“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what OH Leuven can pretend not to have heard.
Henok Teklab 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Ilan Ettori has just signed for OH Leuven, and for once the answer mattered.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marwan Ateya was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. OH Leuven know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Siebe Schrijvers and OH Leuven agree another 3 years.
Henok Teklab 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marwan Ateya was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
1 appearances and 0 clean sheets. A goalkeeper learns his job by playing it, and a season that gave him neither the games nor the shut-outs is a year taken off the front of a career.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Chukwubuikem Ikwuemesi signs something — a contract at OH Leuven or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Position 5 on 54 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
1‑2 against PAOK. Continental football is unforgiving about the things a domestic league lets a side get away with, and this was a night spent finding out which of those the club still has.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at OH Leuven can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Henok Teklab and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Words at OH Leuven training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Łukasz Łakomy 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.
8.00. 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.
“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 OH Leuven, and 6 appearances in 36 say he has earned the hearing.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Roggerio Nyakossi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around OH Leuven the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marwan Ateya was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Thorgan Vanaken 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Radja De Ketelaere 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Christian Fellaini 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 16 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Henok Teklab 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.
OH Leuven ran out of time with KV Kortrijk. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marwan Ateya was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
OH Leuven and KV Kortrijk have settled on $1.0M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at OH Leuven, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
OH Leuven close the window on a squad of their own making
4 in and 5 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Łukasz Łakomy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what OH Leuven can pretend not to have heard.
Henok Teklab and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Marwan Ateya 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Westerlo have kept their man, and OH Leuven go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Henok Teklab. 2‑0 against Westerlo, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
At 2 goals adrift this was a formality, and the formality lasted right up until it did not. OH Leuven found something the first half had given no notice of, and Waasland-Beveren could not hold what they had.
The offer from Lokeren for Óscar Gil 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what OH Leuven can pretend not to have heard.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around OH Leuven they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The deal with Villarreal 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at OH Leuven this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Chukwubuikem Ikwuemesi. 4‑3 against Waasland-Beveren, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
In brief
SquadMarwan Ateya falls out with a teammate over standards
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Sint-Truiden waiting with a shirt. Nobody at OH Leuven is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Madi Monamay has, at OH Leuven, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Standard Liege paid $7.7M and OH Leuven took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Leander Chadli has gone, the accounts have $7.7M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
OH Leuven had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Le Havre AC, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Henok Teklab 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.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Madi Monamay is a OH Leuven player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
OH Leuven asked and Hammarby said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 12 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. OH Leuven have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what OH Leuven can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Gil Vicente keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. KV Kortrijk have kept their man, and OH Leuven go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Henok Teklab 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marwan Ateya was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Leander Chadli 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.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 90th minute. Standard Liege will replay every second of the added time for a week.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what OH Leuven can pretend not to have heard.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. OH Leuven will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at OH Leuven hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Words at OH Leuven training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marwan Ateya 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Kyan Vaesen. 1‑0 against Standard Liege, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
In brief
Player ratingsThe afternoon belonged to Kyan Vaesen
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
7.62, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and OH Leuven know it.
Henok Teklab 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.
54 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
The dugout27 Dec 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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Ralf Hahn to a room that had heard them before.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at OH Leuven this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Words at OH Leuven training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marwan Ateya 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.
Successful dribbles: 15. 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 3-goal deficit was real and so was the recovery. Leander Chadli was at the centre of it, Partizan were at the end of it, and everybody who left early will hear about this one for years.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Words at OH Leuven training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ewoud Pletinckx 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.
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 dugout6 Dec 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Ralf Hahn was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the OH Leuven dressing room was either.
0‑0 against Aris Thessaloniki, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Successful dribbles: 25. 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.
Henok Teklab 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.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Words at OH Leuven training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marwan Ateya 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.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Siebe Schrijvers.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Marwan Ateya wants continental football; whether OH Leuven can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at OH Leuven this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Words at OH Leuven training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marwan Ateya 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.
“I watch every OH Leuven game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Lokeren runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at OH Leuven can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
KV Oostende will want this one forgotten quickly: 6‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. OH Leuven were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
7 goals in one match, Chukwubuikem Ikwuemesi on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of OH Leuven and KV Oostende.
Marked 9.86 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Words at OH Leuven training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ewoud Pletinckx 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.
0‑1 against Shakhtar. Continental football is unforgiving about the things a domestic league lets a side get away with, and this was a night spent finding out which of those the club still has.
Henok Teklab 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 Nov 2027
Marwan Ateya 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 chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Henok Teklab was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Marwan Ateya 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.
“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 OH Leuven, and 0 appearances in 16 say he has earned the hearing.
