Mark van Bommel has reinvented himself as a trainer, but the Belgian national title has not yet been won

Read also: this profile about the trainer Mark van Bommel, from 2019

Since RAFC is owned by real estate magnate Paul Gheysens, who invested an estimated 150 million euros in recent years to cover losses and strengthen the selection, things are improving and ambitions are high. Thanks to the money from Gheysens, Van Bommel has players like Calvin Stengs, Toby Alderweireld and Vincent Janssen at his disposal. Antwerp already won the cup earlier this month. But the national championship, that really counts.

The longing can be felt on Sunday in and around the Bosuil Stadium, a structure that you can call modern-classic with a little good will. The main stand is made of sleek glass, opposite a refined stairwell with wooden benches that have been found to be too fragile to allow public access. In the spacious VIP lounge, the top layer of Antwerp indulges in white wine, bubbles and dry sausage before kick-off. Outside, supporters dressed in red produce – the advance of the black hoodie football stadiums have apparently broken down on the Belgian border – a noise that justifies earplugs. “This is the Liverpool of Belgium,” says Antwerp fan Jurre Vandingenen before entering the Bosuil.

Van Bommel loves it. All week long, he and his players in the city have been approached about this Sunday’s match, they hear how much it means to Antwerp. “From the moment I entered here, I noticed that it is experienced very intensely here,” says Van Bommel. “That is beautiful. You shouldn’t run away from that.”

Relieved after dismissal at Wolfsburg

Not only Antwerp yearns for success. The same applies to Van Bommel. At Antwerp he is busy establishing his name as a coach. A revenge, you could call it, after his first two jobs as a coach ended in disappointment. PSV, where he was captain for years as a player, fired him at the end of 2019, a year and a half after he was appointed, due to disappointing results. At VfL Wolfsburg things went wrong within six months.

He could be at peace with the dismissal in Germany, Van Bommel recently said in a podcast with colleague Alex Pastoor. Van Bommel felt little support from the club management from the start and he “wasted” in Wolfsburg, a city where, according to him, there is virtually nothing to do except work in the Volkswagen factories. His family stayed behind in the Netherlands, on days off Van Bommel roamed the golf course alone. He was especially relieved when they put him on the street.

It was very different at PSV, his home as a player for a long time. He wanted to continue there, he felt the support of the group of players and he thought he could turn the tide. But the club management and part of the staff had lost confidence in Van Bommel’s almost obsessive working method. Not only did he expect his players to live just as monomaniacally for football as he had done when he was a professional at Fortuna Sittard, PSV, FC Barcelona, ​​AC Milan and Bayern Munich, he was also heavily involved in the work of specialists on the staff . At PSV, this led to clashes with the doctors in his team, who started calling him ‘doctor Van Bommel’.

A former footballer who is fired from his first two clubs without trophies, it could mean the end of his career. Not with Van Bommel. For him, the choice to become a trainer was never one of the options, it was the only option. He has been writing down the exercises in training since he made his debut at Fortuna Sittard as a sixteen-year-old. Early in his career as a footballer, Van Bommel took training courses and became captain everywhere. His whole life is football, with two sons who play for MVV and a father-in-law called Bert van Marwijk who was national coach. When he retired as a football player in 2013, he fell into a hole. Van Bommel needs football more than the other way around.

His urge to control has diminished

He feels valued at Antwerp, which appointed him last summer. By the owner, technical director Marc Overmars and his mostly Dutch staff. But also by players and audience. His urge to control has diminished. “I don’t always have to want to know everything,” he said in an interview with The Telegraph. “That applies to what is in the media as well as to what is happening at the club.”

According to Antwerp supporter Corim Versmissen, he is popular with the supporters for his ‘humanity’ and humour, as well as the fact that he gives young players a chance. It led to supporters chanting his name as Antwerp went through a rough patch before the winter break, winning just three of their nine games. The fact that Van Bommel has overcome that dip will mean a lot to him. He started excellently at both PSV and Wolfsburg, in Eindhoven he even won the first thirteen league games. But things kept falling apart and he had to leave before he could turn things around.

Next week Van Bommel can still become champion of Belgium with Antwerp. If the team wins at Genk, the title is won. If not, Antwerp depends on other results. In any case, it is a second chance to live up to his final revenge and to join the select group that has achieved major titles as a player and as a coach. The blow of this Sunday must first be processed, says Van Bommel after the draw against Union. In the dressing room he talked about ‘his’ lost 2010 World Cup final. Van Bommel did not get a second chance, but his players now do. Did the message get through? “The boys didn’t hear me at all. But it is.”