From our football correspondent
Steady
Market23 Aug 2027
Standard Liege pay $1.7M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Zamalek keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Marko Ilić was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
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 ratings23 Aug 2027
Thierry Ambrose ran the middle of the pitch — 6.63
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 11 combined actions and a mark of 6.63, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Words at KV Kortrijk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lennard Hens 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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at KV Kortrijk can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2027
Crvena Zvezda have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Squad23 Aug 2027
6 new faces, and KV Kortrijk are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings16 Aug 2027
A brace, and Thierry Ambrose takes the afternoon — 8.51
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Thierry Ambrose provided it, and the 8.51 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market16 Aug 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what KV Kortrijk can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2027
The deal with Zamalek is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad16 Aug 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KV Kortrijk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Armin Sivić arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Armin Sivić has, at KV Kortrijk, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marko Ilić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match14 Aug 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Thierry Ambrose. 2‑0 against Lokeren, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings16 Aug 2027
Ninety minutes of Gilles Dewaele at his very best
Marked 8.24. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at KV Kortrijk.
Player ratings16 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market9 Aug 2027
Abdoul Diop has left for Charleroi in a $1.2M deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Gilles Dewaele and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match7 Aug 2027
2‑3 to OH Leuven, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at KV Kortrijk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marko Ilić is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
The manager makes an example of Marko Ilić
“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.
Player ratings9 Aug 2027
The afternoon belonged to Malick Mbaye
A mark of 7.97, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
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 2‑3 Dries Meunier left the room before anybody could ask which.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
A loan enquiry to Zamalek: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings2 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 27. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Marko Ilić and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Market2 Aug 2027
The phone has started ringing about Abdoul Diop again, and this time the name on the line is Charleroi. KV Kortrijk are listening politely and promising nothing.
The terraces2 Aug 2027
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.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lennard Hens was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings2 Aug 2027
A performance of 8.15 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad2 Aug 2027
“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 KV Kortrijk will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
The dugout2 Aug 2027
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Dries Meunier could afford to be generous.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market26 Jul 2027
Abdoul Diop hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what KV Kortrijk can pretend not to have heard.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Gilles Dewaele 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.
Boardroom26 Jul 2027
5 academy players handed senior numbers at KV Kortrijk
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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marko Ilić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
KV Kortrijk asked and Braga said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market26 Jul 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Romelu Kompany has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market26 Jul 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Dedryck Kompany has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market26 Jul 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Youri Nainggolan has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
Gilles Ruyssen 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 Gilles Ruyssen trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
No thanks: Mikael Uhre rejects the move
KV Kortrijk had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at FC Copenhagen, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad19 Jul 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KV Kortrijk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market19 Jul 2027
Liam De Smet has left for Waasland-Beveren in a $380.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marko Ilić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sturm Graz have kept their man, and KV Kortrijk go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
A loan move for Léo Bonatini is in the works
KV Kortrijk have made the call to Braga. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Squad19 Jul 2027
KV Kortrijk are still strangers to each other
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Squad19 Jul 2027
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation KV Kortrijk are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
Sixtus Ogbuehi 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market12 Jul 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at KV Kortrijk, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
The deal with FC Copenhagen is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad12 Jul 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Jellert Van Landschoot and KV Kortrijk agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Gilles Dewaele and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
KV Kortrijk asked and Gornik Zabrze said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Market12 Jul 2027
The name of Liam De Smet has come up in conversations KV Kortrijk were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lennard Hens was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
Gilles Dewaele knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at KV Kortrijk, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market5 Jul 2027
Tom Negrel hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what KV Kortrijk can pretend not to have heard.