Successful dribbles: 17. 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 dugout1 Nov 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 Ralf Hahn to a room that had heard them before.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Jur Schipper is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
“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; OH Leuven are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
2‑3 away to the standard of Shakhtar. Nobody will pretend this was a scandal; the gap is real, it is measurable, and closing it is a project rather than a team talk.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Leander Chadli provided it, and the 8.69 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at OH Leuven can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Marwan Ateya 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.
It finished 1‑0, and it was Kyan Vaesen’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to OH Leuven.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Words at OH Leuven training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ewoud Pletinckx 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.
Henok Teklab and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Words at OH Leuven training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marwan Ateya 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.
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Ralf Hahn chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Chukwubuikem Ikwuemesi provided it, and the 9.21 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Marwan Ateya and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words at OH Leuven training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. William Balikwisha 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Leander Chadli 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.
“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 OH Leuven will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 4‑0, Ralf Hahn could afford to be generous.
In brief
The dugoutJur Schipper knocks on the manager's door
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” OH Leuven have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
1 for Łukasz Łakomy, marked 7.55, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at OH Leuven hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Henok Teklab 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.
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.
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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Leander Chadli provided it, and the 8.87 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marwan Ateya was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Viktor Damjanić 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.
“I watch every OH Leuven game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Lokeren runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
0‑0 against Aris Thessaloniki, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” OH Leuven have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether OH Leuven can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
At 21 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marwan Ateya was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Everything was agreed with KV Kortrijk and then the doctor spoke. OH Leuven have walked away from a signing on the advice of somebody who never saw him play, which is how it is supposed to work.
7.80, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Henok Teklab 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.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Iliano Remans is a OH Leuven player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Birger Verstraete was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
14 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. OH Leuven lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
OH Leuven and KV Kortrijk have settled on $1.6M. 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.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
OH Leuven close the window on a squad of their own making
17 in and 9 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Henok Teklab 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.
OH Leuven ran out of time with KV Kortrijk. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Jurato Ikeda has just signed for OH Leuven, and for once the answer mattered.
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Marwan Ateya 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 paperwork is done long before the player is. Amaro Sosa has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means OH Leuven have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
23 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. OH Leuven lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Marwan Ateya will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at OH Leuven escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
The clubs have shaken hands with KV Kortrijk; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
7.86, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
“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; OH Leuven are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Marwan Ateya 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 words a physio says slowly. 30 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.
Marwan Ateya 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.
A 3‑1 win over Zulte Waregem, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
“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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Words at OH Leuven training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Birger Verstraete is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Óscar Gil at his very best
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Henok Teklab at his very best
38 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. OH Leuven lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The terraces16 Aug 2027
The mood at OH Leuven has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
“I have supported clubs like this one. I know what a bad Saturday feels like here.” The new man starts with nothing behind him and everything in front of him.
Henok Teklab 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.
A performance of 9.59 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at OH Leuven training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marwan Ateya 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 words a physio says slowly. 45 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
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.
39 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Marwan Ateya 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.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at OH Leuven this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ewoud Pletinckx was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Henok Teklab and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom26 Jul 2027
5 academy players handed senior numbers at OH Leuven
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
Marwan Ateya 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Nacer Batshuayi 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Lois Mignolet 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Thorgan 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.
8 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
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.
Position 15 and 20 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at OH Leuven, and it is not being withdrawn.
Henok Teklab 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marwan Ateya was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
OH Leuven asked and Le Havre AC 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 words a physio says slowly. 24 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what OH Leuven can pretend not to have heard.
OH Leuven offered $3.8M; Port Vale said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
OH Leuven asked and Willem II said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at OH Leuven this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
11 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
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.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation OH Leuven are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
32 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. OH Leuven lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“Somebody picks the team on Saturday. This week it is me, and that is as far as I have thought.” No promises were made in either direction, which is how these usually begin.
$3.4M on the table at Port Vale. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at OH Leuven heard it as anything else.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at OH Leuven this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
OH Leuven and Al Ahly have settled on $18.4M. 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Lokeren waiting with a shirt. Nobody at OH Leuven is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Takuya Ogiwara was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The name of Viktor Damjanić has come up in conversations OH Leuven were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
The offer went to Al Ahly this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Henok Teklab 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Takuya Ogiwara was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The name of Dani van den Heuvel has come up in conversations OH Leuven were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at OH Leuven, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what OH Leuven can pretend not to have heard.
Henok Teklab 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and William Balikwisha was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
OH Leuven 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.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Lokeren will make the call about Abdoul Karim Traoré this week. OH Leuven have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Takuya Ogiwara 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Lotem Asras is living that version at OH Leuven, and it tends to show in the first month.
