Newly promoted St. Gilloise sensationally reaches for the title in Belgium – with a German as a goalscorer and a poker pro as a boss. The top game awaits on Thursday.
The football miracle is getting closer, but Deniz Undav doesn’t want to celebrate just yet. With newly promoted St. Gilloise, the North German sensationally reaches for the title in Belgium, and to top it off, the former Meppener leads the league’s goalscorers list. But Undav prefers to remain cautious. “We still have to finish the fairy tale,” he said on “Sport1”, “but for me personally it’s already one.”
Next to a professional poker player from England, Undav is the main character in this story. The 25-year-old from Achim near Bremen has already scored 18 goals this season. The team from the south-west of Brussels is nine points ahead of defending champions FC Brugge at the top of the table. On Thursday (8:45 p.m.) there will be a direct duel. A win actually beckons St. Gilloise to the championship.
Resurgence after 48 years
What hardly anyone outside of Belgium knows: It wouldn’t be the first. On the contrary: the traditional club, founded in 1897, has already won eleven times, only the big clubs Anderlecht and Bruges have more titles in Belgium. However, the last one dates from 1934, and the listed Joseph Marien Stadium still exudes the spirit of that time. After that it went downhill, only in 2021 after 48 years was the return to the upper house.
This story also made Tony Bloom sit up and take notice. As a poker pro, but above all with sports betting, the Englishman has made a considerable fortune, took over his heart club Brighton and led it from the third division to the Premier League. In 2018 he also acquired the then second division club Union St. Giloise.
But why? “Firstly, because I love football and this is a new challenge. And secondly, because the team has a wonderful history,” said Bloom at the time. He also liked the anti-racist attitude of the still large crowd of fans. So he installed his friend Alex Muzio as chairman, together they want to make Union the “greenest club in the EU”. And the best in Belgium.
Undav dreams of the national team
Undav fitted like a glove. The striker scored regularly in Havelse and Meppen before moving to Belgium in 2020. With 17 goals in 26 games, he played a key role in the rise – and just continued to score in the upper house. Following Aris Limassol’s (Cyprus) draw at the weekend, St Gilloise are the only climbers to top the table in Europe at the moment – and Undav are the guarantor of goals.
In mid-January, he even scored once on Saturday and once on Tuesday against RFC Seraing – the game was stopped during the break due to fog and continued three days later. So Undav was just successful in both halves, in the end it was 4:0. “Wonderful,” Union then wrote on Twitter in German.
And how does it continue? Undav already dreams of one of Europe’s top divisions – and even the national team. “It is absolutely clear to me that these are noble goals. But why not strive for them?” He asked in an interview with the “kicker”. It would be the next football miracle.