Squad5 Jul 2027
At 21, Shandre Campbell is already the best thing here
An average of 7.01 in a first team he is several years too young for. KV Kortrijk have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Squad5 Jul 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Lennard Hens and KV Kortrijk agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Marko Ilić 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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Lennard Hens and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
KV Kortrijk asked and Crvena Zvezda said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout5 Jul 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Brecht Dejaegere, and the manager let it.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
Wolfsberger AC have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
FC Copenhagen have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market28 Jun 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at KV Kortrijk, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad28 Jun 2027
The step up is real for Rudy Kohon
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad28 Jun 2027
At 27 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Marko Ilić 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 targets28 Jun 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Loïc Damour and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
A loan move for Lincoln is in the works
KV Kortrijk have made the call to Crvena Zvezda. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
Legia have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Market28 Jun 2027
The Marko Ilić talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. KV Kortrijk know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market21 Jun 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad21 Jun 2027
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Marko Ilić in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KV Kortrijk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Words at KV Kortrijk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Goduine Koyalipou is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Braga have kept their man, and KV Kortrijk go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad21 Jun 2027
At 28 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
The dugout21 Jun 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Market21 Jun 2027
KV Kortrijk have made Gilles Ruyssen available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
Market21 Jun 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Thierry Ambrose signs something — a contract at KV Kortrijk or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market14 Jun 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market14 Jun 2027
Mouscron come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and KV Kortrijk did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market14 Jun 2027
Charleroi pay $1.0M, 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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Market14 Jun 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. KV Kortrijk have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Goduine Koyalipou was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad14 Jun 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KV Kortrijk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Tom Negrel has improved at 24, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Jun 2027
Arne Cassaert damages knee ligaments — 16 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 16 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.
Market7 Jun 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at KV Kortrijk, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market7 Jun 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
The deal with Eintracht Frankfurt is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad7 Jun 2027
At 21, Shandre Campbell is already the best thing here
An average of 7.01 in a first team he is several years too young for. KV Kortrijk have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marko Ilić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Gilles Ruyssen was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Market7 Jun 2027
Add another name to the list: Mouscron have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Mohamed Fofana. The answer from KV Kortrijk has not changed — yet.
Market7 Jun 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Michy Carrasco has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad31 May 2027
24 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. KV Kortrijk lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market31 May 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at KV Kortrijk is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom31 May 2027
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Fady Khatir has agreed terms with Charleroi for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad31 May 2027
Marko Ilić was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad31 May 2027
Goduine Koyalipou falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad31 May 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Rudy Kohon and KV Kortrijk agree another 4 years.
The dugout31 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Rudy Kohon
“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.
Market31 May 2027
The Marko Ilić talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. KV Kortrijk know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout31 May 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 May 2027
31 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. KV Kortrijk lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at KV Kortrijk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marko Ilić 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.
Squad24 May 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KV Kortrijk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Loan watch24 May 2027
“I did not go to Lokeren to sit and watch. I want to come back to KV Kortrijk and fight for my place.” 5 appearances in 19 matches say the rest.
The dugout24 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Loïc Damour, and the manager let it.
The dugout24 May 2027
Gilles Dewaele 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 Gilles Dewaele trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout24 May 2027
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at KV Kortrijk. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Market24 May 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Shandre Campbell’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout24 May 2027
The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Matthew Anderson plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 May 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Arne Cassaert
39 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. KV Kortrijk lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad17 May 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marko Ilić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad17 May 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KV Kortrijk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout17 May 2027
Gilles Dewaele 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.
Market17 May 2027
The name of Thierry Ambrose keeps appearing in other people's back pages. KV Kortrijk say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout17 May 2027
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at KV Kortrijk. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 May 2027
Arne Cassaert damages knee ligaments — 47 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 47 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.
Squad10 May 2027
Gilles Dewaele 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.
Squad10 May 2027
He is 21, he is averaging 7.01, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Squad10 May 2027
Lennard Hens 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 dugout10 May 2027
Sixtus Ogbuehi knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at KV Kortrijk, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout10 May 2027
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 Jellert Van Landschoot has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 May 2027
55 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. KV Kortrijk lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad3 May 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marko Ilić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad3 May 2027
Gilles Ruyssen 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.
Squad3 May 2027
The medical room confirms 23 days on the sidelines for Nahesson Gaspard, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Market3 May 2027
Iebe Swers is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at KV Kortrijk has been clear about where Iebe Swers stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout3 May 2027
Sixtus Ogbuehi 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Apr 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Arne Cassaert
63 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. KV Kortrijk lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Marko Ilić 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.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Gilles Ruyssen and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market26 Apr 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Timothy Boyata has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market26 Apr 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Dries Fellaini has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market26 Apr 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Michy Mertens has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market26 Apr 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Axel Nainggolan has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Squad26 Apr 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Abdoul Diop and KV Kortrijk agree another 4 years.
