Simon Witsel

Centre Forward - Mouscron
22 Sep 2026
Tuesday
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Overview Personal Contract News 4 Transfers 1 Relations Events 38 Awards Matches History

Marked for Simon Witsel

8 Edition

The Mouscron Gazette

21 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Match19 Sep 2026

A European night to remember for Mouscron

1‑0 against Utrecht, 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.

Squad21 Sep 2026

Kevin Chadli 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 Mouscron this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad21 Sep 2026

Adnan Mignolet 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 terraces21 Sep 2026

The crowd has taken to Youri Januzaj

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.

Player ratings21 Sep 2026

Kevin Chadli runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Match19 Sep 2026

Mouscron find a way past Waasland-Beveren

Waasland-Beveren made Mouscron work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.

The dugout21 Sep 2026

Adnan Mignolet left out for the big one

A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Adnan Mignolet will call it something else in private.

Player ratings21 Sep 2026

Youri Januzaj takes the honours

Marked 7.96 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Mouscron had the best player on the pitch.

Player ratings21 Sep 2026

Simon Witsel stands above it all

Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.86 on the card, and the Mouscron support went home talking about one name.

In brief

Back issues
7 Edition

The Mouscron Gazette

14 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Player ratings14 Sep 2026

A brace, and Simon Witsel takes the afternoon — 8.75

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Simon Witsel provided it, and the 8.75 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Squad14 Sep 2026

David Mindombe gets the move he always wanted

Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. David Mindombe has just signed for Mouscron, and for once the answer mattered.

Match12 Sep 2026

No end in sight to Mouscron's wait for a win

5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Mouscron has to find a result from somewhere.

Squad14 Sep 2026

Words exchanged at Mouscron

Adnan Openda 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.

Squad14 Sep 2026

Words at Mouscron training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kevin Chadli 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.

Match12 Sep 2026

Simon Witsel answers Club Brugge immediately

Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Simon Witsel had Mouscron level again within 2 minutes, and Club Brugge never got to play with a lead at all.

Squad14 Sep 2026

No place for David Mindombe in the new shape

He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Mouscron are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.

Match12 Sep 2026

Honours even between Mouscron and Club Brugge

2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.

The dugout14 Sep 2026

Toby Openda on the point

“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Toby Openda after the 2‑2 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.

In brief

5 Edition

The Mouscron Gazette

31 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad31 Aug 2026

Thomas Tielemans keeps Mouscron in it on his own

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.

Match26 Aug 2026

The cup run ends for Mouscron

1‑3 against Club Brugge, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.

Market31 Aug 2026

Mouscron say no — this time

The offer from FC Lorient for Simon Witsel was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.

Market31 Aug 2026

Dries Openda 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 Mouscron, and it is not being withdrawn.

Transfer targets31 Aug 2026

No thanks: Sami Bouhoudane rejects the move

Mouscron had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at PSV, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.

Squad31 Aug 2026

A falling-out at Mouscron

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

Transfer targets31 Aug 2026

Mouscron baulk at the price for Ali Maamar

Anderlecht wanted more than $250.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.

Transfer targets31 Aug 2026

Mouscron rebuffed over Tijn den Boggende

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

Squad31 Aug 2026

Words at Mouscron training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Valentin Guillaume 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.

In brief

3 Edition

The Mouscron Gazette

17 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market17 Aug 2026

Mouscron say no — this time

The offer from OH Leuven for Thomas Tielemans was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.

Market17 Aug 2026

Thomas Fellaini moves on

Utrecht pay $9.4M, 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.

Squad17 Aug 2026

Tempers go at Mouscron

Kevin 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.

Transfer targets17 Aug 2026

Too dear: Mouscron walk away from Lovro Golič

$140.0K was the most the club would pay and KV Mechelen 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.

Transfer targets17 Aug 2026

Mouscron rebuffed over David Bates

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Standard Liege have kept their man, and Mouscron go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Match15 Aug 2026

Simon Witsel sends Mouscron past Lokeren

It finished 2‑0, and it was Simon Witsel’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Mouscron.

The dugout17 Aug 2026

No hiding place for Kevin Witsel

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

Player ratings17 Aug 2026

Simon Witsel was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.33. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.

Player ratings17 Aug 2026

Ninety minutes of Zinho Chadli at his very best

Marked 8.29. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Mouscron.

In brief