From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match16 Jan 2027
10 matches without a win for Westerlo
The run now stands at 10, and the questions being asked around Westerlo are no longer polite ones.
Squad18 Jan 2027
A fracture rules Rune Spinnoy out for 29 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Westerlo will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market18 Jan 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 Westerlo can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Westerlo had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Club Brugge, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad18 Jan 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Westerlo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Jan 2027
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 targets18 Jan 2027
Westerlo asked and Club Brugge said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
The team sheet said everything about Isa Sakamoto
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 Isa Sakamoto.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match9 Jan 2027
9 matches without a win for Westerlo
The run now stands at 9, and the questions being asked around Westerlo are no longer polite ones.
Market11 Jan 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 The request is on a desk at Westerlo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match11 Jan 2027
Every point is an argument now for Westerlo
Position 14 and 21 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Rune Spinnoy breaks a bone — 36 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 36 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
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.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Everything agreed with Club Brugge, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad11 Jan 2027
A falling-out at Westerlo
Serhiy Sydorchuk and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Sofian Attaba 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. Sofian Attaba has, at Westerlo, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Westerlo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thomas Van Den Keybus 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match2 Jan 2027
The wait goes on for Westerlo
8 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.
Market4 Jan 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 Westerlo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Westerlo
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Westerlo
Serhiy Sydorchuk 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.
Match2 Jan 2027
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. KV Mechelen have kept their man, and Westerlo go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match2 Jan 2027
Westerlo leaking at the back
4 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.
Squad4 Jan 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; Westerlo are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.62 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match26 Dec 2026
7 matches without a win for Westerlo
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Westerlo are no longer polite ones.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Doğucan Haspolat 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 Dec 2026
Words at Westerlo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thomas Van Den Keybus 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
100 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match26 Dec 2026
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
Half-satisfied: Michy Boyata on the draw
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 2‑2, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Dec 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match19 Dec 2026
Beaten 0‑4 by Anderlecht, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Match19 Dec 2026
6 matches without a win for Westerlo
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Westerlo are no longer polite ones.
Squad21 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 Westerlo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Westerlo
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Thomas Van Den Keybus was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Andreas Jungdal
“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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
100 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
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.
Boardroom21 Dec 2026
Nobody left the Westerlo 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
Market14 Dec 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 Westerlo can pretend not to have heard.
Squad14 Dec 2026
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Bailey Cadamarteri, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.01
A mark of 8.01 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.
Match12 Dec 2026
The wait goes on for Westerlo
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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
A falling-out at Westerlo
Serhiy Sydorchuk and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match12 Dec 2026
Beaten 3‑4, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Match12 Dec 2026
Fernand Gouré among the goals in a wild afternoon
7 goals in one match, Fernand Gouré on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Westerlo and Charleroi.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Ninety minutes of Fernand Gouré at his very best
Marked 9.55. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Westerlo.
The dugout14 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 26. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match5 Dec 2026
4 matches without a win for Westerlo
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Westerlo are no longer polite ones.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at Westerlo
Serhiy Sydorchuk 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Westerlo
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Thomas Van Den Keybus was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces7 Dec 2026
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.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
Maxime Spano 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Fatihan Kâhya commits to Westerlo for another 4 years.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.32 on the card, and the Westerlo support went home talking about one name.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Pape Diong named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Pape Diong is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Botond Balogh goes up and wins it — 7.89
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 7.89 for the rest of it.
Squad30 Nov 2026
29 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad30 Nov 2026
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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Serhiy Sydorchuk 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.
Match28 Nov 2026
It needed Botond Balogh to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against KAA Gent, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Juan Sebastián Ostos, and the manager let it.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
Half-satisfied: Michy Boyata on the draw
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 2‑2, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad30 Nov 2026
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Westerlo have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Westerlo
Thomas Van Den Keybus and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Westerlo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Amegnaglo 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 dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Felix Tsimba
“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 dugout23 Nov 2026
Half-satisfied: Michy Boyata 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
A booking nobody needed, on a night the game was already won. Westerlo lose a player for the most avoidable reason there is.
Squad23 Nov 2026
No place for Jhon Flor in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Westerlo are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Match21 Nov 2026
Point won or two lost for Westerlo?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Waasland-Beveren? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Market23 Nov 2026
The Isa Sakamoto story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Isa Sakamoto signs something — a contract at Westerlo or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market16 Nov 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Westerlo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Westerlo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thomas Van Den Keybus 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.
Match14 Nov 2026
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Westerlo
Serhiy Sydorchuk and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Nov 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Amando Lapage and Westerlo agree another 4 years.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Seiji Kimura
“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 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 1‑3 Michy Boyata left the room before anybody could ask which.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Westerlo will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 32. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Marked 7.99 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Westerlo
Doğucan Haspolat 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.
Match7 Nov 2026
Three points for Westerlo, 3‑2 the final word against KV Mechelen in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Westerlo
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Thomas Van Den Keybus was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces9 Nov 2026
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.31, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” David Amegnaglo commits to Westerlo for another 4 years.
Match7 Nov 2026
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Cisse Sandra had Westerlo level again within 1 minutes, and KV Mechelen never got to play with a lead at all.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings2 Nov 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Westerlo
Thomas Van Den Keybus 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.
Match31 Oct 2026
Standard Liege left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Farès Bahlouli, and the manager let it.
The dugout2 Nov 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 Michy Boyata to a room that had heard them before.
Squad2 Nov 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Michy Onana commits to Westerlo for another 3 years.
Squad2 Nov 2026
5 new faces, and Westerlo 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Cisse Sandra named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Cisse Sandra is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match24 Oct 2026
Nowhere to hide for Westerlo
0‑3 against Racing Genk, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad26 Oct 2026
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 Oct 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 Westerlo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Andreas Jungdal, and the manager let it.
