Racing Genk U20

5 Dec 2027
Sunday
Process
70 Edition

The Racing Genk Courier

29 Nov 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Racing Genk do the business in Europe

1‑1. Continental football is where a club finds out what it actually is, and Racing Genk came through the finding-out well against FC Copenhagen.

Squad

Rafiu Durosinmi takes the match ball home

4 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.

Match

Racing Genk run riot against KV Oostende

4‑1, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.

Match

Racing Genk are top

37 points and nobody above them. The word is not being said around the ground yet, and it is being thought in every seat.

Match

The run at home goes on for Racing Genk

13 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.

Squad

Rafiu Durosinmi is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.48 with 17 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

Player ratings

Noah Adedeji-Sternberg runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 26. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

A falling-out at Racing Genk

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

Market

Leandro Andrade wants European nights

The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.

In brief

Back issues
69 Edition

The Racing Genk Courier

22 Nov 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Racing Genk are in among the leaders

Position 3 and 34 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.

Player ratings

Noah Adedeji-Sternberg was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 26. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

Market

Rafiu Durosinmi 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.

Market

Yuma Suzuki wants European nights

The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.

Squad

Words exchanged at Racing Genk

Rafiu Durosinmi 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.

Squad

Junya Ito 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.

Match

Racing Genk come up short against Anderlecht

Anderlecht left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

The dugout

Romelu Tielemans faces the questions

“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Romelu Tielemans after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Jusef Erabi

“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.

In brief

68 Edition

The Racing Genk Courier

15 Nov 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Tempers go at Racing Genk

Rafiu Durosinmi 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.

Squad

Junya Ito 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.

Match

A bad afternoon for Racing Genk against Charleroi

0‑1 to Charleroi, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Match

After 5 games, Racing Genk finally taste it again

The first defeat in 5 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Charleroi; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.

Squad

Ayumu Yokoyama signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ayumu Yokoyama and Racing Genk agree another 4 years.

Loan watch

Platon Matiukov wants to come home

“I did not go to Jomo Cosmos to sit and watch. I want to come back to Racing Genk and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 12 matches say the rest.

The dugout

Romelu Tielemans answers for it

“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.

Squad

Home is on Anas Zniti'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.

The dugout

Lucas Torreira has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Racing Genk 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

67 Edition

The Racing Genk Courier

8 Nov 2027
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

Racing Genk take Inter Turku apart in Europe

4‑0. Nights like this are why clubs spend decades trying to qualify for this competition, and they arrive perhaps twice in that time. Everybody who was in the ground will describe it badly for years.

Match

Racing Genk tear Sint-Truiden apart

Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Sint-Truiden, and it could have been more.

Player ratings

A brace, and Rafiu Durosinmi takes the afternoon — 9.26

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Rafiu Durosinmi provided it, and the 9.26 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Match

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.

Player ratings

Vintage Junya Ito — 8.54

At 34 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.54, and nobody on the pitch better.

Match

Nobody wins at Racing Genk

12 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.

Squad

Rafiu Durosinmi 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.

Squad

Rafiu Durosinmi is carrying Racing Genk

13 goals and a season average of 7.38. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.

Market

Racing Genk may not be able to give Yaimar Medina what he wants

It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Yaimar Medina wants continental football; whether Racing Genk can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.

In brief

66 Edition

The Racing Genk Courier

1 Nov 2027
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

Rafiu Durosinmi wins it after the whistle should have gone

91 minutes played. Rafiu Durosinmi found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Westerlo went from a point to nothing inside one movement.

Match

Racing Genk make it 3 in a row

Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Racing Genk have 3 straight wins of it.

Squad

Yuma Suzuki 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.

Squad

A falling-out at Racing Genk

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

Squad

Words at Racing Genk training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Junya Ito 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.

Match

Racing Genk get the job done against Westerlo

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.

Squad

Rafiu Durosinmi is carrying Racing Genk

11 goals and a season average of 7.29. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.

Player ratings

Junya Ito 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.

Player ratings

Daan Heymans was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.27. 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.

In brief

65 Edition

The Racing Genk Courier

25 Oct 2027
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

Racing Genk announce themselves in Europe

4‑1 against Inter Turku, on a night that will be replayed at this club for a generation. Continental reputations are made in single evenings and this was the evening.

Match

Still nobody has beaten Racing Genk

The unbeaten run reaches 14. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.

Match

No mercy from Racing Genk

Waasland-Beveren will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Racing Genk were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.

Match

The view from the top for Racing Genk

28 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.

Squad

3 goals for Rafiu Durosinmi

The match ball belongs to Rafiu Durosinmi, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.

Player ratings

Both of them Daan Heymans's — 8.32

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.32, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Player ratings

Vintage Junya Ito — 7.87

At 34 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.87, and nobody on the pitch better.

Match

The run at home goes on for Racing Genk

11 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.

Squad

Home is on Lucas Torreira'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.

In brief

64 Edition

The Racing Genk Courier

18 Oct 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

Whatever happens, Racing Genk do not lose

12 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.

Squad

Tempers go at Racing Genk

Rafiu Durosinmi 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 ratings

Jarne Steuckers was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 21. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

Squad

Words at Racing Genk training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Junya Ito 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 terraces

One of their own: Kevin Amaro

He is 23 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.

The dugout

No hiding place for Mujaid Sadick

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

The dugout

Daan Heymans is still paying for one afternoon at Racing Genk

Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.

Player ratings

Kevin Amaro stands above it all

Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.71 on the card, and the Racing Genk support went home talking about one name.

The dugout

A promise honoured for Soufiane Rahimi

It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Racing Genk told Soufiane Rahimi something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.

In brief

63 Edition

The Racing Genk Courier

11 Oct 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

11 unbeaten for Racing Genk

Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 11 matches without defeat is a foundation Racing Genk did not have in the autumn.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Noah Adedeji-Sternberg

Successful dribbles: 29. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Player ratings

A defender's goal wins it for Racing Genk — 7.94

1 for Bryan Heynen, marked 7.94, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.

Market

Rafiu Durosinmi 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.

Squad

Rafiu Durosinmi 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.

Squad

Nikolas Sattlberger signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Nikolas Sattlberger commits to Racing Genk for another 5 years.

Squad

Words at Racing Genk training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Junya Ito 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.

Match

Nobody wins at Racing Genk

9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.

Match

Bryan Heynen sends Racing Genk past KV Mechelen

It finished 2‑1, and it was Bryan Heynen’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Racing Genk.

In brief

62 Edition

The Racing Genk Courier

4 Oct 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Jarne Steuckers beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 48. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Match

A European night to remember for Racing Genk

2‑0 against Lokomotiv Sofia, 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.

Match

Racing Genk refuse to drop out of the race

Position 2, 21 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.

Match

10 unbeaten for Racing Genk

Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 10 matches without defeat is a foundation Racing Genk did not have in the autumn.

The dugout

Kévin Théophile-Catherine 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.