The name of Abdoul Karim Traoré has come up in conversations OH Leuven were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words at OH Leuven training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. William Balikwisha 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.
Sint-Truiden will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Kaj Ramsteijn has pre-agreed a move to OH Leuven, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Leyton Orient 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.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at OH Leuven is running low.
Takuya Ogiwara 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.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at OH Leuven training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Birger Verstraete 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Maxence Prévot trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. OH Leuven know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Takuya Ogiwara and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at OH Leuven training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. William Balikwisha 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Maxence Prévot trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at OH Leuven this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Łukasz Łakomy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. OH Leuven know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at OH Leuven. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
A new face in his position, and Siebe Schrijvers suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. OH Leuven have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
The best deals are the ones the accountants never notice. Leonardo Naranjo arrives at OH Leuven with his wages the only cost and something to prove the only clause.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at OH Leuven, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at OH Leuven this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and William Balikwisha was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. OH Leuven know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A new face in his position and a shirt he thought he owned suddenly up for discussion. OH Leuven have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.
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 Felipe Ospina has written the date down.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Henok Teklab
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at OH Leuven is running low.
Boardroom3 May 2027
the manager has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at OH Leuven can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and William Balikwisha was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Siebe Schrijvers is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. OH Leuven know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Position 15 and 20 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Henok Teklab 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.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at OH Leuven training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. William Balikwisha 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.
Mouscron will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Leander Lukaku has pre-agreed a move to OH Leuven, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
“I have watched this squad. There is more in it than the table says.” First press conference, first promise — the manager made the one every new manager makes, and now comes the part where it gets checked.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at OH Leuven, and it is not being withdrawn.
Takuya Ogiwara and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at OH Leuven training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. William Balikwisha 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Emiliano González and OH Leuven agree another 4 years.
The oldest phenomenon in the sport: a new voice in the dressing room and suddenly everybody is available for everything. Siebe Schrijvers is training as though the last team sheet never existed, because as far as he is concerned it does not.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Noë Dussenne trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Day 42 of the vacancy. Candidates have been priced, sounded out and quietly ruled out — and the caretaker’s win ratio is becoming an argument all by itself.
Takuya Ogiwara 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 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 easiest signature of my career.” Abdoul Karim Traoré and OH Leuven agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation OH Leuven are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” OH Leuven have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Takuya Ogiwara 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 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.
“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; OH Leuven are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Maxence Prévot trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The mood at OH Leuven has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what OH Leuven can pretend not to have heard.
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.
Łukasz Łakomy 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.
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 Felipe Ospina has written the date down.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at OH Leuven, and it is not being withdrawn.
Henok Teklab 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 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.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alessandro Fontanarosa trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The minutes were not coming at OH Leuven, so he will look for them at Toronto FC. Everybody involved calls it development; for the player it is simply a chance to play.
Two hours a week with a tutor, which is the least glamorous thing at OH Leuven and the one that decides whether a foreign signing is still here in two years.
14 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and William Balikwisha was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Four paragraphs on the club website, none of them about football. The board thanked him, wished him well, and had the search under way before the page went up.
“Somebody has to pick the team on Saturday, and this week that is me.” An interim appointment with no promises attached, which is how most of them start.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at OH Leuven this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Birger Verstraete and OH Leuven agree another 2 years.
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.
A new manager did not pick last season’s side and does not care what it looked like. Siebe Schrijvers has taken that personally, in the best sense, and OH Leuven are seeing a version of him the last regime had stopped seeing.
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.
1 appearances, 0 clean sheets, and a goalkeeper no further forward than the day he left. Whether that belongs to him, to the club that borrowed him or to the people who arranged it is the argument OH Leuven will have this month.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at OH Leuven, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at OH Leuven this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and William Balikwisha was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Noë Dussenne, and the manager let it.
Market1 Mar 2027
Théo Radelet returns from a loan that taught him nothing
1 appearances and 0 clean sheets. A goalkeeper learns his job by playing it, and a season that gave him neither the games nor the shut-outs is a year taken off the front of a career.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at OH Leuven. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
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.
Something was said to Kévin Monnet-Paquet and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at OH Leuven, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” OH Leuven have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Takuya Ogiwara 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and William Balikwisha was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
18 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at OH Leuven, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” William Balikwisha and OH Leuven agree another 3 years.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and William Balikwisha was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Kévin Monnet-Paquet 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 run now stands at 17, and the questions being asked around OH Leuven are no longer polite ones.
The terraces1 Feb 2027
The mood at OH Leuven has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what OH Leuven can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” OH Leuven have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. OH Leuven have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
OH Leuven close the window on a squad of their own making
3 in and 0 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at OH Leuven, and it is not being withdrawn.
