The Brussels public prosecutor’s office opens an investigation into anti-Semitic chants during the top match between RSC Anderlecht and Club Brugge last Sunday. Striking: Club chairman Bart Verhaeghe – who did not attend the match – will even be officially interrogated as a suspect on Monday afternoon. “These anti-Semitic ‘chants’ were chanted with shocking banality,” the prosecutor’s office said sharply.
Thomas Soen
Sports journalist at VTM
Back to last Sunday. Club Brugge hands Anderlecht a third consecutive defeat and leapfrogs Union to first place. A perfect evening.
But during the match, according to the public prosecutor’s office, anti-Semitic songs were heard from the Club supporters who traveled along.
The public prosecutor’s office immediately opens an investigation for incitement to hatred and violence.
The biggest surprise in the investigation is the role of Bart Verhaeghe. The chairman of Blue-Black will be officially invited for an interrogation on Monday. Not to provide explanations as a witness, but certainly as a suspect. Verhaeghe was not present at the Lotto Park on Sunday.
The public prosecutor wants to investigate the responsibility of the club and the chairman for these types of incidents.
The public prosecutor’s office takes the facts seriously and speaks of a “shocking banality” with which the chants were started. The public prosecutor’s office therefore wants the perpetrators to be punished as quickly as possible. A great search is now underway for the individual supporters who can be seen in the images. They not only risk a stadium ban, but also an effective conviction by the judge.
“Such chants have no place in our society and damage the values of sport,” the Brussels public prosecutor’s office said.
Not a scoop
It is not the first time that Club Brugge has been discredited for such chants. In 2018 and 2019, Club Brugge got away with an acquittal, because the football association then accepted that “Jews” was an innocent nickname for Anderlecht fans. When Noa Lang sang a similar song in 2021, the sanction was limited to a learning program in the Dossin Barracks.