Player ratings

Vintage Junya Ito — 7.85

At 34 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.85, and nobody on the pitch better.

Squad

Hendrik Van Crombrugge signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Hendrik Van Crombrugge commits to Racing Genk for another 2 years.

Squad

A falling-out at Racing Genk

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

Market

Leandro Andrade 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.

In brief

61 Edition

The Racing Genk Courier

27 Sep 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

Racing Genk throw away a 2-goal lead

2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with KAA Gent the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Racing Genk will enjoy reviewing.

Match

Racing Genk are top

20 points and nobody above them. The word is not being said around the ground yet, and it is being thought in every seat.

Match

8 unbeaten for Racing Genk

Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 8 matches without defeat is a foundation Racing Genk did not have in the autumn.

Squad

Words exchanged at Racing Genk

Rafiu Durosinmi 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Racing Genk

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yuma Suzuki was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Looking ahead

The big one: Standard Liege come into view

Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. Racing Genk will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.

Player ratings

Rafiu Durosinmi was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.15. 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 ratings

A masterclass from Jarne Steuckers

Marked 8.09 — 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 ratings

Kevin Amaro ran the middle of the pitch — 7.49

He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 10 combined actions and a mark of 7.49, and not one of them will make a highlights package.

In brief

60 Edition

The Racing Genk Courier

20 Sep 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Daan Heymans lights up a European night for Racing Genk

2‑2 against FC Copenhagen, and a performance that will be described to people who were not there for the rest of the season. Daan Heymans was at the centre of the description.

Match

No mercy from Racing Genk

Lokeren will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Racing Genk were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.

Player ratings

Both of them Rafiu Durosinmi's — 9.00

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.00, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Squad

Tempers go at Racing Genk

Rafiu Durosinmi 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.

Match

Still nobody has beaten Racing Genk

The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.

Squad

Junya Ito 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 dugout

Hendrik Van Crombrugge 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 terraces

The crowd has taken to Yaimar Medina

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.

Match

Nobody wins at Racing Genk

8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.

In brief

59 Edition

The Racing Genk Courier

13 Sep 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Racing Genk tear OH Leuven apart

Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 5‑0 against OH Leuven, and it could have been more.

Player ratings

Both of them Leandro Andrade's — 9.69

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.69, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Squad

3 goals for Soufiane Rahimi

The match ball belongs to Soufiane Rahimi, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.

The dugout

Jarne Steuckers: 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.” Racing Genk have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Market

Rafiu Durosinmi 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.

Transfer targets

The window shuts on the Gustaf Nilsson deal

Racing Genk ran out of time with Club Brugge. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.

Squad

Rafiu Durosinmi 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.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Soufiane Rahimi

Marked 10.00 — 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.

Squad

Soufiane Rahimi reaches 100 goals

100 goals for the club, every one of them filed away in the memory of a supporter somewhere.

In brief

58 Edition

The Racing Genk Courier

6 Sep 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Transfer targets

Fee done, terms next for Gustaf Nilsson

Racing Genk and Club Brugge have settled on $3.0M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.

Squad

Bryan Heynen has been here 13 seasons

328 appearances across 13 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.

Transfer targets

Racing Genk rebuffed over Arno Verschueren

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

Player ratings

Noah Adedeji-Sternberg was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 27. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

Boardroom

Racing Genk close the window on a squad of their own making

12 in and 15 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.

Market

Anas Zniti asks to leave Racing Genk

“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.

Market

Yuma Suzuki raises the bar for Racing Genk

“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Racing Genk heard it as anything else.

Squad

A falling-out at Racing Genk

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

Market

Yaimar Medina has his eye on Europe

It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Racing Genk can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.

In brief

57 Edition

The Racing Genk Courier

30 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Jeppe Erenbjerg was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 74. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

Match

The small margins put Racing Genk out

Out, 0‑0 to Waasland-Beveren, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.

Squad

Tobias Lawal decides it from twelve yards

1 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.

Transfer targets

Too dear: Racing Genk walk away from Nacer Tielemans

$7.4M 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.

The dugout

Antoine Bernier: 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.” Racing Genk have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Market

Kévin Théophile-Catherine 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.

Player ratings

Bryan Heynen goes up and wins it — 7.78

A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.78 for the rest of it.

Market

Dylan Ourega arrives at Racing Genk as the heir apparent

Every dressing room knows how to read a signing like this one. Dylan Ourega is not here to sit and wait indefinitely, and the man whose place he has been bought to take knows it better than anyone.

Squad

A move Dylan Ourega would have made for nothing

There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Dylan Ourega is living that version at Racing Genk, and it tends to show in the first month.

In brief

56 Edition

The Racing Genk Courier

23 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

The dugout

Jusef Erabi: 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.” Racing Genk have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Transfer targets

An offer of $7.4M for Nacer Tielemans

Racing Genk have gone to KV Oostende with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.

Squad

Hendrik Van Crombrugge keeps Racing Genk in it on his own

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.

Transfer targets

Too dear: Racing Genk walk away from Freddie Potts

$8.3M was the most the club would pay and Club Brugge 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 targets

Racing Genk bid $5.9M for Dylan Ourega

The offer went to Westerlo this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.

Market

Racing Genk say no — this time

The offer from Anderlecht for Nikolas Sattlberger 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.

Player ratings

Up for the corner, and Bryan Heynen delivers — 7.88

Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Bryan Heynen scored, was marked 7.88, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.

Squad

Lucas Torreira wants to go home

“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Racing Genk can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.

Squad

Tempers go at Racing Genk

Soufiane Rahimi 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.

In brief

55 Edition

The Racing Genk Courier

16 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Ibrahima Sory Bangoura has said yes to Ermis

The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Racing Genk have lost him in all but the paperwork.

Transfer targets

Racing Genk bid $8.3M for Freddie Potts

The offer went to Club Brugge this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.

Squad

Racing Genk count the cost of losing Junya Ito

34 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.

Market

Barrow AFC come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Racing Genk did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Market

Rafiu Durosinmi wants to know where this is going

“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Racing Genk hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.

Player ratings

Noah Adedeji-Sternberg runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

Soufiane Rahimi 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.

Match

A bad afternoon for Racing Genk against KV Oostende

1‑3 to KV Oostende, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

The dugout

No hiding place for Hendrik Van Crombrugge

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

In brief

54 Edition

The Racing Genk Courier

9 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Triumph

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Joris Kayembe

26 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Racing Genk lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

The dugout

Jeppe Erenbjerg: 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.” Racing Genk have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

A falling-out at Racing Genk

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

Player ratings

Noah Adedeji-Sternberg 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.

Match

Racing Genk find a way past Anderlecht

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

The dugout

Jusef Erabi 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 ratings

The afternoon belonged to Rafiu Durosinmi

A mark of 7.84, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.

Loan watch

Milan Roganović counts the days

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

The dugout

Romelu Tielemans: “That is the standard”

“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.