Loan watch26 Apr 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at KV Kortrijk, and 5 appearances in 15 say he has earned the hearing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Apr 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Arne Cassaert
73 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. KV Kortrijk lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Marko Ilić in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KV Kortrijk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
The manager makes an example of Gilles Ruyssen
“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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; KV Kortrijk are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at KV Kortrijk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lennard Hens 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.
Market19 Apr 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Thierry Ambrose signs something — a contract at KV Kortrijk or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Apr 2027
82 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. KV Kortrijk lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad12 Apr 2027
At 21, Shandre Campbell is already the best thing here
An average of 7.01 in a first team he is several years too young for. KV Kortrijk have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marko Ilić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Gilles Ruyssen 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 dugout12 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Brecht Dejaegere, and the manager let it.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
Arne Cassaert 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 dugout12 Apr 2027
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at KV Kortrijk. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Market12 Apr 2027
Fady Khatir runs his contract down
6 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs KV Kortrijk money.
Market12 Apr 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Patrik Gunnarsson signs something — a contract at KV Kortrijk or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Apr 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Arne Cassaert
92 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. KV Kortrijk lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
Abdoul Diop: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” KV Kortrijk have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad5 Apr 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Arne Cassaert commits to KV Kortrijk for another 4 years.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at KV Kortrijk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marko Ilić 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Arne Cassaert 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 dugout5 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sixtus Ogbuehi, and the manager let it.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
Rudy Kohon 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 terraces5 Apr 2027
The stands have heard the Marko Ilić talk too
What was a back-page story is now a matter for the terraces, and the terraces do not do nuance. KV Kortrijk would like it dealt with before it becomes the only question anybody asks.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at KV Kortrijk. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad29 Mar 2027
99 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. KV Kortrijk lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Marko Ilić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Lennard Hens 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.
Market29 Mar 2027
The Marko Ilić story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Marko Ilić signs something — a contract at KV Kortrijk or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
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 Jellert Van Landschoot has written the date down.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
Loïc Damour 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 Loïc Damour trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad22 Mar 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marko Ilić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Lennard Hens in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KV Kortrijk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
Gilles Dewaele 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.
Market22 Mar 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Thierry Ambrose signs something — a contract at KV Kortrijk or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 Mar 2027
He is 21, he is averaging 7.01, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at KV Kortrijk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marko Ilić 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Gilles Ruyssen 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 dugout15 Mar 2027
Gilles Dewaele 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.
Market15 Mar 2027
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Patrik Gunnarsson has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at KV Kortrijk.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
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 Gilles Ruyssen has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout8 Mar 2027
Manuel Osifo: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” KV Kortrijk have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Brecht Dejaegere and KV Kortrijk agree another 2 years.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Marko Ilić and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Shandre Campbell is the month’s best young player
At 21 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. KV Kortrijk will try not to make too much of it.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words at KV Kortrijk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lennard Hens is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Abdoul Diop
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market1 Mar 2027
Hugo Constant hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what KV Kortrijk can pretend not to have heard.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Marko Ilić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at KV Kortrijk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Boris Lambert 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 dugout1 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Hugo Constant
“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 dugout1 Mar 2027
“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.
Market1 Mar 2027
The Marko Ilić story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Marko Ilić signs something — a contract at KV Kortrijk or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
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.
Market1 Mar 2027
KV Kortrijk have made Iebe Swers available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Goduine Koyalipou’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad22 Feb 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marko Ilić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Gilles Ruyssen and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Mohamed Bamba
“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.
Market22 Feb 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Thierry Ambrose signs something — a contract at KV Kortrijk or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
Arne Cassaert 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 Arne Cassaert trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at KV Kortrijk. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Market22 Feb 2027
The shop window has Loïc Damour in it
KV Kortrijk have let the market know Loïc Damour can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
Market22 Feb 2027
The stand keeps filling up for Marko Ilić
Somebody from Anderlecht has seen every one of Marko Ilić’s last few games. Nobody travels that far that often out of curiosity, and everybody at KV Kortrijk knows it.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Thierry Ambrose has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 54. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
No sign of nerves from Ilan Hurtevent at 21 — 8.04
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Ilan Hurtevent did not need any: 8.04, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Sturm Graz keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad15 Feb 2027
At 21, Shandre Campbell is already the best thing here
An average of 7.01 in a first team he is several years too young for. KV Kortrijk have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Match13 Feb 2027
Mouscron made KV Kortrijk work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Arne Cassaert 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 terraces15 Feb 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Ilan Hurtevent 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.
