Marked for Adnan Chadli
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match31 Oct 2026
14 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The terraces2 Nov 2026
Anger at KV Oostende spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” KV Oostende may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Benjamin Stambouli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
David Ozoh 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 ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad2 Nov 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Christian Doku and KV Oostende agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Dries Chadli after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match24 Oct 2026
No end in sight to KV Oostende's wait for a win
13 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at KV Oostende has to find a result from somewhere.
Match26 Oct 2026
Every point is an argument now for KV Oostende
Position 15 and 4 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Match24 Oct 2026
5 matches without a goal for KV Oostende
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Adnan Chadli beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 22. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad26 Oct 2026
David Bates 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 Oostende this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match24 Oct 2026
Mouscron left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Karim Azamoum was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Dries Chadli left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad26 Oct 2026
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation KV Oostende are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match3 Oct 2026
10 matches without a win for KV Oostende
The run now stands at 10, and the questions being asked around KV Oostende are no longer polite ones.
Match3 Oct 2026
0‑4 against Anderlecht, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad5 Oct 2026
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 Oostende this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Karim Azamoum was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Karim Azamoum, and the manager let it.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Nobody left the KV Oostende dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Hakim El Mokeddem and KV Oostende agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑4 Dries Chadli left the room before anybody could ask which.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
There was one mistake and it ended in the net. Defenders are judged on the worst thing they did rather than on the eighty-nine minutes either side of it, which is unfair and is also the job.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Sep 2026
No end in sight to KV Oostende's wait for a win
8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at KV Oostende has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad21 Sep 2026
8 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Benjamin Stambouli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Zayd El Kandoussi 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
1‑2 to Sint-Truiden, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad21 Sep 2026
KV Oostende are still strangers to each other
13 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.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Dries Chadli after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“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.
Market21 Sep 2026
At 37, he has seen every situation this season can produce, twice. The legs will be managed; the head is the purchase.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market24 Aug 2026
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around KV Oostende people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The clubs have shaken hands with Standard Liege; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
KV Oostende asked and Groningen said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market24 Aug 2026
Mousa Lukaku 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 Oostende can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Pandurii is saying, and nobody at KV Oostende is enjoying the guessing.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Adnan Chadli 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.
Match22 Aug 2026
KV Mechelen left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout24 Aug 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at KV Oostende training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Karim Azamoum 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Aug 2026
The unthinkable, invoiced: Radja Kompany sold
Liverpool arrived with $50.9M and left with the best player in the building. The board will call it business; the queue at the ticket office will use other words.
Market10 Aug 2026
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around KV Oostende people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Transfer targets10 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market10 Aug 2026
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Vitesse had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The terraces10 Aug 2026
Radja Kompany has gone, the accounts have $50.9M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The deal with Waasland-Beveren is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Adnan Chadli and KV Oostende agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Wolfgang Roth and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad3 Aug 2026
10 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Squad3 Aug 2026
9 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Match1 Aug 2026
30‑1, and Radja Kompany took the headlines on an afternoon when everything KV Oostende tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
There is exactly one of these per career and it does not usually go like this. 3 on the scoresheet, 9.74 beside the name, and a crowd that had never seen him before chanting it by the end.
Squad3 Aug 2026
The match ball belongs to Adnan Witsel, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Squad3 Aug 2026
The match ball belongs to Adnan Chadli, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Charles Januzaj, 35, rolls back the years — 9.86
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.86 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
A brace, and Eden Vanaken takes the afternoon — 8.31
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Eden Vanaken provided it, and the 8.31 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market3 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Radja Kompany again, and this time the name on the line is Liverpool. KV Oostende are listening politely and promising nothing.