In brief

53 Edition

The Racing Genk Courier

2 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Joris Kayembe

34 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Racing Genk lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Market

So close: Robin Mirisola’s move dies late

The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Nimes moved on, Robin Mirisola reports back to Racing Genk, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.

Squad

Words exchanged at Racing Genk

Rafiu Durosinmi 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.

Squad

Soufiane Rahimi 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 dugout

Soufiane Rahimi 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.

Market

Barrow AFC join the queue for Yari Vanderhallen

Add another name to the list: Barrow AFC have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Yari Vanderhallen. The answer from Racing Genk has not changed — yet.

Match

Racing Genk find a way past Charleroi

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

Squad

Rafiu Durosinmi reaches 50 goals

50 goals for the club, every one of them filed away in the memory of a supporter somewhere.

Player ratings

Noah Adedeji-Sternberg beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

In brief

52 Edition

The Racing Genk Courier

26 Jul 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Joris Kayembe damages knee ligaments — 45 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 45 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.

Market

Not going: Robin Mirisola stays at Racing Genk

“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Epicentr had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.

Market

Yira Sor moves on

Anderlecht pay $5.4M, 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.

Transfer targets

Too dear: Racing Genk walk away from Freddie Potts

$4.1M was the most the club would pay and Club Brugge 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.

Market

Yuma Suzuki has his eye on Europe

It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Racing Genk can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.

Boardroom

A new deal for Romelu Tielemans

The board have signed the man in the dugout to a longer contract, which says more than any statement of support. Stability is easy to promise and costly to keep.

Squad

Tempers go at Racing Genk

Rafiu Durosinmi 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.

Market

Zorya join the queue for Bilal Bafdili

Add another name to the list: Zorya have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Bilal Bafdili. The answer from Racing Genk has not changed — yet.

Boardroom

5 academy players handed senior numbers at Racing Genk

The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.

In brief

51 Edition

The Racing Genk Courier

19 Jul 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Joris Kayembe

53 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Racing Genk lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Market

Ibrahima Sory Bangoura turns JS Saoura down

“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.

Transfer targets

Racing Genk make their move for Freddie Potts

$4.1M on the table at Club Brugge. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.

Squad

Racing Genk lose Junya Ito

68 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.

Market

Racing Genk say no — this time

The offer from Zulte Waregem for Ayumu Yokoyama 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.

Squad

Rafiu Durosinmi 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.

Squad

Jusef Erabi pulls a muscle — 14 days out

The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.

Market

Anderlecht are about to pick up the phone

A conversation is coming this week. Racing Genk will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.

The dugout

Rafiu Durosinmi gets picked when it counts

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 Rafiu Durosinmi is on it.

In brief

50 Edition

The Racing Genk Courier

12 Jul 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Joris Kayembe damages knee ligaments — 61 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 61 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.

Market

Club Brugge come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Racing Genk did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Market

Yira Sor 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 Racing Genk, and it is not being withdrawn.

Transfer targets

Racing Genk rebuffed over Freddie Potts

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

Squad

A falling-out at Racing Genk

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

Squad

Jusef Erabi stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Jusef Erabi and Racing Genk agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

A row about effort at Racing Genk

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Soufiane Rahimi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

No hiding place for Jusef Erabi

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

Market

JS Saoura expected to open talks for Ibrahima Sory Bangoura

Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Racing Genk will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.

In brief

49 Edition

The Racing Genk Courier

5 Jul 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

The knee: Joris Kayembe out for 70 days

70 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Racing Genk lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Market

Wisla Krakow come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Racing Genk did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Squad

Yaimar Medina is a better footballer than he was

Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.

Squad

Rafiu Durosinmi signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Rafiu Durosinmi and Racing Genk agree another 5 years.

Squad

Words exchanged at Racing Genk

Soufiane Rahimi 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.

Market

Leandro Andrade 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.

Market

Yaimar Medina has his eye on Europe

It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Racing Genk can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.

Market

Ibrahima Sory Bangoura attracts admirers

The name of Ibrahima Sory Bangoura has come up in conversations Racing Genk were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.

Boardroom

Intake day at the Racing Genk academy

9 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.

In brief

48 Edition

The Racing Genk Courier

28 Jun 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Joris Kayembe damages knee ligaments — 80 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 80 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.

Squad

Real improvement from Nikolas Sattlberger at Racing Genk

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Nikolas Sattlberger is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Squad

Yuma Suzuki wants to go home

“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Racing Genk can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.

Market

Jellert Van Landschoot arrives at Racing Genk as the heir apparent

Every dressing room knows how to read a signing like this one. Jellert Van Landschoot is not here to sit and wait indefinitely, and the man whose place he has been bought to take knows it better than anyone.

Market

Antoine Bernier arrives at Racing Genk as the heir apparent

Every dressing room knows how to read a signing like this one. Antoine Bernier is not here to sit and wait indefinitely, and the man whose place he has been bought to take knows it better than anyone.

Squad

Tempers go at Racing Genk

Soufiane Rahimi 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.

The dugout

Bryan Heynen has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Racing Genk 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 dugout

The manager has not finished forgetting Bilal Bafdili's mistake

Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.

Market

The Lucas Torreira story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Lucas Torreira signs something — a contract at Racing Genk or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

In brief

47 Edition

The Racing Genk Courier

21 Jun 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

The knee: Joris Kayembe out for 89 days

89 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Racing Genk lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Market

Terms done: Milan Roganović is going

Fee agreed, wages agreed, and JS Saoura waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Racing Genk is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.

Market

Ibrahima Sory Bangoura turns Olympique Akbou down

“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.

Squad

Kevin Amaro is a better footballer than he was

Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.

Squad

Lucas Torreira wants to go home

“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Racing Genk can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.

Squad

Rafiu Durosinmi 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 dugout

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.

The dugout

When it matters, Rafiu Durosinmi plays

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.

Market

The shop window has Yira Sor in it

Racing Genk have let the market know Yira Sor can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.

In brief

46 Edition

The Racing Genk Courier

14 Jun 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Joris Kayembe damages knee ligaments — 98 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 98 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.

Market

Not going: Aaron Bibout stays at Racing Genk

“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Oxford United had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.

Market

Leandro Andrade arrives at Racing Genk as the heir apparent

Every dressing room knows how to read a signing like this one. Leandro Andrade is not here to sit and wait indefinitely, and the man whose place he has been bought to take knows it better than anyone.

Squad

Matte Smets is a better footballer than he was

Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.

Market

Rafiu Durosinmi 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.

Squad

A falling-out at Racing Genk

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

Squad

Words at Racing Genk training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Soufiane Rahimi 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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Jarne Steuckers

“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 dugout

When it matters, Yuma Suzuki plays

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.

In brief

45 Edition

The Racing Genk Courier

7 Jun 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

The knee: Joris Kayembe out for 106 days

106 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Racing Genk lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Transfer targets

Racing Genk agree $14.1M for Leandro Andrade

The clubs have shaken hands with Polissia; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Nicolò Tresoldi

Racing Genk asked and Club Brugge said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Market

Racing Genk say no — this time

The offer from JS Saoura for Ibrahima Sory Bangoura 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.