Match13 Feb 2027
It had gone 5 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
Rudy Kohon 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
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Squad
A row about effort at KV Kortrijk
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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Market
Fady Khatir told to find a new club
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Marked 7.61 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.
Match6 Feb 2027
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Olympiacos is saying, and nobody at KV Kortrijk is enjoying the guessing.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Ken Masui beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 23. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Marko Ilić 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 targets8 Feb 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Gilles Ruyssen was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Gilles Dewaele did the work nobody counts — 7.34
12 combined actions and 7.34. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
Marko Ilić gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 31. 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 ratings1 Feb 2027
A brace, and Shandre Campbell takes the afternoon — 8.68
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Shandre Campbell provided it, and the 8.68 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad1 Feb 2027
There were 7 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.
Market1 Feb 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market1 Feb 2027
Anderlecht come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and KV Kortrijk did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Window shuts: 0 in, 2 out at KV Kortrijk
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 0 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Match30 Jan 2027
No end in sight to KV Kortrijk's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at KV Kortrijk has to find a result from somewhere.
Match30 Jan 2027
3‑4 to KV Oostende, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Match30 Jan 2027
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between KV Kortrijk and KV Oostende, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad25 Jan 2027
12 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 ratings25 Jan 2027
Nobody could get near Ken Masui
Successful dribbles: 31. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Marko Ilić in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KV Kortrijk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market25 Jan 2027
The phone has started ringing about Nayel Mehssatou again, and this time the name on the line is Club Brugge. KV Kortrijk are listening politely and promising nothing.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Eintracht Frankfurt have kept their man, and KV Kortrijk go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match23 Jan 2027
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Iebe Swers was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 36. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marko Ilić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Olympiacos have kept their man, and KV Kortrijk go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Gilles Ruyssen 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 dugout18 Jan 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. KV Kortrijk told Brecht Dejaegere something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Eintracht Frankfurt have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Juventus have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Dries Meunier after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
Nobody at KV Kortrijk is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Ken Masui 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Tom Negrel 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marko Ilić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Gilles Dewaele and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Match9 Jan 2027
0‑2 to Sint-Truiden, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
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 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Dries Meunier to a room that had heard them before.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
A loan move for Karlo Butić is in the works
KV Kortrijk have made the call to Bari. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Gilles Ruyssen will call it something else in private.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Nobody could get near Ken Masui
Successful dribbles: 41. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad4 Jan 2027
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.
Match2 Jan 2027
Still nobody has beaten KV Kortrijk
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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Marko Ilić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
KV Kortrijk asked and Jubilo Iwata said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match2 Jan 2027
It finished 2‑1, and it was Thierry Ambrose’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to KV Kortrijk.
The terraces4 Jan 2027
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
A performance of 8.11 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Market4 Jan 2027
The name of Fuhna Wirsiy Nsolo has come up in conversations KV Kortrijk were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 29. 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.
Match26 Dec 2026
Still nobody has beaten KV Kortrijk
The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at KV Kortrijk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Goduine Koyalipou is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Gilles Ruyssen and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Marked 8.04 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nayel Mehssatou, and the manager let it.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Dries Meunier could afford to be generous.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The form table has caught Malick Mbaye
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Dec 2026
6 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 ratings21 Dec 2026
Nobody could get near Ken Masui
Successful dribbles: 26. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Marko Ilić was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Goduine Koyalipou falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad21 Dec 2026
200 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Mohamed Bamba
“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.
