Marked for Maxence Prévot
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match17 Feb 2027
The cup run ends for OH Leuven
0‑5 against Racing Genk, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Lukas Cakoni: 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.
Squad22 Feb 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Jan Vertonghen
“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.
Boardroom22 Feb 2027
Nobody left the OH Leuven 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Maxence Prévot knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
4.04 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
5.00 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad15 Feb 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.
Match13 Feb 2027
Still nobody has beaten OH Leuven
The unbeaten run reaches 8. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Thibaud Verlinden 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.
Match13 Feb 2027
Three points for OH Leuven, 3‑2 the final word against Anderlecht in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Marked 9.28 — 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.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.92, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
A performance of 8.51 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
A masterclass from Sory Kaba
Marked 8.20 — 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
6 goals and a season average of 7.32. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad1 Feb 2027
There were 8 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 ratings1 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Jason Denayer 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
At 21, Edmund Baidoo is already the best thing here
An average of 7.08 in a first team he is several years too young for. OH Leuven have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Match30 Jan 2027
Whatever happens, OH Leuven do not lose
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
A performance of 8.27 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad1 Feb 2027
A season average of 7.28 with 5 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Match30 Jan 2027
2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Sory Kaba leaves them behind him
Shots: 13. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 29. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad25 Jan 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.
Squad25 Jan 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.
Match23 Jan 2027
A 2‑1 win over Westerlo, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
A masterclass from Sory Kaba
Marked 8.91 — 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.
Boardroom25 Jan 2027
Wages eat 90% of everything OH Leuven earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Squad25 Jan 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Jan Vertonghen asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
5.75 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad11 Jan 2027
There were 9 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.
Market11 Jan 2027
The deal that would have taken Sory Kaba to Betis has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to OH Leuven with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Squad11 Jan 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” OH Leuven may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Defensive actions: 26, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Match9 Jan 2027
Nobody wants to play OH Leuven 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.
Squad11 Jan 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.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 23 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Defensive actions: 22, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Marked 8.88 — 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
Crisis
Squad14 Dec 2026
Takuma Ominami 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.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match12 Dec 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad14 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Łukasz Łakomy, and the manager let it.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
The one thing Sory Kaba could not do
Shots: 13, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
The terraces14 Dec 2026
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 30. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Thibaud Verlinden 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.
Squad23 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.
Match21 Nov 2026
Mouscron left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad23 Nov 2026
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
A day to forget for Sory Kaba
Marked 4.75, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match16 Nov 2026
OH Leuven are in among the leaders
Position 2 and 28 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match14 Nov 2026
Nobody wants to play OH Leuven 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.
Squad16 Nov 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 OH Leuven this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match14 Nov 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jason Denayer. 2‑1 against KV Kortrijk, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
A performance of 8.49 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
A performance of 8.45 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.45, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad9 Nov 2026
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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Thibaud Verlinden 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.
Match7 Nov 2026
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation OH Leuven did not have in the autumn.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.03, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match7 Nov 2026
Three points for OH Leuven, 2‑0 the final word against KV Oostende in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Defensive actions: 20. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
A masterclass from Sory Kaba
Marked 8.37 — 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.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Marked 8.30 — 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Bryang Kayo 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad2 Nov 2026
There were 9 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 ratings2 Nov 2026
Defensive actions: 29, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad2 Nov 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 OH Leuven this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Nov 2026
31 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Wages eat 176% of everything OH Leuven earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
A defender's afternoon for Jason Denayer
Defensive actions: 20. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Match31 Oct 2026
Anderlecht made OH Leuven work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
One of those days for Sory Kaba
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.40, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. 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
Upbeat
Squad7 Sep 2026
95 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad7 Sep 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 OH Leuven this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.20, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match5 Sep 2026
Racing Genk made OH Leuven work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
161% of the income goes out in wages at OH Leuven
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Squad7 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.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
One of those days for Sory Kaba
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.24, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.17, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Defensive actions: 33, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Defensive actions: 29, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad31 Aug 2026
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.
Market31 Aug 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 OH Leuven can pretend not to have heard.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Thibaud Verlinden 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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
A performance of 9.50 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match29 Aug 2026
1‑2 to Lokeren, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Aug 2026
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.
Market24 Aug 2026
“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 OH Leuven, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad24 Aug 2026
18 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad24 Aug 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 OH Leuven this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market24 Aug 2026
Business is business: Noë Dussenne goes
Racing Genk paid $350.0K and OH Leuven took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Match22 Aug 2026
Three points for OH Leuven, 2‑1 the final word against KAA Gent in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Marked 8.84 — 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.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Marked 8.75 — 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Ewoud Pletinckx
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 Aug 2026
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 ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Thibaud Verlinden 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.
Match15 Aug 2026
1‑2 to Zulte Waregem, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad17 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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Sory Kaba leaves them behind him
Shots: 9. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
Market17 Aug 2026
At 39, he has seen every situation this season can produce, twice. The legs will be managed; the head is the purchase.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Sory Kaba has seen what the next man earns
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at OH Leuven that is a harder question to answer.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
The substitution nobody applauded turned out to be the whole story. OH Leuven were going nowhere until he came on.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 15 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad10 Aug 2026
127 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Thibaud Verlinden and OH Leuven agree another 4 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Thibaud Verlinden 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.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.24, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Marked 8.77 — 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.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Marked 8.04 — 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.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market10 Aug 2026
48 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Sory Kaba and OH Leuven agree another 2 years.
Squad3 Aug 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 OH Leuven this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Marked 9.03 — 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Maxence Prévot
“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.
Market3 Aug 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Market3 Aug 2026
The clock runs on Henok Teklab's contract
49 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
Match1 Aug 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“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.