.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gilles Dewaele was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market19 Apr 2027
Loïc Damour told to find a new club
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Loïc Damour has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at KV Kortrijk.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
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 Gilles Dewaele is on it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Apr 2027
The words a physio says slowly. 40 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
Gilles Ruyssen: 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.” KV Kortrijk have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market5 Apr 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at KV Kortrijk, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market5 Apr 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ebbe De Vlaeminck will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around KV Kortrijk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad5 Apr 2027
He is 21, he is averaging 7.13, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gilles Dewaele was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Gilles Ruyssen 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.
Loan watch5 Apr 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 KV Kortrijk, and 4 appearances in 12 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout5 Apr 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
Squad22 Mar 2027
57 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. KV Kortrijk lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market22 Mar 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at KV Kortrijk, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Marko Ilić 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 KV Kortrijk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Gilles Dewaele 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.
The dugout22 Mar 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
Crisis
Squad15 Mar 2027
65 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. KV Kortrijk lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match13 Mar 2027
0‑1 against Betis. Continental football is unforgiving about the things a domestic league lets a side get away with, and this was a night spent finding out which of those the club still has.
Squad15 Mar 2027
7 saves: Marko Ilić was the team
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Defences have started doubling up on Goduine Koyalipou
23 goals and a season average of 7.38 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Gilles Dewaele 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.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Loan watch15 Mar 2027
“I watch every KV Kortrijk game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Waasland-Beveren runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
The team sheet said everything about James Ndjeungoue
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told James Ndjeungoue.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad8 Mar 2027
74 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. KV Kortrijk lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market8 Mar 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what KV Kortrijk can pretend not to have heard.
Market8 Mar 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around KV Kortrijk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Brecht Dejaegere and KV Kortrijk agree another 2 years.
Squad8 Mar 2027
A season average of 7.13 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. KV Kortrijk know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words at KV Kortrijk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gilles Dewaele 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.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Abdoul Diop
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
Gilles Dewaele knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at KV Kortrijk, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad8 Feb 2027
The words a physio says slowly. 109 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match6 Feb 2027
Chastening afternoon for KV Kortrijk
A 1‑5 beating by KAA Gent was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Defences have started doubling up on Goduine Koyalipou
22 goals and a season average of 7.37 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A one-man rearguard from Marko Ilić
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.
Market8 Feb 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market8 Feb 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ebbe De Vlaeminck will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around KV Kortrijk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
KV Kortrijk had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Asteras, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad8 Feb 2027
He is 21, he is averaging 7.12, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Match6 Feb 2027
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between KV Kortrijk and KAA Gent, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad1 Feb 2027
116 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. KV Kortrijk lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Two goals and a mark of 9.47 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad1 Feb 2027
8 saves: Marko Ilić was the team
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad1 Feb 2027
The match ball belongs to Goduine Koyalipou, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Squad1 Feb 2027
21 goals and a season average of 7.36. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Shandre Campbell, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.67
A mark of 7.67 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Market1 Feb 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what KV Kortrijk can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” KV Kortrijk may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 3 signed and 3 gone
That is the business done at KV Kortrijk 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad25 Jan 2027
124 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. KV Kortrijk lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market25 Jan 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Sint-Truiden waiting with a shirt. Nobody at KV Kortrijk is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Squad25 Jan 2027
A season average of 7.30 with 18 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Market25 Jan 2027
KAA Gent come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and KV Kortrijk did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market25 Jan 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around KV Kortrijk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Ken Masui beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 24. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Jubilo Iwata keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gilles Dewaele was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match23 Jan 2027
A 2‑1 win over Anderlecht, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad4 Jan 2027
148 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. KV Kortrijk lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match2 Jan 2027
The 2-goal deficit was real and so was the recovery. Goduine Koyalipou was at the centre of it, Westerlo were at the end of it, and everybody who left early will hear about this one for years.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.18, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad4 Jan 2027
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. KV Kortrijk had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Market4 Jan 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Defences have started doubling up on Thierry Ambrose
21 goals and a season average of 7.24 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Market4 Jan 2027
Add another name to the list: Charleroi have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Sixtus Ogbuehi. The answer from KV Kortrijk has not changed — yet.
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Fuhna Wirsiy Nsolo has agreed terms with Westerlo for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad4 Jan 2027
At 21, Shandre Campbell is already the best thing here
An average of 7.10 in a first team he is several years too young for. KV Kortrijk have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Dec 2026
7 saves: Marko Ilić was the team
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Marko Ilić 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 KV Kortrijk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Dec 2026
A muscle injury sidelines Matthew Anderson for 14 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. KV Kortrijk will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad28 Dec 2026
A season average of 7.25 with 15 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
The terraces28 Dec 2026
At 21 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.
