Zulte Waregem U18

Belgian Pro League U18
4 Oct 2026
Sunday
Process
9 Edition

The Zulte Waregem Sentinel

28 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

5 matches without a win for Zulte Waregem

The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Zulte Waregem are no longer polite ones.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Thomas Claes

Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Dries Carrasco in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zulte Waregem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Wilguens Paugain

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

Squad

Words at Zulte Waregem training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Laurent Lemoine is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

The dugout

Zulte Waregem pick somebody else ahead of Brent Gabriel

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.

Player ratings

Salim Diakité was the difference for Zulte Waregem

Marked 7.29. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.

The dugout

Brent Gabriel knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Zulte Waregem, and both men came out saying it was fine.

The dugout

Half-satisfied: Christian Januzaj 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.

In brief

Back issues
8 Edition

The Zulte Waregem Sentinel

21 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

4 matches without a win for Zulte Waregem

The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Zulte Waregem are no longer polite ones.

Squad

A falling-out at Zulte Waregem

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

Match

Zulte Waregem come up short against Club Brugge

Club Brugge left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

The dugout

No hiding place for Dries Carrasco

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

Squad

A row about effort at Zulte Waregem

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

Squad

Too much change too quickly at Zulte Waregem

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

The dugout

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 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Christian Januzaj to a room that had heard them before.

Player ratings

Benoît Nyssen was unplayable

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 dugout

The form table has caught Brent Gabriel

Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.

In brief

7 Edition

The Zulte Waregem Sentinel

14 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Dries Carrasco

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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Zulte Waregem

Dries Carrasco and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Squad

Malick Mbaye stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Malick Mbaye and Zulte Waregem agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

A row about effort at Zulte Waregem

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

The dugout

No hiding place for Antoine Lejoly

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

Player ratings

Malick Mbaye beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 16. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Player ratings

Anosike Ementa takes the honours

Marked 7.82 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Zulte Waregem had the best player on the pitch.

The dugout

Somebody else is better right now than Brent Gabriel

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

Match

Zulte Waregem and KV Mechelen take a point apiece

It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.

In brief

  • The dugout The view from the dugout
  • Looking ahead A test against the best for Zulte Waregem
  • The dugout Malick Mbaye gets picked when it counts
6 Edition

The Zulte Waregem Sentinel

7 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Boardroom

Deadline passes with 21 signed and 0 gone

That is the business done at Zulte Waregem 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 targets

Guido Posch is a medical away from Zulte Waregem

The deal with Union Berlin 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.

Squad

Tempers go at Zulte Waregem

Dries Carrasco 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 targets

The window shuts on the Amine Boukamir deal

Zulte Waregem ran out of time with Charleroi. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.

Transfer targets

Zulte Waregem rebuffed over Kelechi Idegwu

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

The dugout

The manager makes an example of François-Joseph Sollacaro

“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.

Match

Zulte Waregem come up short against Standard Liege

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

Squad

A row about effort at Zulte Waregem

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

The dugout

Christian Januzaj: “No excuses”

“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.

In brief

5 Edition

The Zulte Waregem Sentinel

31 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

Marley Aké sends Zulte Waregem through

Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Marley Aké obliged against KAA Gent. 3‑2 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Zulte Waregem.

Match

Nowhere to hide for Zulte Waregem

0‑3 against Racing Genk, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.

Match

Marley Aké wins it after the whistle should have gone

93 minutes played. Marley Aké found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and KAA Gent went from a point to nothing inside one movement.

Player ratings

Both of them Marley Aké's — 8.28

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.28, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Squad

Dries Carrasco keeps Zulte Waregem in it on his own

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.

Market

Dirk Asare puts it in writing

“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Zulte Waregem, and it is not being withdrawn.

Transfer targets

Zulte Waregem baulk at the price for Daan Dierckx

Standard Liege wanted more than $2.4M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.

Squad

Tempers go at Zulte Waregem

Brent Gabriel was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Player ratings

Malick Mbaye was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 22. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

In brief

4 Edition

The Zulte Waregem Sentinel

24 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Sint-Truiden come back empty-handed

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

Market

Nikola Mituljikić puts it in writing

“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Zulte Waregem, and it is not being withdrawn.

Player ratings

Tuur Dierckx beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 27. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Transfer targets

Zulte Waregem make their move for Daan Dierckx

$1.6M on the table at Standard Liege. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.

Transfer targets

No deal for Lovro Golič at that price

Zulte Waregem offered $940.0K; KV Mechelen 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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Zulte Waregem

Brent Gabriel and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Squad

Jakob Kiilerich falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Transfer targets

KV Oostende tell Zulte Waregem: Thorgan Nainggolan is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

Match

Anosike Ementa sends Zulte Waregem past Lokeren

It finished 1‑0, and it was Anosike Ementa’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Zulte Waregem.

In brief

3 Edition

The Zulte Waregem Sentinel

17 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Zulte Waregem break the bank for Dries Carrasco

$4.0M. No player has ever cost Zulte Waregem more, and expectation arrives with him.

Player ratings

Anosike Ementa scores twice — 9.21

Two goals and a mark of 9.21 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Player ratings

Up for the corner, and Enrique Lofolomo delivers — 7.47

Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Enrique Lofolomo scored, was marked 7.47, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.

Transfer targets

Zulte Waregem make their move for Lovro Golič

$940.0K on the table at KV Mechelen. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.

Squad

A falling-out at Zulte Waregem

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

Match

Zulte Waregem see off OH Leuven

Three points for Zulte Waregem, 3‑2 the final word against OH Leuven in a contest settled by the finer margins.

The terraces

Zulte Waregem spend $4.0M on the signing the town wanted

It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $4.0M for Dries Carrasco, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.

Transfer targets

Zulte Waregem rebuffed over Lee Young-Jun

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

The terraces

The crowd has taken to Malick Mbaye

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.

In brief

2 Edition

The Zulte Waregem Sentinel

10 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

Zulte Waregem taken apart

0‑4 to KAA Gent, 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.

Squad

Brent Gabriel keeps Zulte Waregem in it on his own

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.

Transfer targets

Zulte Waregem make their move for Dries Carrasco

$4.0M on the table at KV Oostende. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.

Squad

Antoine Lejoly 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. Antoine Lejoly has, at Zulte Waregem, and the first month will show what that does to a man.

Market

Zulte Waregem turn down Lokeren for Dirk Asare

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

Squad

Brent Gabriel stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Brent Gabriel and Zulte Waregem agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Transfer targets

Standard Liege tell Zulte Waregem: Bernard Nguene is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

Squad

Tempers go at Zulte Waregem

Brent Gabriel was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

The dugout

Thomas Claes gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

In brief

1 Edition

The Zulte Waregem Sentinel

3 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Brent Gabriel stands alone

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.

Market

Ian Timmerman puts it in writing

“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Zulte Waregem, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Louis Bostyn: 11 seasons and counting

86 appearances across 11 seasons in one shirt. Careers like that are not built on purpose any more, and Zulte Waregem know exactly what they have.

Transfer targets

Jo Coppens due for a Zulte Waregem medical

Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.

Squad

Jelle Vossen signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Jelle Vossen commits to Zulte Waregem for another 2 years.

Squad

Brent Gabriel in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zulte Waregem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Player ratings

Malick Mbaye runs at them all day

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.

Transfer targets

Zulte Waregem rebuffed over Brynjólfur Willumsson

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

Match

A bad afternoon for Zulte Waregem against Mouscron

0‑2 to Mouscron, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

In brief