Market

Yuma Suzuki 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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Racing Genk

Soufiane Rahimi 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.

Squad

Lucas Torreira 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 targets

Racing Genk baulk at the price for Noë Dussenne

OH Leuven wanted more than $39.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.

The dugout

No hiding place for Soufiane Rahimi

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

In brief

44 Edition

The Racing Genk Courier

31 May 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Joris Kayembe damages knee ligaments — 113 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 113 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.

Squad

Tempers go at Racing Genk

Rafiu Durosinmi 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Racing Genk

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucas Torreira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Market

Aaron Bibout returns a better player

24 games and 8 goals away from here, and a man the manager did not have last summer. The loan did what loans are supposed to do and almost never do.

The dugout

No hiding place for Benjamin Tahirović

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

The dugout

When it matters, Bryan Heynen plays

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.

Market

A year in the wrong dressing room for Tobias Lawal

He went out to keep goal every week and came back with 3 games and 1 of them shut out. Somebody at Racing Genk argued for this move last summer; nobody is arguing for it now.

Market

A loan that did nothing for Ken Nkuba

4 appearances and 0 goals is not a season away, it is a year lost. He is back at Racing Genk no further forward, and everybody involved will explain why it was not their fault.

The dugout

Aaron Bibout 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.

In brief

43 Edition

The Racing Genk Courier

24 May 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Joris Kayembe

121 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Racing Genk lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

Hendrik Van Crombrugge stands alone

9 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.

Match

Racing Genk bow out of the cup

Club Brugge go through and Racing Genk go home, 1‑3 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.

Market

Racing Genk may not be able to give Yuma Suzuki what he wants

It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Yuma Suzuki wants continental football; whether Racing Genk can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on Rafiu Durosinmi

15 goals and a season average of 7.33 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

Squad

Rafiu Durosinmi 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.

Player ratings

Yuma Suzuki runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

The dugout

Romelu Tielemans answers for it

“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.

The dugout

No place for Yira Sor on the big day

He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Racing Genk pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.

In brief

42 Edition

The Racing Genk Courier

17 May 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

The knee: Joris Kayembe out for 129 days

129 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Racing Genk lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Squad

A falling-out at Racing Genk

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

Squad

A row about effort at Racing Genk

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucas Torreira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

Yuma Suzuki has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Racing Genk 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 dugout

Soufiane Rahimi has been promised minutes

A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Soufiane Rahimi has written the date down.

Market

The Yaimar Medina story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Yaimar Medina signs something — a contract at Racing Genk or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

The dugout

Milan Roganović 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.

The dugout

Yaimar Medina keeps his manager's vote

The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Yaimar Medina plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.

Squad

Welcome back, Kiyan Achahbar

Through a full week of training without a reaction, and already asking for a place. Racing Genk will be careful with him and he will resent every day of it.

In brief

41 Edition

The Racing Genk Courier

10 May 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Joris Kayembe

138 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Racing Genk lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

Lucas Torreira 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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Racing Genk

Joris Kayembe 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 dugout

Junya Ito has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Racing Genk 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.

Market

The Rafiu Durosinmi question follows Racing Genk around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Rafiu Durosinmi’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

The dugout

Yira Sor has been promised minutes

A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Yira Sor has written the date down.

The dugout

Ibrahima Sory Bangoura knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ibrahima Sory Bangoura trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

The dugout

The manager comes out for Daan Heymans

Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Daan Heymans has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.

Squad

Questions about Muhammed Akif Avci on the training pitch

The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.

In brief

40 Edition

The Racing Genk Courier

3 May 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Joris Kayembe damages knee ligaments — 145 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 145 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.

Squad

Tempers go at Racing Genk

Soufiane Rahimi 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.

Market

Racing Genk may not be able to give Yaimar Medina what he wants

It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Yaimar Medina wants continental football; whether Racing Genk can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.

Squad

Yuma Suzuki 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.

Squad

Home is on Anas Zniti'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.

The dugout

Bryan Heynen gets picked when it counts

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 Bryan Heynen is on it.

The dugout

Bilal Bafdili is still paying for one afternoon at Racing Genk

Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.

Market

The Yuma Suzuki question follows Racing Genk around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Yuma Suzuki’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

The dugout

Jarne Steuckers 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.

In brief

  • Match Racing Genk have something to play for
  • The dugout The manager makes Yira Sor a promise
  • Loan watch Ken Nkuba watches his loan from the bench
39 Edition

The Racing Genk Courier

26 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

The dugout

Jeppe Erenbjerg: 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.” Racing Genk have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

Yuma Suzuki wants to go home

“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Racing Genk can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.

Squad

Soufiane Rahimi 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.

Squad

Words at Racing Genk training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Torreira 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.

Squad

Racing Genk lose Kiyan Achahbar

22 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.

The dugout

Rafiu Durosinmi has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Racing Genk 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 dugout

Soufiane Rahimi knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Soufiane Rahimi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

Loan watch

8 goals on loan for Aaron Bibout

24 appearances at Najran and the goals keep coming. Racing Genk are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.

Market

The Lucas Torreira question follows Racing Genk around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Lucas Torreira’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

In brief

38 Edition

The Racing Genk Courier

19 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Home is on Lucas Torreira'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.

Squad

Rafiu Durosinmi 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.

Squad

Words at Racing Genk training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Torreira 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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Soufiane Rahimi

“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.

Squad

Racing Genk lose Tobe Leysen

43 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.

The dugout

Yuma Suzuki gets picked when it counts

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 Yuma Suzuki is on it.

The dugout

The manager makes Yira Sor a promise

Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Racing Genk. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.

Market

Yaimar Medina linked with a move away

The name of Yaimar Medina keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Racing Genk say nothing, which says plenty.

The dugout

Bilal Bafdili 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 Racing Genk, and both men came out saying it was fine.

In brief

37 Edition

The Racing Genk Courier

12 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

The dugout

Soufiane Rahimi: 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.” Racing Genk have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

Tempers go at Racing Genk

Rafiu Durosinmi 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.

Squad

Words at Racing Genk training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Soufiane Rahimi 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 dugout

When it matters, Junya Ito plays

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.

Squad

Nikolas Sattlberger: “I am not a substitute”

“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Racing Genk will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.

Market

The Rafiu Durosinmi talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Racing Genk know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

The dugout

Nikolas Sattlberger 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.

Squad

A wage question at Racing Genk

Bryan Heynen has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.

The dugout

Ibrahima Sory Bangoura has been promised minutes

A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Ibrahima Sory Bangoura has written the date down.

In brief

36 Edition

The Racing Genk Courier

5 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Yuma Suzuki signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Yuma Suzuki commits to Racing Genk for another 4 years.

Squad

Words exchanged at Racing Genk

Rafiu Durosinmi 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.

