Belgian Teams to Manage in Football Manager 2021

Here's our list of five Belgian teams that you should seriously consider managing in your next save on Football Manager 2021.

Here's our list of five Belgian teams that you should seriously consider managing in your next save on Football Manager 2021. 

Belgium is not just the home of chocolate, Poirot and the home of the EU but also a wonderful, quick, football league. 18 teams compete in a regular-season which is then followed by playoffs which decide the champion and European places as well as who gets relegated. The current holders are Club Brugge. This list will give you some ideas of who to manage in Belgium.

Anderlecht

Anderlecht are historically Belgium’s biggest club having won the title an incredible 34 times. However recent years have led to huge financial mismanagement and the club start with over £96 million of debt with a massive £4.5 million owed on a monthly basis. Getting Anderlecht back on a good financial footing will start with the necessity to sell some of the club’s best players and highest earners.

Yari Verschaeren is one of the club’s best prospects. The wonderkid can either be sold to pay off some of the club’s huge debt or developed in order to get a bigger fee later on. Marco Kana is another extremely talented youngster. He has already been labelled the next Vincent Kompany and some of Europe’s elite clubs are looking at him. Meanwhile, Killian Sardella is another youngster with immense potential to have come through the system

Using the club’s youth players and selling off the big earners will be the best way to try to stay competitive in the league while trying to get the Belgian giants back to the top.

Oostende

Last year KV Oostende were taken over by Chien Lee. He is also the chairman of English club Barnsley and so the club have a mutually beneficial relationship in which players can be loaned between the two teams. Lee has high expectations for the future of the club but this season avoiding relegation is the main aim.

In order to stay up, the squad has some good players. Former Celta Vigo winger Andrew Hjulsager is Oostende’s most valuable player. The Danish winger is good crosser and dribbler. Meanwhile, Jelle Bataille is another useful option on the wing. Incredibly long named Kevin Vandendriessche is a stalwart in midfield. Finally, 16-year-old defender Manuel Osifo looks to be an excellent prospect for the future.

Genk

In 2019, Racing Club Genk won the Belgian League yet only managed to finish 7th in the Covid curtailed season last year. Therefore, Genk’s squad is still very good. Talented Colombians Jhon Lucimi and Daniel Muñoz are rocks at the back and Norwegian Mats Møller Dæhli is a driving force in midfield.

The youth system is well known for some of the players that have come out of it like Kevin de Bruyne, Thibaut Courtois, and Yannick Carrasco. The current Genk side includes wonderkid goalkeeper Maarten Vandevoordt who could easily be Belgian’s number one in years to come.

Getting Genk back to the top should be possible but keeping hold of the talent at the club may be harder.

Antwerp

Despite having spent most of their recent history in the second division, Royal Antwerp have become one of Belgium’s stronger clubs of late. Antwerp finished in 4th place last season and will take part in the Europa League this season.

In hopes to maintain this recent good form, Antwerp possess a strong squad. Congolese striker Dieumerci Mbokani leads the line and, despite his increasing age, he still has the technical ability to bang in the goals in Belgium as he was the joint top goal scorer in the league last year. Guy Mpenza is a poacher who has the talent to progress and eventually replace Mbokani. Also, currently on loan at the club is left-back Jordan Lukaku, brother of Romelu Lukaku.

Waasland Beveren

Predicted to finish bottom of the league, Waasland Beveren have one of the weakest squads in the First Division. Portuguese on loan defender Miguel Vieira is the club’s best player and Michael Frey, who is also on loan, is a strong target man. Meanwhile, Aleksandar Vutkovic is probably the top player who belongs to the club.

Also, to make the relegation battle that much harder, the board are not offering anything in terms of the transfer budget. So, loans and free transfers are your only source of players. Fortunately, though, Beveren have great youth facilities which bodes well for the future if you can keep them up.