Match19 Dec 2026
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Half-satisfied: Dries Meunier on the draw
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Sixtus Ogbuehi 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 34. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Gilles Dewaele and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad14 Dec 2026
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; KV Kortrijk are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lennard Hens was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Malick Mbaye
“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 dugout14 Dec 2026
Half-satisfied: Dries Meunier on the draw
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Sixtus Ogbuehi 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 Sixtus Ogbuehi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Looking ahead14 Dec 2026
KV Kortrijk take on the side everybody is chasing
Club Brugge arrive as leaders. A side at the top is beaten roughly once a month, and the club that does it gets a week it remembers for a year.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Malick Mbaye dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Ken Masui beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 30. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Goduine Koyalipou was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad7 Dec 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KV Kortrijk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Shandre Campbell did the work nobody counts — 7.16
9 combined actions and 7.16. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Tristen Alliet commits to KV Kortrijk for another 4 years.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.87 on the card, and the KV Kortrijk support went home talking about one name.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Lennard Hens makes the team of the month
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Ken Masui runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 37. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Marko Ilić in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KV Kortrijk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Goduine Koyalipou falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Arne Cassaert
“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.
Match28 Nov 2026
A goal on 90 minutes turned three points into one and a good afternoon into an argument about game management that will run until Saturday.
Match28 Nov 2026
A 1‑1 draw with Racing Genk leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The form table has caught Iebe Swers
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Looking ahead30 Nov 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Standard Liege in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 35. 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Marko Ilić was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.12, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match21 Nov 2026
KV Kortrijk rescue it on 86 minutes
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 86. Lokeren had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Iebe Swers 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.
Match21 Nov 2026
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Abdoul Diop gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Half-satisfied: Dries Meunier on the draw
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. KV Kortrijk told Manuel Osifo something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Nobody could get near Ken Masui
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match14 Nov 2026
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between KV Kortrijk and OH Leuven, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Match14 Nov 2026
2‑4 to OH Leuven, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at KV Kortrijk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Goduine Koyalipou is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Gilles Ruyssen was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad16 Nov 2026
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 dugout16 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mohamed Bamba, and the manager let it.
Squad16 Nov 2026
10 new faces, and KV Kortrijk are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Dries Meunier after 2‑4, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Marko Ilić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Goduine Koyalipou was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match7 Nov 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Lennard Hens. 2‑0 against Zulte Waregem, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Gilles Dewaele was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.19. 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 ratings9 Nov 2026
Ninety minutes of Lennard Hens at his very best
Marked 8.02. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at KV Kortrijk.
Match9 Nov 2026
The half-term report on KV Kortrijk
Position 10, 19 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Dries Meunier kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Loïc Damour gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Nobody could get near Ken Masui
Successful dribbles: 43. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
At 35 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.82, and nobody on the pitch better.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Marko Ilić in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KV Kortrijk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match31 Oct 2026
It finished 3‑2, and it was Brecht Dejaegere’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to KV Kortrijk.
The terraces2 Nov 2026
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
A performance of 8.56 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at KV Kortrijk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iebe Swers 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 ratings2 Nov 2026
The one goal a footballer does not get to celebrate and does not get to forget either. His name is in the wrong column and nothing about it was meant.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Malick Mbaye
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Goduine Koyalipou was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match24 Oct 2026
A point taken on 87 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Fady Khatir 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.
Market26 Oct 2026
Loïc Damour told to find a new club
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Loïc Damour has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at KV Kortrijk.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Iebe Swers
“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.
Match24 Oct 2026
It needed Lennard Hens to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against KAA Gent, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Sixtus Ogbuehi knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at KV Kortrijk, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 Oct 2026
Marko Ilić and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Goduine Koyalipou falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Match17 Oct 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Marked 8.02 — 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.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad19 Oct 2026
KV Kortrijk are still strangers to each other
19 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 dugout19 Oct 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Dries Meunier after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Iebe Swers dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Looking ahead19 Oct 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Brecht Dejaegere’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and KV Kortrijk needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Lenn De Smet beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 45. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Marko Ilić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Iebe Swers 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alejandro Herrera and KV Kortrijk agree another 4 years.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Squad12 Oct 2026
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation KV Kortrijk are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Match10 Oct 2026
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Anderlecht came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Oct 2026
Goduine Koyalipou falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Gilles Ruyssen and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Match3 Oct 2026
Charleroi made KV Kortrijk work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Ninety minutes of Goduine Koyalipou at his very best
Marked 8.06. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at KV Kortrijk.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Dries Meunier kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Squad5 Oct 2026
The armband comes off Marko Ilić
KV Kortrijk 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 dugout5 Oct 2026
The form table has caught Malick Mbaye
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 28. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Marko Ilić was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at KV Kortrijk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Goduine Koyalipou is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Match26 Sep 2026
Sint-Truiden left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Marko Ilić 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 dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑3 Dries Meunier left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad28 Sep 2026
No place for Mohamed Bamba in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation KV Kortrijk are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Brecht Dejaegere 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 dugout28 Sep 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Malick Mbaye
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Ken Masui runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 38. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Shandre Campbell, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.93
A mark of 7.93 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Marko Ilić and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Kenzo Noël arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Kenzo Noël has, at KV Kortrijk, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
A performance of 8.11 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Gilles Ruyssen, and the manager let it.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Iebe Swers was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad21 Sep 2026
KV Kortrijk are still strangers to each other
18 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.