Squad

Words at Racing Genk training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Torreira 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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Nikolas Sattlberger

“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 dugout

Bryan Heynen has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Racing Genk 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.

Squad

The armband comes off Lucas Torreira

Racing Genk will explain it as a decision about the team, and it may well be one. A dressing room has never once read it that way.

The dugout

Bilal Bafdili is still being punished for one mistake

Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.

Market

The Yuma Suzuki talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Racing Genk know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

Match

Racing Genk in the hunt for Europe

Position 5, 51 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.

In brief

35 Edition

The Racing Genk Courier

29 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Words exchanged at Racing Genk

Matte Smets 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.

Squad

Words at Racing Genk training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Torreira 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 dugout

Milan Roganović 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 dugout

Rafiu Durosinmi gets picked when it counts

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 Rafiu Durosinmi is on it.

Loan watch

8 goals on loan for Aaron Bibout

24 appearances at Najran and the goals keep coming. Racing Genk are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.

Market

The Lucas Torreira talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Racing Genk know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

In brief

34 Edition

The Racing Genk Courier

22 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

The dugout

Milan Roganović: 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.” Racing Genk have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Market

Yuma Suzuki has his eye on Europe

It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Racing Genk can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.

Squad

Matte Smets signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Matte Smets commits to Racing Genk for another 4 years.

Squad

A row about effort at Racing Genk

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Soufiane Rahimi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

Tempers go at Racing Genk

Bilal Bafdili 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.

The dugout

Yuma Suzuki gets picked when it counts

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 Yuma Suzuki is on it.

Squad

International call for Rafiu Durosinmi

Rafiu Durosinmi joins up with his country. Racing Genk lose him for the window and would like him back in one piece.

The dugout

A door opens for Yira Sor

He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.

Market

Yaimar Medina linked with a move away

The name of Yaimar Medina keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Racing Genk say nothing, which says plenty.

In brief

33 Edition

The Racing Genk Courier

15 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A fracture rules Yuma Suzuki out for 18 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Racing Genk will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Squad

Tempers go at Racing Genk

Soufiane Rahimi 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.

Squad

Words at Racing Genk training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Torreira 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 dugout

Soufiane Rahimi 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.

Squad

Tobe Leysen signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Tobe Leysen commits to Racing Genk for another 4 years.

The dugout

Junya Ito gets picked when it counts

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 Junya Ito is on it.

Market

The Rafiu Durosinmi talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Racing Genk know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

The dugout

Jarne Steuckers knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jarne Steuckers trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

The dugout

A door opens for Yira Sor

He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.

In brief

32 Edition

The Racing Genk Courier

8 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

25 days out for Yuma Suzuki after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Racing Genk will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Market

Rafiu Durosinmi 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.

Squad

Lucas Torreira stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Lucas Torreira and Racing Genk agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

Words exchanged at Racing Genk

Rafiu Durosinmi 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.

Squad

Lucas Torreira 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 dugout

Jeppe Erenbjerg 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 dugout

Bryan Heynen has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Racing Genk 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 dugout

Soufiane Rahimi knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Soufiane Rahimi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

The dugout

Bilal Bafdili is still being punished for one mistake

Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.

In brief

31 Edition

The Racing Genk Courier

1 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

34 days out for Yuma Suzuki after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Racing Genk will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

The dugout

Bilal Bafdili: 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.” Racing Genk have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Market

Yuma Suzuki raises the bar for Racing Genk

“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Racing Genk heard it as anything else.

Squad

Soufiane Rahimi 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.

Squad

A falling-out at Racing Genk

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

Market

Yaimar Medina wants European nights

The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.

Squad

Soufiane Rahimi 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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Yira Sor

“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 dugout

Rafiu Durosinmi gets picked when it counts

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 Rafiu Durosinmi is on it.

In brief

30 Edition

The Racing Genk Courier

22 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Yuma Suzuki breaks a bone — 42 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 42 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Squad

10 saves: Hendrik Van Crombrugge was the team

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 10 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.

Match

Bryan Heynen sends Racing Genk through

Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Bryan Heynen obliged against Anderlecht. 2‑1 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Racing Genk.

Player ratings

Junya Ito, 33, rolls back the years — 8.01

There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.01 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.

Player ratings

Bryan Heynen goes up and wins it — 7.68

A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.68 for the rest of it.

Match

Racing Genk make it 3 in a row

Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Racing Genk have 3 straight wins of it.

Squad

Yuma Suzuki wants to go home

“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Racing Genk can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.

Squad

Rafiu Durosinmi 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 dugout

Nikolas Sattlberger 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.

In brief

29 Edition

The Racing Genk Courier

15 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A fracture rules Yuma Suzuki out for 51 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Racing Genk will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Player ratings

Vintage Junya Ito — 8.00

At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.00, and nobody on the pitch better.

Squad

Lucas Torreira 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.

Squad

Rafiu Durosinmi is carrying Racing Genk

15 goals and a season average of 7.33. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.

Squad

Tempers go at Racing Genk

Rafiu Durosinmi 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.

Match

Racing Genk see off Sint-Truiden

Three points for Racing Genk, 2‑1 the final word against Sint-Truiden in a contest settled by the finer margins.

The terraces

One of their own: Muhammed Akif Avci

He is 17 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.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Rafiu Durosinmi at his very best

Marked 8.20. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Racing Genk.

The dugout

Yaimar Medina 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.

In brief

  • Player ratings Milan Roganović ran the middle of the pitch — 6.69
  • Player ratings The game went through Muhammed Akif Avci — 7.11
  • The dugout The view from the dugout
28 Edition

The Racing Genk Courier

8 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A fracture rules Yuma Suzuki out for 58 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Racing Genk will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Match

Racing Genk run riot against Westerlo

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.

Market

Ibrahima Sory Bangoura agrees terms with Tranmere Rovers

The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Racing Genk people have started saying his name in the past tense.

Player ratings

A brace, and Rafiu Durosinmi takes the afternoon — 8.99

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Rafiu Durosinmi provided it, and the 8.99 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Market

Milan Roganović turns Spartak 1918 down

“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.

Player ratings

Age has not caught Junya Ito yet — 8.37

At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.37 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.

Squad

Words exchanged at Racing Genk

Soufiane Rahimi 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.

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on Rafiu Durosinmi

14 goals and a season average of 7.31 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

Player ratings

Noah Adedeji-Sternberg beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

In brief

27 Edition

The Racing Genk Courier

1 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

66 days out for Yuma Suzuki after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Racing Genk will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Player ratings

Noah Adedeji-Sternberg was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 28. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

Market

Racing Genk sign David Bates for $1.5M

The paperwork is done: David Bates joins from Standard Liege in a deal worth $1.5M. Now comes the harder part.

Boardroom

Deadline passes with 2 signed and 2 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.

Squad

A falling-out at Racing Genk

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

Squad

Lucas Torreira 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.