Henok Teklab 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.31 for the rest of it.
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.
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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Noë Dussenne has his answer from OH Leuven; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
14 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 10 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Takuya Ogiwara 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and William Balikwisha was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
13 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.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what OH Leuven can pretend not to have heard.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at OH Leuven is running low.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at OH Leuven this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
OH Leuven asked and Racing Genk 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 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.
Successful dribbles: 32. 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and William Balikwisha was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every OH Leuven game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Lucko runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout28 Dec 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 1‑2 Youri Carrasco left the room before anybody could ask which.
11 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at OH Leuven has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
A brace, and Kyan Vaesen takes the afternoon — 9.02
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Kyan Vaesen provided it, and the 9.02 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at OH Leuven this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at OH Leuven training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. William Balikwisha 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.
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Youri Carrasco chose the glass-half-full version of 2‑2; the supporters left with the other one.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at OH Leuven this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Youri Carrasco after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation OH Leuven are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Racing Genk next, and one man in the OH Leuven dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Position 15 and 15 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Chukwubuikem Ikwuemesi provided it, and the 8.71 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Henok Teklab 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 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.
3 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. William Balikwisha will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at OH Leuven escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 6 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Henok Teklab 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and William Balikwisha was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It needed William Balikwisha to find the net to bring anything home at all: 3‑3 against Zulte Waregem, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Dani van den Heuvel and OH Leuven agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
6 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at OH Leuven can tell you which week it ends in.
Takuya Ogiwara 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.
5 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at OH Leuven training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. William Balikwisha 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.
5 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Takuya Ogiwara 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.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and William Balikwisha was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑3 Youri Carrasco left the room before anybody could ask which.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at OH Leuven this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at OH Leuven training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Birger Verstraete 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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at OH Leuven can tell you which week it ends in.
Łukasz Łakomy 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and William Balikwisha was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
0‑2 to Charleroi, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at OH Leuven training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. William Balikwisha 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Noë Dussenne, and the manager let it.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Youri Carrasco left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at OH Leuven this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 19. 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Birger Verstraete was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Sint-Truiden? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Birger Verstraete trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Amine Boukamir’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and OH Leuven needing him to play as if none of it matters.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at OH Leuven, and it is not being withdrawn.
Henok Teklab 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” William Balikwisha and OH Leuven agree another 3 years.
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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Birger Verstraete, and the manager let it.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Youri Carrasco to a room that had heard them before.
Squad12 Oct 2026
5 new faces, and OH Leuven 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Siebe Schrijvers provided it, and the 8.22 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Dani van den Heuvel is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
“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 OH Leuven, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Robin Mirisola 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.
It finished 2‑0, and it was Siebe Schrijvers’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to OH Leuven.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at OH Leuven training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. William Balikwisha 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.
Takuya Ogiwara 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.
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
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 Youri Carrasco to a room that had heard them before.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Waasland-Beveren in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at OH Leuven. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“If we are going to be beaten, let it not be because somebody in here could not be bothered.” He stood up and said it in front of everybody, which is a thing a squad remembers about a man for years.
Takuya Ogiwara 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 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Youri Carrasco could afford to be generous.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Club Brugge in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
7 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Standard Liege were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
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.
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.
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Youri Carrasco on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Abdoul Karim Traoré had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 17 arrived, 3 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
OH Leuven had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Austria Wien, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Łukasz Łakomy 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 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Noë Dussenne, and the manager let it.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Youri Carrasco to a room that had heard them before.
6 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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Robin Mirisola, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.97
A mark of 7.97 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
He is going to Anderlecht, the club has $3.8M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
The offer from Perth Glory for Abdoul Karim Traoré 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. OH Leuven have done the hard part with Austria Wien, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
OH Leuven had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Young Boys, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Groningen had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $4.7M has been paid because Leander Chadli is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Thibaud Verlinden was one of the reasons people came, and $5.7M does not replace that by itself.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Austria Wien keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at OH Leuven this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. OH Leuven have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The offer went to Mouscron this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
The deal with Young Boys 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.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Zwolle keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ajax have kept their man, and OH Leuven go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Thibaud Verlinden was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. New York City have kept their man, and OH Leuven go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Grasshopper is saying, and nobody at OH Leuven is enjoying the guessing.
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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Thibaud Verlinden and OH Leuven agree another 4 years.
Takuya Ogiwara 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.
6 goals in one match, Kyan Vaesen on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of OH Leuven and Mouscron.
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.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.34 for the rest of it.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Standard Liege have kept their man, and OH Leuven go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Thibaud Verlinden 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.
8.54. 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at OH Leuven training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Birger Verstraete 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.
Minute 88, against KV Kortrijk, 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.