Eleven match days are still to go – then one of the biggest surprises in European football would be perfect and the small Royale Union Saint-Gilles would have qualified directly for the Champions League.
Not an expensive star group
It’s also a surprise because the “royal” aren’t a group that was bought together, but a team that was put together with foresight and without any star players.
The fairytale rise of the traditional club began in the summer of 2018 when the Englishman Tony Bloom joined “RUSG” as an investor. Bloom, who also owns Premier League club Brighton & Hove Albion, made his millions from sports betting and poker games. The entrepreneur went in search of a second club. He found what he was looking for in Saint Gilles, also because he fell in love with the historic stadium.
Tony Bloom largely stays out of day-to-day business, which is done by club president Alex Muzio and Irish sporting director Chris O’Laughlin, as well as Belgian-Italian coach Felice Mazzu, who a year and a half ago replaced former Bundesliga striker Thomas Christiansen (VfL Bochum, Hannover 96). relieved.
Used the push from the 2nd league
The three managed to build a colorful team without spending a lot of money. “Even in the second division, everything that was done when putting together the squad was already in place.”, says Carsten Lübke, editor at the German-language “Grenzecho.” While the well-known competition from Anderlecht, Bruges and Antwerp still had to find each other at the beginning of the season, Royale Union was already taking off. “With the push from the 2nd division, Union was able to put a lot of pressure on”, according to Luebke.
Top performers are captain Teddy Teuma from Malta, the Dane Casper Nielsen and the dangerous Dante Vanzeir. Others – mainly loan players and free transfer professionals – come from Poland, Madagascar and Luxembourg. There is also a cooperation with Brighton. Coach Mazzu’s team is particularly convincing in terms of fighting. “I really have a crazy team”, said the coach recently after the 2-1 win against Genk, which was only secured in the tenth minute of added time.
Great discovery Deniz Undav
One of the great discoveries is Deniz Undav, who was born in Achim in the Verden district. In Werder Bremen’s adolescence, the 25-year-old striker was reportedly sent off with the label ‘too small’. He played for TSV Havelse, Eintracht Braunschweig II and SV Meppen in the 3rd division, where he scored 17 goals in one season.