Market

Tranmere Rovers join the queue for Ibrahima Sory Bangoura

Add another name to the list: Tranmere Rovers have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Ibrahima Sory Bangoura. The answer from Racing Genk has not changed — yet.

Squad

Rafiu Durosinmi is carrying Racing Genk

12 goals and a season average of 7.26. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.

Match

Racing Genk come up short against Waasland-Beveren

Waasland-Beveren left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

In brief

  • The dugout No hiding place for Soufiane Rahimi
  • Boardroom Nobody left the Racing Genk dressing room in a hurry
  • The dugout The view from the dugout
26 Edition

The Racing Genk Courier

25 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Racing Genk get their man

The chase for Bilal Bafdili ended with $2.1M changing hands and KV Mechelen out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.

Transfer targets

Racing Genk baulk at the price for Mihajlo Cvetković

Anderlecht wanted more than $2.5M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.

Transfer targets

Racing Genk rebuffed over Carlos Forbs

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

Squad

Soufiane Rahimi 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Racing Genk

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucas Torreira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

Racing Genk come up short against Club Brugge

Club Brugge left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

Player ratings

Noah Adedeji-Sternberg beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 19. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad

Daan Heymans reaches 200 appearances

200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.

The dugout

The view from the dugout

“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Romelu Tielemans to a room that had heard them before.

In brief

25 Edition

The Racing Genk Courier

18 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Triumph

Transfer targets

Racing Genk rebuffed over Nicolò Tresoldi

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

Transfer targets

$2.1M settles it between the clubs for Bilal Bafdili

KV Mechelen have accepted the money. What Racing Genk do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.

Transfer targets

Too dear: Racing Genk walk away from Zinho Chadli

$7.7M 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.

Player ratings

Age has not caught Junya Ito yet — 8.21

At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.21 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.

Market

Yuma Suzuki wants European nights

The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.

Squad

Tempers go at Racing Genk

Soufiane Rahimi 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.

Match

Still nobody has beaten Racing Genk

The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.

Squad

Words at Racing Genk training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matte Smets 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.

Match

Racing Genk get the job done against KV Mechelen

A 2‑1 win over KV Mechelen, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

In brief

24 Edition

The Racing Genk Courier

11 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Triumph

Market

Tobias Lawal agrees terms with KAA Gent

The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Racing Genk people have started saying his name in the past tense.

Transfer targets

Too dear: Racing Genk walk away from Thorgan Nainggolan

$10.7M 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.

Match

The run at home goes on for Racing Genk

14 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Thorgan Nainggolan

Racing Genk asked and KV Oostende said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Player ratings

No sign of nerves from Noah Adedeji-Sternberg at 21 — 7.77

The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Noah Adedeji-Sternberg did not need any: 7.77, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.

Player ratings

Age has not caught Junya Ito yet — 8.30

At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.30 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.

Market

Ermis come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Racing Genk did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Squad

Words exchanged at Racing Genk

Soufiane Rahimi 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.

Squad

Lucas Torreira 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.

In brief

23 Edition

The Racing Genk Courier

4 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Transfer targets

KV Oostende tell Racing Genk: Zinho Chadli is not for sale

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.

Market

Joris Kayembe asks to leave Racing Genk

“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.

Transfer targets

Racing Genk make their move for Thorgan Nainggolan

$6.9M on the table at KV Oostende. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.

Match

The run at home goes on for Racing Genk

13 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.

Transfer targets

Racing Genk bid $2.2M for Mihajlo Cvetković

The offer went to Anderlecht this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.

Squad

A falling-out at Racing Genk

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

Market

Yaimar Medina has his eye on Europe

It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Racing Genk can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.

Squad

A row about effort at Racing Genk

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucas Torreira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

No hiding place for Soufiane Rahimi

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

In brief

22 Edition

The Racing Genk Courier

28 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Squad

A fracture rules Soufiane Rahimi out for 20 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Racing Genk will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Match

Racing Genk tear Lokeren apart

Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Lokeren, and it could have been more.

Match

Racing Genk make it 4 in a row

Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Racing Genk have 4 straight wins of it.

Player ratings

Junya Ito was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 23. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

Squad

Rafiu Durosinmi 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Racing Genk

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matte Smets was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Lucas Torreira

Marked 8.45 — 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.

Squad

Rafiu Durosinmi is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.23 with 10 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Yuma Suzuki

Marked 8.18 — 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.

In brief

  • Player ratings Ninety minutes of Daan Heymans at his very best
  • The dugout The view from the dugout
  • The dugout A promise honoured for Joris Kayembe
21 Edition

The Racing Genk Courier

21 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Squad

29 days out for Soufiane Rahimi after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Racing Genk will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Match

The run at home goes on for Racing Genk

12 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.

Match

Nobody wants to play Racing Genk 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.

Squad

Yuma Suzuki wants to go home

“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Racing Genk can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.

Squad

Tempers go at Racing Genk

Hendrik Van Crombrugge 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.

Squad

Lucas Torreira 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.

Match

Racing Genk get the job done against OH Leuven

A 2‑0 win over OH Leuven, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Rafiu Durosinmi at his very best

Marked 8.75. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Racing Genk.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Yuma Suzuki at his very best

Marked 8.14. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Racing Genk.

In brief

20 Edition

The Racing Genk Courier

14 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A fracture rules Soufiane Rahimi out for 36 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Racing Genk will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Player ratings

Junya Ito scores twice — 8.51

Two goals and a mark of 8.51 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Squad

Lucas Torreira 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.

Squad

Words at Racing Genk training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Torreira 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.

Match

Racing Genk get the job done against Zulte Waregem

A 3‑1 win over Zulte Waregem, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

Player ratings

One of those days for Rafiu Durosinmi

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.99, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

Player ratings

Daan Heymans beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 19. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad

Tempers go at Racing Genk

Kévin Théophile-Catherine 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.

The dugout

Ken Nkuba 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.

In brief

19 Edition

The Racing Genk Courier

7 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Soufiane Rahimi breaks a bone — 44 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 44 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Player ratings

Age has not caught Junya Ito yet — 8.24

At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.24 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.

Player ratings

Noah Adedeji-Sternberg runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Market

Yuma Suzuki raises the bar for Racing Genk

“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Racing Genk heard it as anything else.

Match

The run at home goes on for Racing Genk

11 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.

Squad

A falling-out at Racing Genk

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

Squad

Junya Ito 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.

Match

Rafiu Durosinmi the difference as Racing Genk beat Mouscron

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Rafiu Durosinmi. 2‑0 against Mouscron, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Rafiu Durosinmi

Marked 8.43 — 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.

In brief

18 Edition

The Racing Genk Courier

30 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A fracture rules Soufiane Rahimi out for 53 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Racing Genk will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Match

Rafiu Durosinmi sends Racing Genk through

Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Rafiu Durosinmi obliged against OH Leuven. 3‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Racing Genk.