Boardroom26 Oct 2026
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 dugout26 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 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Michy Boyata to a room that had heard them before.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
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 dugout26 Oct 2026
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Westerlo told Bailey Cadamarteri something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Squad26 Oct 2026
The formation has left Michy Onana behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Westerlo will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 39. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match17 Oct 2026
Nobody wants to play Westerlo right now
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad19 Oct 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 Westerlo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match17 Oct 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: David Amegnaglo. 2‑1 against Lokeren, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The terraces19 Oct 2026
He is 22 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Westerlo
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Cisse Sandra was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Seiji Kimura, and the manager let it.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
The afternoon belonged to Isa Sakamoto
A mark of 7.93, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Michy Boyata on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
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.
Match10 Oct 2026
OH Leuven will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Westerlo were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
A brace, and Bailey Cadamarteri takes the afternoon — 9.16
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Bailey Cadamarteri provided it, and the 9.16 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.27 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Thomas Van Den Keybus 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 terraces12 Oct 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Cisse Sandra 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Botond Balogh and Westerlo agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Michy Boyata on a 4‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Oct 2026
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.
Match3 Oct 2026
The drought breaks for Westerlo
8 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Zulte Waregem were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Squad5 Oct 2026
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
Serhiy Sydorchuk 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.
Match3 Oct 2026
Zulte Waregem made Westerlo work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
The terraces5 Oct 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Isa Sakamoto 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.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Doğucan Haspolat was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.24. 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 ratings5 Oct 2026
Nikola Storm was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.01. 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 ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 38. 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 Sep 2026
8 matches without a win for Westerlo
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Westerlo are no longer polite ones.
Squad28 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Westerlo
Thomas Van Den Keybus and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Cisse Sandra 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 dugout28 Sep 2026
Maxime Spano 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
A 1‑1 draw with Mouscron leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Half-satisfied: Michy Boyata 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.
Looking ahead28 Sep 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Zulte Waregem in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match19 Sep 2026
The wait goes on for Westerlo
7 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Westerlo
Doğucan Haspolat and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match19 Sep 2026
3 matches without a goal for Westerlo
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.
Player ratings21 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.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Seiji Kimura
“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 ratings21 Sep 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.82 on the card, and the Westerlo support went home talking about one name.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Michy Boyata after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Westerlo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emile Samyn 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 dugout21 Sep 2026
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
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.
Match12 Sep 2026
0‑3 to KV Oostende, 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match12 Sep 2026
The wait goes on for Westerlo
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.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
Charleroi wanted more than $610.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad14 Sep 2026
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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Westerlo
Serhiy Sydorchuk 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 dugout14 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Farès Bahlouli, and the manager let it.
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad7 Sep 2026
8 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Match5 Sep 2026
5 matches without a win for Westerlo
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Westerlo are no longer polite ones.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 3 signed and 4 gone
That is the business done at Westerlo 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 offer went to Charleroi 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Westerlo
Thomas Van Den Keybus 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.
Match5 Sep 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Westerlo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cisse Sandra 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 ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout7 Sep 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.
In brief
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Squad
Too much change too quickly at Westerlo
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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Player ratings
Nikola Storm keeps on missing
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad31 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match26 Aug 2026
The small margins put Westerlo out
Out, 1‑2 to Standard Liege, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.45, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market31 Aug 2026
Westerlo say no — this time
The offer from Gornik Leczna for Felix Tsimba was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Market31 Aug 2026
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Petrolul had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Westerlo had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at AZ, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Match29 Aug 2026
4 matches without a win for Westerlo
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Westerlo are no longer polite ones.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Westerlo
Thomas Van Den Keybus and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
$160.0K was the most the club would pay and KV Mechelen were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
AS Nancy wanted more than $6.2M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
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.
Market24 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Felix Tsimba again, and this time the name on the line is Gornik Leczna. Westerlo are listening politely and promising nothing.
Player ratings24 Aug 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Westerlo
Serhiy Sydorchuk and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match22 Aug 2026
Sint-Truiden left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad24 Aug 2026
42 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Dylan Ourega
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match15 Aug 2026
Nowhere to hide for Westerlo
1‑4 against KAA Gent, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Market17 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
The offer went to AS Nancy 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market17 Aug 2026
Reda Laalaoui has left for OH Leuven in a $2.2M deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
$670.0K was the most the club would pay and Mouscron 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
Thomas Van Den Keybus was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
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 dugout17 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Andreas Jungdal
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
In brief
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Squad
A row about effort at Westerlo
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Boardroom
Nobody left the Westerlo dressing room in a hurry
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
No sign of nerves from David Amegnaglo at 21 — 7.99
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. David Amegnaglo did not need any: 7.99, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Andreas Jungdal commits to Westerlo for another 4 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Westerlo
Thomas Van Den Keybus and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Racing Genk have kept their man, and Westerlo go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match8 Aug 2026
A 2‑1 win over Waasland-Beveren, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The terraces10 Aug 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Isa Sakamoto 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
The name of Lucas Mbamba has come up in conversations Westerlo were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad3 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 15 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match1 Aug 2026
0‑3 to Club Brugge, 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
Westerlo say no — this time
The offer from Sivasspor for Doğucan Haspolat 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
280 appearances across 12 seasons in one shirt. Careers like that are not built on purpose any more, and Westerlo know exactly what they have.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Doğucan Haspolat and Westerlo agree another 4 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Doğucan Haspolat 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 targets3 Aug 2026
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.
Market3 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Reda Laalaoui again, and this time the name on the line is OH Leuven. Westerlo are listening politely and promising nothing.
Boardroom3 Aug 2026
Nobody left the Westerlo 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.