Union Saint-Gilloise will top the table in Belgium this Christmas. The newly-promoted club are back in the top division for the first time in 48 years but this is an against-the-odds tale with a twist. They are also Belgian football’s third most successful club.
The last of their 11 league titles came in 1935 but Union Saint-Gilloise are thriving once more with an English owner Tony Bloom and an Irish-born sporting director in Chris O’Loughlin. It is a story that has captured the imagination in Belgium and beyond.
There is Dante Vanzeir, the young winger from Genk who has broken into Roberto Martinez‘s national team. There is Christian Burgess, the former Portsmouth defender who is enjoying the adventure of a lifetime. Both scored in a 2-0 away win last week.
Union are steeped in tradition, from the stained-glass window at their 102-year-old stadium to the fact that it was the venue for Spain’s first ever match. “The stadium is a protected building and we love playing there because it is magical,” O’Loughlin tells Sky Sports.
But this is a modern success story too, with recruitment under chairman Alex Muzio now the envy of Belgium. Shrewd decision-making has taken this club back to the top.
This rise was not inevitable. Union did not have the biggest budget in the second division last season let alone the funds to outmuscle Anderlecht and Club Brugge. Nor has it been straightforward. O’Loughlin still remembers his first week in the job in 2019.
“I finished my coaching job on the Wednesday and started here as the new sporting director on the Thursday,” he recalls. “The coach came in and we had a meeting in the morning. That evening he knocked on my door and went to join Amiens in France.
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