The dugout

Yuma Suzuki: 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.” Racing Genk have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Player ratings

A brace, and Rafiu Durosinmi takes the afternoon — 9.27

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Rafiu Durosinmi provided it, and the 9.27 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Player ratings

Jeppe Erenbjerg runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 30. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Player ratings

Noah Adedeji-Sternberg, 21, steals the show — 7.67

Marked 7.67 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.

Squad

Soufiane Rahimi 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.

Match

The run at home goes on for Racing Genk

10 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.

Squad

Lucas Torreira 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.

In brief

17 Edition

The Racing Genk Courier

23 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

60 days out for Soufiane Rahimi after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Racing Genk will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Player ratings

No sign of nerves from Noah Adedeji-Sternberg at 21 — 8.13

The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Noah Adedeji-Sternberg did not need any: 8.13, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.

Player ratings

Age has not caught Junya Ito yet — 7.89

At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.89 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.

Squad

Tempers go at Racing Genk

Soufiane Rahimi 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.

Squad

Lucas Torreira 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.

Match

Nobody wins at Racing Genk

9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.

Match

Racing Genk get the job done against KV Oostende

A 2‑1 win over KV Oostende, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

The terraces

One of their own: Noah Adedeji-Sternberg

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.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Soufiane Rahimi

Marked 8.22 — 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.

In brief

  • The dugout Tobias Lawal gets it from the manager
  • The dugout The view from the dugout
  • Market The Rafiu Durosinmi talk will not go away
16 Edition

The Racing Genk Courier

16 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market

Yuma Suzuki wants European nights

The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.

Squad

Words exchanged at Racing Genk

Rafiu Durosinmi 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.

Squad

Words at Racing Genk training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matte Smets 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.

Match

Racing Genk come up short against Anderlecht

Anderlecht left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

The dugout

Hendrik Van Crombrugge 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 ratings

Junya Ito runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

The dugout

A promise honoured for Lucas Torreira

It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Racing Genk told Lucas Torreira something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.

The dugout

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 1‑2 Romelu Tielemans left the room before anybody could ask which.

Player ratings

Yaimar Medina gives it away

There was no pressure on him and nowhere he had to be. Racing Genk lost a goal to a decision that took half a second and will be discussed all week.

In brief

15 Edition

The Racing Genk Courier

9 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A falling-out at Racing Genk

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

Squad

Lucas Torreira 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.

Match

Halfway: Racing Genk sit in position 6

23 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.

The dugout

No hiding place for Benjamin Tahirović

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

Player ratings

Junya Ito runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

The dugout

The view from the dugout

“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Romelu Tielemans chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.

Squad

Bookings catch up with Matte Smets

One yellow too many, and a match watched from the stand. The most avoidable absence in football, and Racing Genk will feel it on Saturday.

Squad

The weekend belonged to Rafiu Durosinmi

Player of the week, judged against every other man in the division. A small award, and one most careers never collect.

The dugout

Somebody else is better right now than Jeppe Erenbjerg

The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.

In brief

14 Edition

The Racing Genk Courier

2 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Hendrik Van Crombrugge stands alone

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.

Player ratings

A brace, and Rafiu Durosinmi takes the afternoon — 9.13

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Rafiu Durosinmi provided it, and the 9.13 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Player ratings

Jarne Steuckers runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 27. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

Hendrik Van Crombrugge 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.

Squad

Lucas Torreira 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 dugout

Soufiane Rahimi 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 terraces

Racing Genk supporters have found a favourite in Rafiu Durosinmi

There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Rafiu Durosinmi has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.

Match

Nobody wins at Racing Genk

8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.

Match

Late, late show earns Racing Genk a point

Minute 90, against Sint-Truiden, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.

In brief

13 Edition

The Racing Genk Courier

26 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

No mercy from Racing Genk

Westerlo will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Racing Genk were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.

Player ratings

A brace, and Rafiu Durosinmi takes the afternoon — 9.49

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Rafiu Durosinmi provided it, and the 9.49 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

The dugout

Yari Vanderhallen 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.

Squad

Yuma Suzuki 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.

Player ratings

Junya Ito beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad

Words at Racing Genk training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Junya Ito 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.

Squad

Daan Heymans reaches 50 goals

50 goals for the club, every one of them filed away in the memory of a supporter somewhere.

Squad

Words exchanged at Racing Genk

Kévin Théophile-Catherine 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.

Player ratings

Matte Smets shuts the door

Defensive actions: 18, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.

In brief

12 Edition

The Racing Genk Courier

19 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Noah Adedeji-Sternberg

Successful dribbles: 34. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Match

Racing Genk win it in stoppage time

The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 92th minute. Waasland-Beveren will replay every second of the added time for a week.

Squad

Lucas Torreira wants to go home

“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Racing Genk can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.

Squad

Words exchanged at Racing Genk

Soufiane Rahimi 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.

Squad

Lucas Torreira 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.

Match

Racing Genk get the job done against Waasland-Beveren

A 2‑1 win over Waasland-Beveren, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

The terraces

The crowd has taken to Noah Adedeji-Sternberg

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.

Squad

Appearance number 100 for Yaimar Medina

100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.

The dugout

A promise honoured for Bryan Heynen

It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Racing Genk told Bryan Heynen something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.

In brief

11 Edition

The Racing Genk Courier

12 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

A hiding for Racing Genk

Beaten 0‑3 by Club Brugge, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Junya Ito

Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

A falling-out at Racing Genk

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

Squad

Words at Racing Genk training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Torreira 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.

Squad

A late step up for Tobe Leysen

At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.

The dugout

No hiding place for Nikolas Sattlberger

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

Boardroom

Doors closed at Racing Genk

The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.

Squad

Too much change too quickly at Racing Genk

10 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.

The dugout

Romelu Tielemans answers for it

“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.

In brief

10 Edition

The Racing Genk Courier

5 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Junya Ito was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 30. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

Player ratings

No sign of nerves from Yaimar Medina at 21 — 7.65

The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Yaimar Medina did not need any: 7.65, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.

Squad

Words exchanged at Racing Genk

Lucas Torreira 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Racing Genk

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Junya Ito was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The terraces

One of their own: Rafiu Durosinmi

He is 23 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.

Match

Racing Genk get the job done against KV Mechelen

A 2‑0 win over KV Mechelen, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Yuma Suzuki at his very best

Marked 8.38. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Racing Genk.

The dugout

No hiding place for Tobias Lawal

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

The dugout

The view from the dugout

“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Romelu Tielemans, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.

In brief

9 Edition

The Racing Genk Courier

28 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Soufiane Rahimi

22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Racing Genk lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Player ratings

Vintage Junya Ito — 7.89

At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.89, and nobody on the pitch better.

Squad

A falling-out at Racing Genk

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

Squad

Words at Racing Genk training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Torreira 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.

Player ratings

The game went through Noah Adedeji-Sternberg — 7.07

Marked 7.07 on 11 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.