The dugout28 Dec 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 dugout28 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Charles Mignolet kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
Brecht Dejaegere has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at KV Kortrijk 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Dec 2026
The words a physio says slowly. 14 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.64 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Marked 7.71 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad21 Dec 2026
20 goals and a season average of 7.24. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Marko Ilić 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Goduine Koyalipou 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.
Match19 Dec 2026
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Club Brugge scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
Match19 Dec 2026
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Goduine Koyalipou has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at KV Kortrijk 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.
In brief
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The dugout
No hiding place for Loïc Damour
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The dugout
Thierry Ambrose knocks on the manager’s door
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad7 Dec 2026
The words a physio says slowly. 30 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match5 Dec 2026
13 matches without defeat, and then Standard Liege. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.
Squad7 Dec 2026
He is 21, he is averaging 7.07, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Goduine Koyalipou was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad7 Dec 2026
13 goals and a season average of 7.22. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Sixtus Ogbuehi
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Match5 Dec 2026
KV Kortrijk make home a hard place to visit
8 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Match5 Dec 2026
Standard Liege left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
The game went through Lennard Hens — 6.83
Marked 6.83 on 9 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match28 Nov 2026
A European night to remember for KV Kortrijk
2‑2 against Parma, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
Squad30 Nov 2026
39 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. KV Kortrijk lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match28 Nov 2026
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 13 matches without defeat is a foundation KV Kortrijk did not have in the autumn.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.03, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
No sign of nerves from Shandre Campbell at 21 — 7.77
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Shandre Campbell did not need any: 7.77, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Ken Masui runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match7 Nov 2026
A statement in Europe from KV Kortrijk
4‑1 against Cracovia, and a performance that will change how the rest of the competition talks about this club. Reputations in continental football are built in single evenings and this was one.
Squad9 Nov 2026
63 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. KV Kortrijk lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad9 Nov 2026
The match ball belongs to Thierry Ambrose, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
No sign of nerves from Shandre Campbell at 21 — 8.18
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Shandre Campbell did not need any: 8.18, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Match7 Nov 2026
5 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.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” KV Kortrijk have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Marko Ilić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad9 Nov 2026
He is 21, he is averaging 7.05, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Marked 9.31 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad2 Nov 2026
70 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. KV Kortrijk lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Nobody could get near Ken Masui
Successful dribbles: 33. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
No sign of nerves from Shandre Campbell at 21 — 8.11
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Shandre Campbell did not need any: 8.11, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Match31 Oct 2026
Nobody wants to play KV Kortrijk right now
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Marko Ilić 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 KV Kortrijk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces2 Nov 2026
At 21 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.
Match31 Oct 2026
It finished 2‑0, and it was Goduine Koyalipou’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to KV Kortrijk.
The dugout2 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.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Marked 8.11 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match19 Sep 2026
Westerlo will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. KV Kortrijk were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Market21 Sep 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what KV Kortrijk can pretend not to have heard.
Match19 Sep 2026
0‑2 against Parma. Continental football is unforgiving about the things a domestic league lets a side get away with, and this was a night spent finding out which of those the club still has.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
A brace, and Lennard Hens takes the afternoon — 8.29
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Lennard Hens provided it, and the 8.29 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Marked 8.45 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Marko Ilić 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 terraces21 Sep 2026
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match26 Aug 2026
Jonathan Afolabi wins it after the whistle should have gone
118 minutes played. Jonathan Afolabi found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and KV Oostende went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Shandre Campbell, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.69
A mark of 7.69 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
$3.4M was the most the club would pay and KV Oostende were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Market31 Aug 2026
Anderlecht come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and KV Kortrijk did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad31 Aug 2026
The medical room confirms 15 days on the sidelines for Brecht Dejaegere, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
No thanks: Ricardinho rejects the move
KV Kortrijk had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Asteras, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Nobody could get near Ken Masui
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
KV Kortrijk had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Haladas, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Goduine Koyalipou 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 targets24 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Loïc Damour 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 KV Kortrijk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Asteras 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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Austria Wien: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Match22 Aug 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 dugout24 Aug 2026
Abdoul Diop 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 dugout24 Aug 2026
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match8 Aug 2026
7‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Two goals and a mark of 9.40 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad10 Aug 2026
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
$1.4M settles it between the clubs for Josué Kongolo
Racing Genk have accepted the money. What KV Kortrijk do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
No sign of nerves from Shandre Campbell at 21 — 8.29
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Shandre Campbell did not need any: 8.29, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Waasland-Beveren have kept their man, and KV Kortrijk go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Marko Ilić and KV Kortrijk agree another 4 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Marko Ilić 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.
Match8 Aug 2026
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between KV Kortrijk and Lokeren, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.