Market21 Sep 2026
He is 20, and nobody at KV Kortrijk signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Sep 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Goduine Koyalipou was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad14 Sep 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Rudy Kohon and KV Kortrijk agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KV Kortrijk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. KV Kortrijk will try again when the window opens; KV Mechelen may not be selling by then.
Match12 Sep 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ken Masui. 2‑0 against Waasland-Beveren, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
A masterclass from Ken Masui
Marked 8.12 — 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
No place for Arne Cassaert in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation KV Kortrijk are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Dries Meunier kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad7 Sep 2026
A one-man rearguard from Marko Ilić
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
$370.0K settles it between the clubs for Mauro Lenaerts
KV Mechelen have accepted the money. What KV Kortrijk do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 7 signed and 9 gone
That is the business done at KV Kortrijk until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
21 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Goduine Koyalipou falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Match5 Sep 2026
1‑3 to Club Brugge, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
KV Kortrijk ran out of time with Standard Liege. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Ken Masui runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 42. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad31 Aug 2026
There were 10 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.
Match26 Aug 2026
KV Oostende ended it 1‑4. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
KV Kortrijk are taken apart by KV Oostende — and the town wants answers
It finished 1-4. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
KV Kortrijk and Standard Liege have settled on $600.0K. 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Marko Ilić was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
KV Kortrijk asked and Gornik Zabrze said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match29 Aug 2026
Late, late show earns KV Kortrijk a point
Minute 93, against KV Mechelen, 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.
Boardroom31 Aug 2026
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 Aug 2026
The paperwork is done: Malick Mbaye joins from Zulte Waregem in a deal worth $3.1M. Now comes the harder part.
Market24 Aug 2026
Club Brugge come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and KV Kortrijk did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Standard Liege have kept their man, and KV Kortrijk go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Lucas Bonelli arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Lucas Bonelli has, at KV Kortrijk, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Ujpest keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. 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.
The terraces24 Aug 2026
The town asked, and KV Kortrijk paid $3.1M
Malick Mbaye was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $3.1M. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Goduine Koyalipou falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match15 Aug 2026
0‑3 to Racing Genk, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Market17 Aug 2026
The offer from Sint-Truiden for Thierry Ambrose 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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
KV Kortrijk have gone to Zulte Waregem 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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
$1.5M was the most the club would pay and Racing Genk 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Marko Ilić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Goduine Koyalipou was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
KV Kortrijk asked and Basaksehir said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Boris Lambert, and the manager let it.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
Nobody left the KV Kortrijk dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 28. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
$1.5M on the table at Racing Genk. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Market10 Aug 2026
The offer from Lokeren for Tristen Alliet 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.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Haladas keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Marko Ilić and KV Kortrijk agree another 4 years.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
KV Kortrijk asked and Waasland-Beveren said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Marko Ilić was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad10 Aug 2026
51 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Market10 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: Club Brugge have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Lennard Hens. The answer from KV Kortrijk has not changed — yet.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market3 Aug 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what KV Kortrijk can pretend not to have heard.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Thierry Ambrose and KV Kortrijk agree another 4 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Marko Ilić in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KV Kortrijk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Goduine Koyalipou falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Austria Wien have kept their man, and KV Kortrijk go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market3 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. KV Kortrijk have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Ninety minutes of Thierry Ambrose at his very best
Marked 8.08. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at KV Kortrijk.
Squad3 Aug 2026
100 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.