Match

Late, late show earns Racing Genk a point

Minute 87, against Standard Liege, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.

Match

Junya Ito rescues a point for Racing Genk

It needed Junya Ito to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Standard Liege, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Kévin Théophile-Catherine

“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 dugout

The view from the dugout

“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Romelu Tielemans chose the glass-half-full version of 2‑2; the supporters left with the other one.

In brief

8 Edition

The Racing Genk Courier

21 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

The knee: Soufiane Rahimi out for 30 days

30 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Racing Genk lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Hendrik Van Crombrugge

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.

Market

Yuma Suzuki wants European nights

The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.

Squad

Words exchanged at Racing Genk

Rafiu Durosinmi 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Racing Genk

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucas Torreira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Player ratings

Junya Ito runs at them all day

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.

Match

Racing Genk come up short against KAA Gent

KAA Gent left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Joris Kayembe

“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 dugout

The view from the dugout

“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Romelu Tielemans to a room that had heard them before.

In brief

7 Edition

The Racing Genk Courier

14 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Soufiane Rahimi damages knee ligaments — 37 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 37 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 ratings

Junya Ito was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 37. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

Squad

Junya Ito 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.

Squad

A falling-out at Racing Genk

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

The terraces

Racing Genk supporters have found a favourite in Noah Adedeji-Sternberg

There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Noah Adedeji-Sternberg has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.

Match

Racing Genk find a way past Lokeren

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

Player ratings

Yira Sor takes the honours

Marked 7.87 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Racing Genk had the best player on the pitch.

Squad

Racing Genk are still strangers to each other

10 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 dugout

No hiding place for Ibrahima Sory Bangoura

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

In brief

  • The dugout The view from the dugout
  • Market The Lucas Torreira talk will not go away
  • The dugout Ken Nkuba gets picked when it counts
6 Edition

The Racing Genk Courier

7 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Soufiane Rahimi damages knee ligaments — 45 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 45 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.

Market

Vitesse come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Racing Genk did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Transfer targets

Racing Genk rebuffed over Nikita Haikin

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

Boardroom

Window shuts: 18 in, 4 out at Racing Genk

The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 18 arrived, 4 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.

Market

Yuma Suzuki wants to know where this is going

“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Racing Genk hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.

Squad

Words at Racing Genk training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Torreira 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.

Match

Racing Genk come up short against OH Leuven

OH Leuven left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

Squad

A falling-out at Racing Genk

Kévin Théophile-Catherine and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Tobias Lawal is no longer first choice

The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Tobias Lawal has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.

In brief

5 Edition

The Racing Genk Courier

31 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Soufiane Rahimi

53 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Racing Genk lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Match

Racing Genk march on in the cup

Lokeren are out and Racing Genk go through, 4‑1 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.

Match

Racing Genk tear Zulte Waregem apart

Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Zulte Waregem, and it could have been more.

Market

Racing Genk pay Kashima Antlers $9.0M for a proper upgrade

Kashima Antlers did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $9.0M for Yuma Suzuki, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.

Player ratings

Ken Nkuba scores twice — 8.49

Two goals and a mark of 8.49 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Junya Ito

Successful dribbles: 30. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

3 goals for Soufiane Rahimi

The match ball belongs to Soufiane Rahimi, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.

Player ratings

Yaimar Medina, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.81

A mark of 7.81 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.

Market

Felgueiras come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Racing Genk did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

In brief

4 Edition

The Racing Genk Courier

24 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Transfer targets

$9.0M settles it between the clubs for Yuma Suzuki

Kashima Antlers have accepted the money. What Racing Genk do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.

Market

Terms done: Aaron Bibout is going

Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Najran waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Racing Genk is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.

Transfer targets

Too dear: Racing Genk walk away from Marvin Keller

$9.0M was the most the club would pay and Young Boys 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 targets

Mouscron tell Racing Genk: Christian Witsel is not for sale

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.

Squad

Junya Ito 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.

Squad

Matte Smets 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 ratings

Ninety minutes of Daan Heymans at his very best

Marked 8.05. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Racing Genk.

Squad

This league is too small for Lucas Torreira

He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Racing Genk will not keep him by pretending otherwise.

The dugout

Hendrik Van Crombrugge 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.

In brief

3 Edition

The Racing Genk Courier

17 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

The knee: Kobe Van Den Broeck out for 18 days

18 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Racing Genk lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Market

Lucas Torreira arrives at Racing Genk in a $15.5M statement of intent

There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Racing Genk have paid $15.5M for Lucas Torreira, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.

Market

Racing Genk turn down KAA Gent for Matte Smets

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

Transfer targets

Racing Genk bid $9.0M for Marvin Keller

The offer went to Young Boys this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.

Market

Racing Genk spend $7.2M to raise the standard

This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $7.2M has been paid because Soufiane Rahimi is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.

Transfer targets

Racing Genk rebuffed over Joel Ordóñez

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

Squad

Soufiane Rahimi gets the move he always wanted

Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Soufiane Rahimi has just signed for Racing Genk, and for once the answer mattered.

Squad

Hendrik Van Crombrugge keeps Racing Genk in it on his own

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 ratings

Junya Ito, 33, rolls back the years — 8.40

There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.40 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.

In brief

2 Edition

The Racing Genk Courier

10 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

The knee: Kobe Van Den Broeck out for 29 days

29 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Racing Genk lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Transfer targets

$7.2M settles it between the clubs for Soufiane Rahimi

Al Ain have accepted the money. What Racing Genk do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.

Transfer targets

An offer of $15.5M for Lucas Torreira

Racing Genk have gone to Galatasaray with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.

Market

Aaron Bibout agrees terms with Ruch

The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Racing Genk people have started saying his name in the past tense.

Squad

Hendrik Van Crombrugge keeps Racing Genk in it on his own

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.

Transfer targets

KV Oostende tell Racing Genk: Michy Alderweireld is not for sale

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.

Market

KAA Gent watching Matte Smets

The interest is real enough to have reached print. Racing Genk have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.

Market

Racing Genk say no — this time

The offer from KV Oostende for Jerry Afriyie 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.

Squad

Junya Ito stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Junya Ito and Racing Genk agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

In brief

1 Edition

The Racing Genk Courier

3 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Player ratings

Junya Ito was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 34. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

Transfer targets

Racing Genk bid $7.1M for Soufiane Rahimi

The offer went to Al Ain this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.

Squad

Bryan Heynen: 12 seasons and counting

296 appearances across 12 seasons in one shirt. Careers like that are not built on purpose any more, and Racing Genk know exactly what they have.

Market

Racing Genk say no — this time

The offer from Ittihad for Aaron Bibout 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.

Squad

Rafiu Durosinmi 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.

Squad

Hendrik Van Crombrugge stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Hendrik Van Crombrugge and Racing Genk agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

A row about effort at Racing Genk

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matte Smets was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

Honours even between Racing Genk and Anderlecht

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 dugout

Rafiu Durosinmi 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.

In brief